Another night feed question!

[alittleadvicepls]

Hi parents,

Just a quick one this morning. My 5 months old currently feeds 3 times per night and drinks 120mls each time. So that’s 11pm, 2am and 5am then back down until 7am.

The issue I’m having is he doesn’t really drink during the day? He will almost never finish his 7-8am bottle and then won’t feed again until 11am usually. I’m worried he’s getting used to the calorie intake overnight and so doesn’t feel like he needs to drink during the day. How can I switch that around?

I went cold turkey with night feeds with my first and he slept 7-7 from 4 months. I think I just got lucky to have such a great sleeper the first time around.

Starting solids with my 5 months old just isn’t an option at the moment. He was premie and NICU told us to count 6 months from his due date which isn’t for another 2 months?! Seems so far away!

Please help a sleep deprived parent!!

Sorry just to add- I know 3 wake ups isn’t that bad but he used to only wake up twice for a while and then even dropped down to one feed per night for one week and bam! Back to 3 feeds!

How much he drinks per day? Is he having long naps during the daytime?
My 5 months old takes all of her calories during the day, no nightfeeds since 11 weeks and sleeps 12 hours every night. But! She doesn't really nap during the day, I really try but only manage 3 short naps (30-40 min max each). Maybe your baby sleeping a lot during the day?

It seems like he is treating daytime as night and the other way round. If he sleeps alot during the day, maybe try to get him to stay awake longer so he is more active & then might take a bottle during the day.
My LO is 3 and half months but he drinks 180ml on each feed and has pretty much set times at the moment (seems he got himself into a little routine). Normally he has a bottle at 9.30pm, 2.30/3am, 7/8am, 12pm then between 4-5pm. He goes between 4/5 hours between feeds.

Sounds like reverse cycling. Both my ff and bf did this at this age. Try feeding him in a dark, quiet room during the day. But being honest he sounds like he is pretty average in terms of sleep.

@Tina8800 he has a morning and afternoon catnap of 45-1hr and a longer lunch nap of up to 2 hours. So wake windows are 2 hours max. He just doesn’t seem interested in food during the day. I’ve tried to feed smaller amounts more often or bigger amounts less often and we usually have to feed in his room to remove distractions otherwise he’s too busy looking around to drink. I just don’t know how to get him out of that habit except suddenly withdrawing the night feeds so he’s hungry during the day and actually feeds!

@Flopisfatteningbingforchristmas I’m not sure how to break the habit. Is it something I need to do or something he’ll outgrow?

Try feeding him a quite place during the day. Sometimes it’s because they are more interested in their surroundings.

You could try to pre empt the 11pm wake by doing a dreamfeed at 10ish or whenever you go to bed. Also do you need to go up a teat size? Getting bored during a feed as you’re experiencing during the day can be a sign the milk is coming too slowly for them. I’d also try to reduce the 5am feed to the absolute minimum baby that will take to go back to sleep so that they’ll be hungry to feed again at 7am. But every 4 hours isn’t horrific, especially when you consider corrected age.

Maybe try to get him to stay awake longer during the daytime as pp said. Are you taking him out often? If his feeds are different when he isnt home? For example, when we are out for a day my baby barely eats until late afternoon as she is so distracted with everything's going on. When were home all day, she eats a lot.