Stopping night feeding tips over 6 months

[Notmorewashing]

My son still Bfeeds 4-5 times a night and he is over 6 months now. He used to wake and not feed but now he only seems to wake to feed. He’s never slept longer than 3 hours ever in his life. Was up every hour until 5 months.

How can you encourage this feeding to be stopped ?

Have offered a bottle and he cries and refuses. Seems like he is really hungry when he feeds but HV said doesn’t need milk at this age and it’s for comfort.

Anyone managed to do this ?

I think it’s a load of bollocks to be honest, babies still have tiny stomachs at 6 months and digest everything very quickly. Some sleep through, but that doesn’t mean the ones who wake for milk don’t need it. And even if it is ‘just’ for comfort, comfort is a big deal for babies! He’ll start sleeping longer stretches in time. 6 months is very early to night wean.

Have you considered combined feeding? Giving formula occasionally. It's supposed to be more filling and it means not all the feeds are in you. X

Yes I have but he refuses formula, have tried lots of times and when I’m not around.

I was told by my midwife that night waking is common up to 12 months and not to night wean until at least then. DD naturally stopped waking to feed at about 13 months and bar the odd cold, teething episode etc has slept through since then.

I am sure the lack of sleep is grinding you down but 6 months is still quite small. Does your DC self-settle at bedtime? If not, I think that's where you could start making a change.

At 6 months most of their nutrition still comes from milk, despite what the HV says. I think you need to take each day as it comes and not worry that you’re setting a precedent for his entire childhood. In other words, he may well wean himself as he starts having more solids. I was up through the night feeding until 7/8 months and one day she just started going longer through and then eventually stopped althoghter on her own. Since then she has barely woken in the night, she loves going to bed and there’s no anxiety around it. If you think he’s hungry, carry on. If you think it’s purely comfort and you’d rather stop you have little choice but to face some crying and unsettled nights anyway. I truly think sleep training at 6 months is pointless (they say not to until over 1). You can go through all the upset only to find it wasted when the next round of teeth come through, when they’re next ill, etc.

I just waited for them to drop the feeds themselves. Both mine stopped by about 9 or 10 months. Loads can change over the next few months as they start to eat more and more solids in the day.