CC and night feed

[Bigknees]

Dh and I have been hush patting for the last 2 weeks and finally seen some results. However as ds is still waking several times a night we think he has become dependant on the shushing. We have therefore been attemting to phase it out and we are now at a stage where if we leave him he grumbles and moans for 5-15 mins then settles (last night) He is though still waking 5/6 times though. He is very healthy, in his own room, happy and smiley in the day, no temp/light or noise issues in his room etc so no obvious reason for him waking so frequently. We think these wakings are habit as he has been waking 8/9 times a night for months now. We are hoping that if we continue he will get used to sleeping longer. There is however one fly in the ointment so to speak...

We feed him if he wakes after 3am. This is because we felt he was so used to this feed it would be too much to expect him to drop it and hopefully in time he would drop it himself as he has on rare occassions gone without a feed. He is 6.5 months and on the 97th percebtile for height and weight. My gut tells me he does not need this feed but is used to having it and the feeling of a semi full tum through the night. So my question or concern is this...

Will keeping this night feed undermine our CC efforts earlier in the night or can a night feed still be done. We tried a few nights back to drop them but he cried for soooo long that we decided to give him some milk the next night when he woke after 3am. Different sleep consultants seem to suggest different things.

Oh also just to add...we replaced the dummy with a comforter with great success and he does use that when he wakes but alas, is still waking and taking a while to resettle.

If you are anti CC/CIO/All that is inbetween, please do not comment. I have driven myself crazy and to the GP trying to do what is best for my baby. I am very proud that we have made the progress we have with limited crying and am not interested in defending myself. My baby, my research, my choice. Thank you.

How old is he?

6 months - just seen!

I think 6 months is very very young to not need a night feed and to sleep through - I would definitely be feeding at least once, maybe twice a night at that age.

Thank you for your comment. Any thoughts on my actual question?

. Any thoughts on my actual question?

The previous poster was trying to help you?! And he/she did answer. Jeez.

Anyway.

Inthiink you should feed your baby in the night at 6.5 months old. I think they still need at least 1 feed. It may undermine your cc but in my opinion they need the feed.

By 10 months when eating 3 solid meals a day and snacks and drinking water I was happy to encourage force the end of night feeds. And it resulted in sleeping through (bar teething, illness etc).

Thank you.

Hi! I'm not in a position to comment really as my DS is 8months old and still a terrible sleeper despite efforts to 'sort it'. We did CC I suppose (although I don't like to admit it really 😕)... I didn't do the timing and returning at set intervals etc but I did lesson the intervention he needed to go to sleep...so went from feeding to sleep...to holding him in my arms...to in-cot settling with dummy and hand on chest etc etc. All involved at bit of. crying. We are now at the point where DS happily falls asleep Independently in his cot with his dummy with no crying 😀...gr8... however it hasn't stopped the multiple night wakings? Despite self settling at bedtime he still can't do it through the night and ends up coming back in co-sleeper cot where I can cuddle him to sleep. Even then he will sometimes cry a bit 😞Again I have a tried a bit of CC at the night wakings but he was getting hysterical and it's just not for me (sometimes wish it was 🙈😣)

Suppose I just wanted to say despite your best efforts and progress it might not always 'fix it'...no idea why some babies seem to be 'sorted' in the classic 3-4 nights and others it just doesn't seem to work?
In regards to your question about the night feed undermining your CC efforts I think the answer is probably yes...again not in a position to advise as although I have night weaned DS I still have nights where if he really won't settle then I feed him 😞
...I had a phone consultation with sleep consultant around the 6.5montj mark and basically she said it is ok to feed in the night but it has to be a dream feed...so you never respond to a cry with a feed. If u think your baby is hungry in the night the advise from sleep consultant was to lift baby at 10-11pm. Good luck...hope you do better than me 😴

I agree the 10-11pm feed is the most practical option to ensure the baby has enough calories to go through the night but I would not introduce it at 6.5 months. I think most babies drop the dream feed once proteins are established (which often happens at around 7-8 months). My DD has already begun reducing her 10.30pm intake and she has just turned 6 months. She has been comfortably going without feeds from 11pm to 7am since 12 weeks and she has never cried for her milk in the morning. Dream feeding worked great for us but we started very early.

