Is this crunch time? Yes or no will do...

[greeneone12]

Hi All

Last night I visited my brother and we left his house at 7.30pm. Quite a long drive so DD (7 months) slept in the car on the way home. Woke up when we got back but didn't feed. Just changed her nappy and into sleeping bag for bed. After her last feed at 6pm she didn't then wake for a feed until 3am.

Does this now mean that I can assume she can go the 9 hours every night?

Thanks!

Oh and normally she goes to bed at 7pm.

Thanks again...

She obviously CAN go 9 hours without a feed, but whether she will is another matter. She might be waking up for a feed in the night more out of comfort/habit than hunger.

And that is why I think now I should be a bit more careful before I feed her...especially as she went so long last night.

But she might actually be hungry some nights rather than others - do you get days where you eat more?

I know :( Yes my appetite changes....but its such a hard call to make.

I used to send DH in to resettle if DS was doing longer stretches. If he really needed me, DS wouldn't calm down so I'd feed otherwise he could go back to sleep. It is a tough one!

once dd skipped her 2nd night feed twice in a row on the 3rd and 4th night when she woke I without a feed or offering the boob resettled her and resettled her and resettled her... the result being she did not ask for it again after that. That was about 2.5 months ago she is now 7.5 months. She stopped waking in the night except for when she's had a cold or cutting a tooth.

Hmm I guess I will have a tough job on my hands as DD is 7 months now. I just hate to think of her hungry an can never be sure. When she does feed in the night she does take a while and doesn't fall asleep straight away.

I weaned dd off night feeds at 7 months old, when I was totally confident she was getting enough solids and milk in the day. It took a couple of nights of PUPD and she has not fed in the night since (now 16mo). I don't think she would have dropped the night feed of her own accord, it was habit more than anything.

It is hard though, that feeling that they might be hungry. So only night-wean if it feels right for you and your baby.

Greenone just to add that I do still do a dream feed at 10pm sometimes earlier, then she easily goes 9 hours. If she wakes after that because she's not too great (cold/teething) I'm usually expecting it and so have a bottle of water or fruit tea ready to offer.

I know what you mean about being hungry as dd was under weight until about 4.5 months we had really serious feeding/weight issues so I didn't take the decision lightly but when I realised that she was not hungry in the mornings I decided it was time. Looking back it was the right thing to do, also babies can get used to sleeping on a full belly I'm sure and that can make it difficult to stop the feed because the are hungry but it doesn't mean it is a good habit for the longer term once they are past the newborn stage and being weaned/on 3 meals a day etc. Just my own conclusions in any case.

Just because she sleeps through now doesn't mean she always will, so go with the flow. When she is having a growth spurt she might wake up and want feeding, or she may be thirsty. Perhaps you could offer water first and see if that settles her if she does wake up. There may be times that she wakes and just wants a cuddle - just like adults sometimes do.

No.

In the first year their needs and patterns change a lot. You'll find that while she may start having some reliable sleep now, it's likely that in a couple of months you'll go back to having more frequent night wakings and this might involve milk feeds. Of course it might not happen too. But in just a few short months your child is going to go from baby to starting to talk and walk. This is developmentally challenging and the first thing that will be affected is sleep and it obviously takes a lot of calories to achieve these big developmental leaps. You might have a baby that stocks up on the requisite calories during the day, but it's utterly normal for them to start waking at night again from 9 months onwards. It's also about to get hotter so thirst will play a part.

Generally, if a child is hungry in the night, they won't be settled by other means. I don't think you'll 'miss' true hunger.

Thank you. Offering water might be an option if she took a bottle! At the moment when she wakes at midnight and then 4am ish she does take a full feed but so many of my friends LO's are sleeping through and I don't want LO to get used to waking. It IS a tough call. Think I might give it one more month as she is not on 3 meals a day yet.

My DS is 8mo. I am in a similar position to you currently, trying to decide if I should be stricter in not giving him milk when he wakes at night. I am fairly certain that 95% of his desire to feed is habit, not hunger. That said, although he is on three meals a day they are not that large compared to the volume I've seen friends' babies of comparable age put away, and I still have a nagging voice at the back of my head telling me it's wrong to deny him milk just in case he really is hungry. As you say, it's not an easy call. I guess the best you can do is trust your instinct and monitor your baby. Helpful, no?!?

My DS was doing 8-hour stretches at 3 months and then again at 5/6 months but it's all changed recently and I'm sure will change again many times before we achieve anything that could be called regular.

Ho hum.

Well last night DD went 11 hours without feeding overnight so from now on it's no milk! She CAN do it and now she has I don't want to let her thing she can have milk in the night anymore. Wish me luck!

Greenone12 - how's it going? I'm really interested to know how your DD has taken to the milk withdrawal as I know I'm going to have to bite the same bullet soon...

My DD hasn't had milk in the night for WEEKS and then suddenly needed a feed at 4a.m. I'm not sure they are ever going to be predictable!

My dd, 5 m, has her last feed at 6pm, goes down at 7pm and usually sleeps til at least 3-4 am. Sometimes she wakes at 11pmish and feeds and goes through til 5.30-6. So yes, I think it is possible to go for that long and they won't starve, but whether you can get them back to sleep without it is another matter!

BR44 the other night she went 11 hours with no feed so I have really been trying to be strict. DP has been helping more and for the last few night I have done last feed at 6pm and not fed until 5am. This week though has been completely up and down :( She has just gone to sleep now for a nap when her bedtime is normally 7pm but we just couldn't keep her awake.

So in answer to your question it's going ok but I feel teething has thrown a real spanner in the works! Alos by the looks of it, from other posters, it seems as if she might start needing feeds in the night again in the future anyway. Arrggh!