4.5 month old - on solids but still waking in the night.

[Nadene]

Realistically if a 4.5 month old is on solids and formula do they still need to feed in the night? I know all babies differ but mine wakes a lot at night and I would like to know if I should cut out some night feeds.

Yes, it's a myth that early introduction of solids = sleeping through. Sadly one still parroted by health visitors who really should know better. The guidance has been don't wean until six months for a long time now but lots of HVs fail to tell mothers this, for some reason known only to themselves. Milk has more fat and calories than the sort of pureed fruit and veg you give a newly-weaned baby, so fills them up more. Lots of babies go through a growth spurt around 4 months and wake more at night.

How many bottles a day are you giving?

Think you should feed your baby if s/he is hungry, rather than trying to cut out feeds. 4.5 months is v young. My ds is 12m and is still waking for a proper feed at least once a night, despite 3 meals and snacks during the day.

i really think it's luck of the draw. my dd is 16 weeks, breastfed, won't be given solids 'til she's 6 months & generally sleeps through. i think you should carry on giving feeds in the night.

Yes their tummies are still tiny.

Nadene, ds2 is 5 months and still has 2 feeds at night (as well as 3 solids meals during the day). He was having 3 feeds at night until recently, but I was fed up with him being able to go 4, 5 or even 6 hours in the day, but only 3 hours at night. So the middle feed I gradually watered down until he just wasn't interested in it. However, he kept on waking up at about 3am to have a cuddle. Because we both work we were giving him his cuddle. But this week I've put my foot down and so we're doing controlled crying when he wakes for a cuddle in the night. First night it was 45 minutes of screaming. Second night (last night) he didn't wake once between 10:30pm and 6am! Let's see what happens tonight! I'm happy to leave him with the 10:30 and 6am feeds, though.