When to drop Night feeds?

[VeronicaFranklin]

My little one is 10 weeks this week and feeds (formula) every 4 hours, she usually takes a bottle at 7am/11am/3pm/7pm/11pm and 3am...

After her 11pm feed she goes down and never wakes up hungry, so the 3am feed is usually a dream feed with a nappy change which she is very sleepy and sometimes leaves half the feed, she also doesn't wake when burped.

A friend suggested increasing her formula slightly during the day and possibly altering her feed timings (midnight last feed) so that she's getting the right amount for her weight, but she won't need her 3am feed (so she'll go longer overnight).

Am I right in thinking it's far to early to consider this?!

The night feeds don't bother me at all, I can usually function on little sleep but just wondered about this due to her not waking/taking the full overnight feed.

Can you not leave her to sleep and see if she wakes for a feed in the night?

Give it a go! If she's not waking naturally at that time she's probably not hungry!
My LO is EBF and has slept through the night from about 4 weeks. She just stopped waking for feeds and since she was a good weight and have plenty of wet / dirty nappies I followed her lead

I am inclined to think it’s too early, their tummies are tiny. My nanny friend said she would consider sleep training after 12 weeks though, although not sure if she would include night weaning. That said I fed on demand and at 7 weeks DS did sleep for 6-7 hours so you may not need to do the bottles four hourly. Honestly though, you know your baby best. Follow your gut!

At 10 weeks old, I wouldn't be waking to feed overnight unless there were issues with weight gain. I would probably keep up the 11pm dream feed and see what happens if you don't wake them!

Do you wake your baby for the 3am feed? I would leave her to sleep and see what happens. At this age all of mine would go from 11pm to about 6am.

By 11 weeks my girl was going from 11pm to 7am, just let her sleep and she will wake if she wants. Also, guidelines on the tubs are purely that.

I’ve spent months worrying my girl wasn’t eating anywhere near enough for her weight/age. She was having 26oz a day on average and I was told she should be on 32. Follow their lead as long as they seem happy and are thriving :)

I agree with PP that you definitely don’t need to wake your baby for a feed beyond the first couple of weeks as long as they are following their growth curve. I night weaned my own DCs around 5-7 months, but know people who did it successfully as early as 2 months. It’s worth a try!

Oh wow! I honestly didn't realise that I didn't need to be waking her / giving her a dream feed overnight beyond the early weeks.

I think she would happily take a bottle at 11pm/midnight and go through to 6am but I thought I should be still waking her/ getting her up to feed to make sure she was getting enough 🙈

I’ve never woken to feed or dream fed mine, dd woke when hungry every few hours, ds slept 6/7 hours from 6 weeks and 12 hours from 3 months.

I would go with your instinct - my eldest stoped feeding at night by 12 weeks but my youngest was still having a bottle in the night when she was two! My middle child was somewhere in the middle, as most children tend to be, but I think as long as they are getting enough during the day I would enjoy the sleep.

I would follow your babies lead, don't wake them for a feed and see if they sleep through. My DD slept through (formula fed) from approx 10 days old, she just wasn't hungry during the night. I upped the oz of her bottles during the day so that she was still having the correct/average amount.

If she'll go all night without a feed, then do it!!! It's really only the first couple of weeks you need to wake them. Mine was 9 weeks the first time he slept through

Well my baby is one and I still feed her back to sleep when she wakes. She's also up every two hours through the night so I think you're friends advice is madness and you don't have a problem to fix.

See how she goes and decide from there! At almost 3 months old, if she's sleeping through, you're winning! Get that extra sleep in!

I didn't wake my second born to feed at night (my first baby didn't like sleep and fed all night!) and second born put weight on fine (breastfed); she slept through the night at 8 weeks.

Thanks everyone, gave her a bottle at 11pm last night (she didn't take it all) and didn't wake her for a feed at 3am...she woke herself at 4.45am wanting a feed so gave her it then. I think if she has a full feed between 11pm - midnight she will probably sleep through until 6am at least.

Trial and error but just glad I asked on here as I would have continued waking her if not and potentially struggled to get her to sleep through later.

I wouldn't wake get, but I also would also try to consciously enjoy this spell of good sleep. My first did similar at this age, and we had a good run of a couple of months before things changed again, and sleep was hard for years after!

So enjoy it, savour it, and maybe you'll get lucky, but equally, dont take it for granted. Fingers crossed obviously that things stay good though.

Definitely don't wake for a feed! I only did that for the first week or so and after that fed (breastfed) on demand during the night, but he'd usually do 6-7 hour stretches from a few weeks old without feeding. If she's hungry she'll tell you!