Breastfed 4 month old night feeds

[Hsmum21]

Hi all,

I'm breastfeeding my DS and wondering how often is recommended to nurse through the night? Some nights he'll feed at 11pm, 1am and then sleep through until around 6:30/7am but other nights he seems to feed every other hour! He used to have his bedtime at 7:30pm, sleep through until 4am, feed and then sleep through until 6:30am which was lovely but those days are a distant memory.

Any advice on this and if/ how I should start night weaning would be great x

Night weaning isn't recommended until 12 months, it's normal for them to feed frequently still when they're so little, there's also a sleep regression at 4 months anyway.

Wow. You're so lucky he used to sleep so much. Mine were up to feed every 1.5-2 hours every night for the first 8 months

You shouldn't try to restrict feeds just feed on demand including through the night.

I've just fed DS (9 months) hence being awake to reply to your post!

My GP told me at the 6 week check that most babies are physiologically capable of sleeping through the night at 6 months, but in reality it is around the year mark that night feeds might not happen / it is OK to offer water at first when baby wakes if they're eating well during the day.

At 4 months DS would not settle without multiple night feeds so I feel for you, and there is no ignoring a hungry baby, but in my experience he dropped to 1/2 feeds a night and went to consistently longer stretches (teething / illness aside) from 6 months.

4 month sleep regression. My DS was exactly the same, from birth till 4 months he slept like a log at night and only had one night feed (of course during the day he barely napped and was feeding all the time). Then once he hit the four month mark the night wakings increased.

Try and take each night as it comes and just feed responsively depending on what his needs are that particular day. Some nights you'll get a bit of sleep, some nights you won't get much at all but I promise you'll get through it