7 months old- could/ should she still be hungry during the night?

[NeatFreak]

Dd is just over seven months and was a truly awful sleeper until earlier this month (waking about every hour and mainly co sleeping). She's suddenly learned how to self settle and will wake a few times in the night, cry on and off for a couple of minutes then go back to sleep. However, she usually has a feed once or twice, normally about 1 then 4am, which I don't mind as it only takes me ten minutes then she goes back down awake and goes to sleep. When she wakes at these times she just won't self soothe and really seems to need the feeds but I'm wondering/ keep hearing that past 6 months babies don't need milk through the night...how true is this?!

Fwiw, she's baby three, goes to bed about 6pm and is still bf ( weaning going ok but not massive amounts of food going in yet but she's on 99th centile for weight)

It is pretty normal but most hcp agree that night feeds aren't necessary by 9 months max. I night weaned at 7 months at he loved solids and I felt he was getting enough. It went well and wasn't much of a battle. I saw this as a sign that he was ready.

I read that up to a year they may still be hungry, my ds is 9months and still seems to need a feed in the early morning usually around 5am, as far as I can tell solids make little difference as he can go til 5 even when he's hardly eaten anything for supper. Milk is also a comfort thing and my feeling at the moment is, even if he doesn't need it in terms of hunger if it means I'm back in bed within 10mins why fight it? I think the key thing is the self-settling and putting down awake after the feeds. If you do want to change it and are sure she's not hungry getting dp to on the resettling can help - ds settles way better for dh than for me and him doing the resettling has really improved ds sleep.

Thanks

Think I will go with my instinct and keep feeding her once or twice until I'm sure she doesn't need it. It seems funny that she will self settle but once or twice a night she doesn't so she could well be hungry... Or is it a habit that I have to break?!

My dd (7.5 months) still wakes every 2/3 hours and is very much hungry. I think all babies are different but some will most definitely need feeding during the night but that's just my opinion and experience with my 2 dc.

Thanks all. She sleeps in her own room and compared to my other dc this is sleeping well, although I go to her a couple of times it takes ten minutes then she goes back to sleep. Hopefully this is the basis for improving it naturally as the first block is usually from 6 til 1ish, which to me is a good chunk of time (especially if I go to bed at 7!!)

I had this conundrum recently and was told that after 6 months they don't need it for nourishment but look for comfort out of habit.

I was also told that by the time you're weaning, giving around 21 ounces per day is more than adequate.

My baby was taking about 30 ounces at the time, which gave me confidence to offer a dummy instead of a feed.

He settled fine with that and eventually, after gradually waking less and less, didn't even wake up at all. Probably took about 2 weeks in total.

It helped for me to be combined feeding and expressing milk so I could measure most of it, but there is a website that gives you an idea of how much breast milk your baby is likely to be taking in a feed. milk calculator

fourfriends.com/abrw

fourfriends.com/abrw

Try this?

I know what you mean about babies being very individual, however some people recognise that all babies look for comfort (naturally) and sometimes a baby can look for comfort of a "feed" exhaust that's all they know; whereas if they have an alternative option (like a dummy) to give them comfort then sometimes that can do the trick just as effectively.

That's all useful thanks. I don't use a dummy and don't think dd is comfort sucking most of the time as she gulps as much as she can but doesn't fall asleep during the feed then does go back down in her cot awake.

I've also been told that formula would keep her fuller for longer than bm but I've no plans to introduce any formula, will just continue as I am for as long as I think she needs the night time milk. Thanks for reassurance on here as more than one person has told me 'she can't be hungry' and other mums have spent days and days night weaning because their babies don't need it any more.

Must learn to trust my instinct more

For what it's worth formula doesn't keep them fuller for longer at all! I've had to do combined feeding for medical reasons and the introduction of formula made no difference at all to the amount of time between feeds. I do think part of this may well be the fact that I used the smallest possible nozzle on the teat so that it wouldn't make him go off the idea of breastfeeding altogether (bottle being less effort to take and all that).

Anyway that's by the by, I'm glad you feel that your situation is now resolved to your satisfaction

I agree that she can certainly be hungry. As you said, it's still fairly early days for weaning. I found they naturally woke less once they were eating a "proper" solid diet - but at 7mo milk is still by far the most important part if her diet.

It is possible she may be thirsty rather than hungry. Does she drink much water in the day? Could her room be a little too warm? I had night wakes recently because dd needed a drink, and she settled after some water.

My dd is 10 months and wakes 50% of the time

I do think she is genuinely hungry as water won't suffice she also won't take a dummy