Using cool boiled water to settle 12 week old back to sleep

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Has anyone actually used cool boiled water instead of feeding during night?
I've got 12 week old ds2. His sleep isn't too bad - just one wake up at around 3am at which he's increasingly sleepy and feeding less and less. So perhaps habit not a necessary fees. Some books suggest cool boiled water -anyone tried it? Does it work?

At 12 weeks?
Absolutely not. He needs his milk. Growing little lad.

He's 12 weeks old? I wouldn't be expecting him to STTN yet and if you're only getting one night wakening you are very lucky.

Is he BF or FF? If BF he doesn't need anything other than BM, if FF I think (but am no expert) that he might sometimes need cool boiled water if it's very hot, but not sure at what age that might become the case.

Prob sounded a little harsh...
My youngest is 7 months and he still wakes for a feed in the night. Admittedly it could just be comfort/routine/habit etc but my eldest 2 slept through from about 15 months onwards and they're brilliant sleepers now.

12 weeks is still very very young. If a quick, little feed settles him back to sleep-what's the harm?

He only has a tiny tum still. 10-12 hours is a long time for an adult to go without a drink or food. So for a little baby it would feel even longer. Give him what he wants and comfort him.

I would try to move the feed later and later to drop it? You may find he will need the milk later to keep him going till breakfast time? If this feed has a knock on effect with him feeding less first thing then I would have thought he might be ready to drop it.
I'd be worried pushing him to drop it too soon would cause more night waking?

No no no. Don't give your 12 week old water instead of milk.

Only milk. He needs it, even at inconvenient times. It's perfectly norm for him to need a feed in the night. In fact, it's surprising he's only waking once - you're lucky.

Definitely too early to think of doing that at 12 weeks. Even the most hardline doctors, HVs etc say that it is perfectly normal to need night feeds to 6 months, their tummy is only little. I have a 7mo who is waking once most nights for a feed and I dont want to night wean so I am going with that for now. It won't be forever.

I actually asked if anyone had done it - since its mentioned in the gf book - not for opinions on whether it's right or wrong.

Well, the answers are no, because we believe it to be wrong. As do the medical professionals, which GF is not.

That to me is a more useful and complete answer than just a no.
But to answer your last post - no.

For perspective. My DD slept 10 hours at night from 5-6 weeks. First time it freaked me out - she was not gaining weight well (TT eventually diagnosed) and had bad chest infection; it coincided with visit to GP for follow up monitoring on both. I raised it with her and she said no, some babies do just sleep that long that early; don't wake her.

At the time she was combi-fed so did have some of the added benefits of filling formula to help her through.

Saying that, I also thought that (if assuming BF) 12w was too early to think about starting to substitute milk. I did try the water thing on DS (as mentioned, no need for DD) but later; around 6-7m and when he was certainly getting enough formula to cope. I don't recall it being much of a eureka moment. He normally didn't wake so didn't think it was to do with habit.

GF had not had babies when she wrote her book... but I accept you have the full picture on your DS's feeding situation and weight etc. I guess your DS will let you know if water isn't cutting it for him.

Thank you eugene

No.

No I haven't and I think if you ask your hv she will say its not good practice. The gina ford book is full of unsound advice that as a health care professional I'd be unhappy about following.

I did cooled boiled water with DD when she was about 8 months old and regularly taking 1 fl oz at one specific feed time overnight. It was when she was waking about an hour or two after feeding, so knew she wasn't hungry. It worked and she stopped waking.

That said ,I now have a 12 week old DS, who is like yours sleeping 7 till 3am, sometimes takes a large feed at 3, sometimes not. I will not be introducing water for this feed until I know it's not due to hunger which will be at least till he's 6 months or so. Agree with the rest of the posters, 8 to 9 hours is a long time without food, and will continue to offer milk. Also know how lucky we are with our sleepers! One wake time is bliss in comparison to how my DD was. I'm just crossing fingers it will continue, as know these things can easily change!

when mine was doing this At about 10 weeks, I introduced a dream feed at 10.30-11pm ish before I went to bed to see if that would see her through till the morning. At first she woke at 3ish anyway but after a few days she went on till 6-7am. by 13 weeks we tried dropping the dream feed and she slept through ever since 6.30-6.30ish. shes 7 months now. This might work for you? I dont think you should withold milk at 3am if he wants it, but there would be no harm in seeing if you can settle him back to sleep for a bit with a pat or cuddle for a while, to check thay he definitely wants it. Just some ideas based on my experience

The beauty of MN is it's like a rl conversation with a bunch of people who know a few things and care an awful lot. It's also very useful as a resource for people who are just lurking or who might search and find this thread. So comprehensive answers instead of 'yes' or 'no' are a good thing.

I agree with the others. At 12 weeks old, when a baby asks for milk, you give them milk. No need for cooled, boiled water in this situation. Are you bfing or ffing?

I'm already doing a big dream feed at 11. Breast feeding.
I really just wanted to know if it was something people did or not, as the gf book comes across a bit dated and too strict in my view. I don't follow her routines btw, just look at it every do often to see what she thinks babies should be doing at different ages. Then I put it back on the shelf for another few months!

Have you tried dropping the dream feed? Strange I know, dd2 is now 6 months and at the same age we were dream feeding but by chance found out that if she didn't have the late night feed she didn't wake up until morning.