4.5 month old not feeding well at night - could it be she doesn't need it?

[Bodkin]

Hi, my 4.5 month old generally just wakes the once at night (anywhere between 1.30 and 4am) (I know, this is good, I am not complaining about feeding once a night) but when she feeds, she is very active and wriggly and pulls off a lot, takes in loads of air and then is a very devil to wind. Quite often she throws up what seems like the whole lot (mmm, just what you want at that time of night), but will then settle back to sleep til morning fairly easily. Does this mean she doesn't really need the night feed? In fact she did sleep through a few times when she was about 12 weeks, but that seems a long time ago now.

What time is her last feed of the night, before she goes to bed??

I put her to bed at 7pm, and she usually has both barrels, so to speak

Have you tried 'dream feeding'? I used to lift my dd at about 10, go in, keep lights low and quiet, lift her and feed her. She would take a good feed and then go back down again without a peep. She seemed to be ready for it at this time and it did keep her going until morning. Because she was still quite sleepy (as opposed to waking because she was hungry) she was quite happy to lie and feed. Just a suggestion. xx

Or it could be that she is not hungry although I suspect that if she is waking (and she is still quite young) that she may be.

What happens if you try and settle her without feeding?

Well, I have tried dreamfeeding a couple of times, but it just leads to a cycle of her then waking every 3 hoursish throughout the night, so while i'm quite happy with one feed a night, I'm not so keen on the puking and burping that goes with it!

I haven't tried settling her without feeding yet, but might try tonight to see what happens. Thing is, I don't really have a "knack" of settling her - patting/rocking has never really done it for her, just gets her more agitated.

It's a difficult one becuase I did not stop dream feeding until my dd was 5 months - I had already started weaning her by then and she basically let me know that she was not keen to be lifted and fed. Sorry, am I reading your posts correctly? Are you b/f? Also, have you started to wean yet? I know the guidelines state 6 months but my HV said 4 months!! I waited untl she was 5 months although with my first dd (now 8) I stared at 4 months!

try not feeding her when she wakes, just settling in other ways, or giving her cooled boiled water. You will soon work out if it is hunger or other reasons.

sorry, yes she's BF (not very clear from my post I realise now!)

It sounds like she is stirring for comfort rather than food - not easy to not give food, have you tried just giving her 5 minutes or so, and then snuggling her back to sleep before she gets wriggly and swallows air? My DS used to take 45-60 minutes to feed, wind and settle at night, it was exhausting - but he went through the night at 19 weeks (I was weaning him by then too) so its not unheard of!

my DD was sleeping from 7 til 7 without a feed from about 3 months tho ff so maybe a bit different. She was having a feed at about 3 or 4 am until one night, I took a bit longer than usual getting the bottle ready and by the time I got back to her and tried to feed her she gave me a look that said "Are you mad woman? It's 4am FGS!" So would echo what others have said that it's definitely possible she's not hungry. I also found that my DD was sometimes stirring for what I thought was comfort but turned out to be she was getting cold in the early hours.

If she's not unhappy when she stirs, you could try just leaving her. She'll either settle herself back to sleep or start to get upset at which point you can offer her comfort and a feed.

Thanks for your replies. Last couple of nights have been better - still feeding at 4ish , but less awkwardly, and no puking as a result, I guess, of taking in less air. Not feeding for long at her 7am ish feed though. Oh well, I'll go with the flow, and she might just surprise me one night and give it up of her own accord [ridiculously hopeful emoticon]