I agree the 3am feed probably undermines some of CC efforts but I would continue with the current routine for a few weeks until the baby is having 3 decent solid meals a day (they do not have to be large - just real meals). I would then start night weaning.

ds is still waking several times a night we think he has become dependant on the shushing

Your DS will need to be dependant on something to get to sleep. Independant sleeping is about having sources of comfort baby can access (or learn to access) on their own.

It does not mean no comfort at all.

Shushing takes a lot more time and effort than a 10 second dummy reinsert, and makes baby a lot more dependant on you, but if that's your thing it's fine to see you through until baby has the muscle coordination to make any real use of the comforter.

We tried a few nights back to drop them but he cried for soooo long that we decided to give him some milk the next night when he woke after 3am

I'd put good money on the fact he absolutely does not need that night feed. Or any night feed. Given his size I assume he must have high calorie intake in the daytime already.

That said, I wouldn't want to be the one who advised you to leave your 6 month old to cry. So if you cannot or will not offer your child help to feel secure and comforted in the night, better to keep that feed so at least he can feel settled and content for part of the night.

I think the primary problem here is unrealistic expectations.

The secondary problem i would guess at inadequate daytime naps leading to baby being over tired in the night, so light sleeping and waking easily.

Neither of these are addressed with the use of controlled crying.

Lots of babies still need nightfeeds up until a year, for various reasons (thirsty, hot, hungry, comfort). Has someone made you feel as though he should be sleeping through? Just curious ☺️ You could try a dreamfeed to see if he'll go through a bit longer but in the first year babies have so many ups and downs Sleep wise sometimes it's easier to just roll with it. Totally exhausting as it is!

The key thing is consistency so I would say the feed would be undermining your efforts for him to settle independently at other times of night. It's quite confusing from baby's point of view. Only you will know if he really is hungry or not- if he's having decent meals in the day plus milk it is very likely he's not hungry and it's just for comfort. You could cut down the milk by an ounce each night until just giving water- then just have a beaker of water if you want to make sure you're not denying him but he will likely not be interested in it. Then use the same technique to settle him at all times of night if he wakes- pick up put down/ pat shush or whatever you're doing. 6.5 months definitely still quite early for no night wakings though.

We sleep trained without dropping the night feed (5.5 months at the time, used PU/PD) and she still has one night feed now at 8 months.

We used a sleep consultant who advised us to allow her to feed 4 hourly at night before starting solids, and to increase the interval to 6 hourly once 6.5 months old and taking solids. If it has been less than the aforementioned interval, to use sleep training to put her back to sleep. Within 4 days of starting training, she managed to do 8-10 hour stretches before the first feed.

Weaning is going slowly and she now goes anywhere between 7 and 10 hours before the first feed. I am happy to feed once a night so am in no hurry to drop it but when she is well established on solids and I do want to drop it, I plan to gradually reduce the duration of her feed (ebf) until she doesn't need it at all.

From my experience, night feeding did not affect sleep training and we managed to achieve what we had wanted to with her sleep

Riddles what sleep training did you do? I've tried a little CC with no joy. My baby is also 8months and wakes 1-2 hourly all night

We used PU/PD - she was only 5.5 months at the time so too young for all the other methods (and I wouldn't have coped with her crying alone at that age either).

I've read on other threads on here that PU/PD is too stimulating when 8 months though. There are quite a few other posters who are far more knowledgable than me on sleep training - hopefully they can add to this and give you some more advice.

Thanks Riddles. Yea, from what I have read Pu/Pd will not work now he is 8months. Beginning to think I should have tackled this earlier