Do you feed baby during the night?

[Puppydogg1]

Hi all!

May be a weird question but just wanted to check other opinions!

My little boy is 6 months and is EBF.
When talking to a friend today it came up that when her LO of a similar age wakes up she just pops dummy back in, rocks baby back ton sleep and puts back in cot.

However when my son wakes up I do the same asI did when he was newborn, change and then feed him, every time he wakes up.

My friend says this is unnecessary and I Dan just settle him back to sleep without feeding, and I'm making a rod for my own back by feeding each time he wakes.

Should I be feeding him each time? Or just settle him back to sleep?

I would say if it's becoming a problem offer water instead of breastfeeding.

How many times does he wake during the night?

There's definitely no need to change him unless he's soaked through or has pooped.

@Puppydogg1 personally I only feed mine (5 months) at night if he is definitely hungry. Usually I whack on the white noise and pop his dummy back in (without turning on the light or picking him up). If he goes back to sleep then great, if he's hungry he starts shouting like a belligerent gorilla so I know I have to feed him 😬 as a general rule, if you are able to resettle him then he probably doesn't need a feed! Good luck :) x

No. My eldest was weaned by then but I just soothed him on the odd occasion he woke during the night. I was still BF my daughter at that age but she would normally sleep through, so again a quick nappy check and soothing voice and stroking her tum and then back out.

Stopped feeding Dd long before that at night as she’d been consistently sleeping through, so assumption was she didn’t need it. If she had ever woken and not gone back to sleep on her own or with DH resettling I would have fed her of course, but that happened once I think after about 3 months. Breastfed only until 1.

We stopped changing nappies after she stopped pooing at night around 8-10 weeks and then only would if she was soaked through or struggling to go back to sleep.

My baby is only 4 months but I still feed through the night. He normally wakes around 1am, which requires a dummy and he goes back down, then head a feed around 4am and a nappy change. His nappies are really heavy at 4am, and then again at 7am, so I can't imagine not changing him throughout the night personally.

Thanks everyone!

@mathanxiety up until a month ago he used to sleep through and do a 10 hour stretch. For the last month he's up anywhere between 4 times or every hour ish from when he goes down! And that's every night.

Going to try settle him without feeding, and like you all say if he was hungry he'd let me know!
He's always been really good during the day with feeds and will let me know when he's had enough but during the night he will feed each time I offer

My son will be 2 in a few weeks and he still has a feed or two overnight. It's not ideal but I haven't been driven enough to change it! I don't think it's uncommon. My DD was night weaned at 8 months.

My LO DC3 is 7 months and EBF

I always feed in night when she wakes. I don’t change nappy anymore though as this just makes her more wide awake.

We were going stretches of 6/7hrs before 6 months old, then Bam... waking up a few times again :(

But now mostly she seems to go to bed when I do around 10pm Ish, then wake at 2/3 Ish then the morning. So no so bad!

I still feed my 6 month old several times a night. One nappy change at midnight to stop her leaking. Sometimes randomly settle with a bum tap. But if she complains then feed! It's a few mins and I don't want anyone waking up more than they need to!

@Puppydogg1

Thanks everyone!

@mathanxiety up until a month ago he used to sleep through and do a 10 hour stretch. For the last month he's up anywhere between 4 times or every hour ish from when he goes down! And that's every night.

Going to try settle him without feeding, and like you all say if he was hungry he'd let me know!
He's always been really good during the day with feeds and will let me know when he's had enough but during the night he will feed each time I offer

Have started him in weaning yet op?

I still nurse my 15 month old once in the night. She is hungry and feeds for 20 mins each side abs still takes a little while to settle. Use your own gut re feeding.

Please don't change in the night at this agr unless there is a poo. Unnecessary as modern nappies are so absorbent and it just wakes them up more. I use the next size up nappy overnight.

Look up your local breastfeeding group for sipper. It's very normal to nurse through the night at this age. My son only stopped nursing in the night at 15 months guessing my daughter will stop sometime soon but there is no rush if she needs it.

