Night feeding and when to stop

[LouiseTopaz]

My 6 month old son currently has a bottle at 7 p.m. and falls asleep right after. He gets another feeding at 11 p.m., though he doesn't wake up for it, and then wakes up around 6 a.m.

If I skip the 11 p.m. feeding, he wakes up at 3 a.m. and 7 a.m. I'm uncertain about when to stop the 11 p.m. feeding because I'm concerned that if we continue giving it to him without him waking for it, we won't know when he's ready to drop it naturally.

I would be grateful for any advice.

He’s very young still
i would keep that 11 pm feeding for a while longer
the fact he wakes for food without it is an indication of that
I dropped that 11 pm feed at around 11 months

You'll never know unless you try. Mine both slept through from 7pm until 7am from 2 months old but up to then they would wake around 2am for a bottle. I'd imagine the 11pm will be easier to drop first.

We dropped 11pm, and gradually pushed the 3am forward while increasing the amount of food we offered at evening meal time. From 7 months. One day, at about 8 months she slept all night without a bottle and from that day we didn't offer milk at night any more.

Thank you, I'm a first time mum so all this advice is really useful.

Thank you, sorry if this is a stupid question but how do you push it forward?

I stopped it once they were established enough with weaning that they were eating a decent dinner.

You’re very lucky! You’re getting a completely normal night of sleep. Keep going! He doesn’t really ‘need’ to drop night feeds. Some breastfed 3 year olds still feed at night. They don’t need to, but there is no harm either. Usually sleep gets tricky again from 6 months so I’d not change a thing and enjoy it while it lasts. Mine had night feeds (not dream feeds) until 9 and 15 months.

I wouldn't stop until the very earliest 12 months, ideally 18 months so he can understand better

6 months is incredibly young to stop night feeds

.....and my breastfed 2 year old is still going strong 💤 It's comfort, I'm sure, rather than need and if he keeps it up for much longer I'm definitely going to night wean. Don't know how exactly?! 🤣 but my DD had weaned herself completely by this point. She still woke in the night till around 4/5 though so I do wonder, what is the point!

Also when babies are around 8/9 months they go through a developmental phase of separation anxiety so sleep tends to be particularly bad then, will be a bit rubbish if you can't even offer some milk to help him sleep

@Jeezypeepz

I night weaned my DD at 2y3m, she was only waking once. I basically talked to her a lot about it first, read her Milkies when the sun shines and basically told her the truth, that milk was for bed time and morning and I wanted to stop nursing in the middle of the night. She was actually fine with it, she was a little upset for a couple of nights but then totally fine.

Still wakes up once a night though and she's 3.5 !!!

Just keep trying from time to time. We were able to stop night feeds around 7 months which happened at the same time as being able to increase her bottle size during the day so she was getting enough milk during the day. Have had the odd period since when she’s needed settling with milk during the night.

For a 6 month old your babies sleep is amazing!! I wouldn’t change anything.

OP are you bottle or breastfeeding? If you’re breastfeeding then carry on as long as you like, but if you’re bottle feeding (and I think from the OP it sounds like you are??) then keep in mind the official advice is no bottles after 12MO, and whilst some people choose to keep the bedtime bottle a bit longer as it’s an important part of the bedtime routine, you really want to avoid giving milk overnight once they’re 1 because it’s ruinous for their teeth to drink from a bottle that washes it all over their teeth and then not brush. Obviously that’s a while off for you right now but I just wanted to point that out as you’ve had a few replies that are breastfeeding specific and this is one area where it’s really really different. Of course if the night feeds are breastfeeds then please ignore me and listen to the far more knowledge posters above!

I would stick to your current routine. It sounds like it's working great, he's so so young still.

Sorry, I should have said I was bottle feeding.

I'm a first time mum asking for advice, there is no need to be rude. Read back what I wrote, if I don't feed him at 11 he wakes at 3am, so why would I stop the 11pm feed to say he sleeps through? It's actually worse for me to drop the 11pm feed. I was asking for advice because if I keep feeding him when he's sleeping I won't know when he stops needing this feed.

Thank you, we have just started weaning. It's not going great but I think it will help when he's getting more food.

I think it was increased milk intake rather than increased food intake that was important. She went from 6 x 5oz bottles with one during the night to 5 x 6oz bottles all during the day. If anything food didn’t help with sleep as it caused some digestive issues like constipation for a long time. She did eventually drop one of the bottles in favour of food but I think we were still on 4 bottles at age one when I replaced two of them with snacks.

My response wasn't rude at all! What an over sensitive overreaction!

Once you feel like he’s having a good dinner I would start to taper it. Or at least that’s what I did since I wasn’t willing to risk the early wake. Dropped an ounce, gave it a few nights and no wakes, so dropped another. Once I’d got her down from 7oz to 3oz and she hadn’t woken I had the courage to cut it out completely!