Night time comfort feeds

[disneyprincess87]

Hi all

It's another sleep query that I would love to find out your experiences with.

Our 6 and half month old EBF baby was sleeping through the night, waking for one night time feed at 2am and then falling asleep again. She'd sleep from 8-7ish.

However, the 4 month sleep regression hit and now wakes at least 4 times in the night for what I think is a comfort feed. her bed time is round 730. After a few minutes she's asleep again and I can put her back down into her next to me cot.
I'll be going back to work soon and would like to know if there's a way to improve this. On a bad night, especially if she refused a day time nap, she'll be up every hour. She won't take a dummy and I've tried shushing and patting her but she continues to be upset until she's on the boob! Don't want to leave her crying as NDN might become annoyed and don't like the feeling of leaving her when I know a quick feed will sort her.

I haven't moved her into her own room as she's up so often. Although she takes her day time naps in the nursery, after about 15mins of whinging/crying. She normally has 3 day time naps every two hours but they only average 30mins.

So could you please tell me what your experiences are of comfort feeds at night? Will she just learn to sleep again through the night- she used to but maybe that was a lucky period?!

Thank you so much 😊

Watching with interest as have exactly the same issue....currently sleeping with her in the bed with my boob out - the only way I don't feel completely wrecked!!

works well in the early hours of the morning to get some more sleep!

It's really common for night feeds to make a reappearance during early weaning - 6-9 months old. So I would not be quick to assume these feeds are not calorie related.

Early weaning foods are usually low calorie foods; fruit and veg. The most calorie dense foodstuff baby can have is milk. Gram for gram she will get far more calories from 100g if milk rather than 100g if vegetables or fruit.

Therefore it's important to maintain milk intake in the early weaning months. In fact milk intake night even increase when weaning starts, because high calorie milk is being replaced with low calorie foods.

This is the reason night feeds start up again when weaning starts. As you increase food groups, include more protein, carbs and high calorie foods, and as portion sizes go up, then the need for milk will start reducing.

My 10mo DS feeds all night and always has so watching out of interest. I can't get a decent sleep and I can't go out. He stuffs his face with food all day then wants milk every hour or 2 throughout the night. It is habit as he cannot be hungry. My HV said not to let him cry it out til 1 year old!!!

That's really interesting thank you. My baby's night feeds started two months before I started weaning her so you think it could be a combination of comfort and wanting more calories?
I think she's certainly associating feeding to sleep as a sleep cue now, it's only ever for a few minutes so different from her day time feeds as they're much shorter.
I don't want to do anything that's detrimental to her and there's such conflicting advice!

Wait till the reverse cycling starts when you go back to work! Cosleep was the only way for us.

don't like the sound of that! How long did it last for you?!

About a month of three feeds a night. DS was also ebf but was eating reasonably well at 6 months (started mashed banana and avo at 5.5mths as well as daytime ff in preparation for my return to work)). Prior to that, he had been put to bed at 8, bf around 10pm kind of a dream feed I suppose, sometimes a 2am bf and always fed again at 6 but often went back to sleep till 7. When he 'reverse cycled' he used to wake maybe three times between 10 and 6. It was all right once I had just him and me in a double bed with the Sleepyhead. I missed him by day so I didn't mind too much. Then after a month I got DH to handle the night waking while I hid under the covers. Drinks of water proved not worth waking for!

I look forward to that stage!!