Wondering what I'm doing wrong on the back of this thread my ds is 9mo and still wakes up for two feeds during the night! I can't settle him without it and he drains the bottle I give him so is clearly hungry. Sleeping through has never existed over here!

@greenemerald I don't know if it's normal or not but my 1 year old still feeds multiple times through the night

I fed both my babies in the night until they were over 1, partly because I'm lazy and it was the quickest way to get back to sleep and you genuinely have no way of knowing if they are 'really' hungry or not. 6 months is young to expect them to always go all night without milk. I stopped changing them as soon as they stopped pooing at night though.

Oh gosh I fed mine overnight at that age. Eldest stopped taking a night feed at around a year, youngest was still feeding overnight until 18 months or so. I did night wean by offering a cuddle instead of a feed, but not at such a young age. Remember most of their nutrition in the first year comes from milk, and hunger isn’t the only reason babies will feed. If it was very frequent at that age i would try some kind of other soothing method, but 1-2 feeds overnight is fine.

No, my youngest is 8 months and hasn’t had a night feed since 4 months. My eldest was in the same routine. They rarely wake/woke during the night unless stirring for their dummy which I’d find and pop back in. If she was genuinely screaming in hunger then I’d feed her obviously but they doesn’t and literally only wakes briefly. Mine are/were bottle fed though so this may be the difference.

Mine is 7 months and BF but obviously on solids now too. Recently she's been waking up once at about 3am and I feed her back to sleep. In recent weeks she was waking as many as 4 times... I fed her back to sleep all of those times too Stick with your gut instinct - 12 hours is a long time for them to go with no milk especially as they're learning to sit up and crawl etc at this age.

If you are EBF it is really common to feed in the night and you might find it hard to settle him without a feed. Babies don't always feed because they're hungry sometimes it's just comfort and closeness. Give it a try but don't worry if your baby still wants you in the night.

Mine were BF and I still fed in the night until about a year old. Obviously if they hadn’t have woken up I wouldn’t have fed them! They didn’t have a dummy so couldn’t settle that way and a cuddle didn’t cut it.
Do what works for you OP.

I didn't BF but my daughter Didn't feed during the night after 12 weeks. Wanted to break the habit early and luckily she wanted to sleep.

It varies according to the child. IME, some babies stop waking for a feed in the night all by themselves while others need a bit more encouragement - unless you're prepared to keep feeding him at night for many months to come. It's fine if you are, and lots of people make that choice, but if you want to try and discourage night feeds you have to do something proactive about it (eg trying to get him to settle with a dummy) rather than expecting it just to happen. It will just happen with some babies, but not all.

Hope that makes sense!

My oldest fed multiple times a night until the day she was weaned at 2 yrs 3 months. My second fed multiple times a night until she self weaned at 2 years 6 months. Current baby is 8 months old and still feeding through the night.

I'll admit it's hard at times but it's biologically normal and that nighttime milk can be really important for their development. If it doesn't bother you, continue. There's nothing wrong with it. But if you want to start night weaning check out the Milk Meg on Facebook. She has a useful article on gentle night weaning.

We night weaned at 6 months old. We were told by the HV that at 6 months babies don't need feeding overnight and that continuing just makes it into a habit. Try just settling him instead - the likelihood is that he isn't hungry. They can definitely protest it for a while though, good luck

It is completely normal and very okay for a baby, especially an EBF one to feed in the night, even more especially a 6 month old one! Night weaning from BF isnt recommended until 18 months IIRC.

I fed both mine in the night until 11mo, when we night weaned. SS continued to have occasional feeds after that. At 6mo DD fed twice a night, DS 6-10 times a night.

It is normal to still need feeds at 6mo.
It is normal to want the comfort if a feed.
It is also normal not to!

You can try to settle other ways but babies will vary in how tough that is. It is not necessarily better that they settle without a feed as they may just rely on something else e.g. cuddle, dummy reinserted that the parent still has to wake for. Of course if weaning them off milk means they stop waking then great!