Page 2 | How to stop night feeds

laura2023 · 2023-04-16T05:53:19+00:00

My baby wakes up at 4am for a bottle every night, it's become habit rather than hunger now I'm sure. If his last bottle is 6pm he'll sleep straight through til 4am so we've tried giving him another bottle at 9/10pm or making his evening one later but he still wakes up at 4am regardless and won't settle back to sleep until he's had a bottle. We've tried just picking him up for a cuddle but no luck. Any ideas appreciated!

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Original poster

laura2023 · 16/04/2023 09:15

Mummyboy1 · 16/04/2023 09:11

If the bottle at 10/11pm makes no difference, then for now I'd stick to the 4am bottle. How much is he drinking?

We'll continue it as long as he asks for it but if he has a bottle at 10/11pm he'll insist he wants a bottle at 4am then hardly drink any of it which is why I think it's habit rather than hunger.
If his last bottle was around 6/7pm he'll drink 180ml at 4am which makes sense.

He's on 120-180ml bottles 5-6 times a day based on what he asks for. (All bottles are made up to 180ml then he has as much or as little as he wants)

OP posts:

PinkPink1 · 16/04/2023 09:16

laura2023 · 16/04/2023 09:04

He's not waking up at 10pm, I said we purposefully wake him up then for a bottle before bed.
If we don't he'll sleep through from 6pm til 4am.
It's not unhealthy for a 3 month old to sleep that length of time if bottle fed as long as it's them leading it.

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So if you didn’t feed him at 10pm then he wouldn’t be fed from 6pm until whenever you want to wake up the next morning? Why are you so against feeding your tiny baby? They need to eat at night.

Mummyof3Me2021 · 16/04/2023 09:17

With respect, you come on looking for advice. Advice is given- your baby is very young to be even contemplating dropping night feeds- and you're completely ignoring this.

Your baby might be a healthy weight but that's clearly to do with the fact he is getting the right feeds at the right time.

3 months is so little. My 3 were still waking through the night well into weaning. It does stop eventually but they need what they need now. And there will no doubt be a regression to contend with down the line.

1930toEdinburgh · 16/04/2023 09:17

This is all so weird

Original poster

laura2023 · 16/04/2023 09:22

Mummyof3Me2021 · 16/04/2023 09:17

With respect, you come on looking for advice. Advice is given- your baby is very young to be even contemplating dropping night feeds- and you're completely ignoring this.

Your baby might be a healthy weight but that's clearly to do with the fact he is getting the right feeds at the right time.

3 months is so little. My 3 were still waking through the night well into weaning. It does stop eventually but they need what they need now. And there will no doubt be a regression to contend with down the line.

Maybe I worded it wrong, I didn't mean to drop night feeds entirely.

If you read my comments I said he wakes at 4am asking for a bottle but sometimes will hardly drink any of it.
I was asking for advice on how to get him to stop waking up at exactly the same time out of habit and, instead, to wake when he's actually hungry.

I don't care if that time that he's hungry is 2am, 5am or any time but I want to get to the point where he's asking for a feed because he needs it rather than waking at 4am every night only to not actually drink anything anyway.

OP posts:

Mummyboy1 · 16/04/2023 09:22

When I was a live in nanny, I tried the 10pm dream feed and found it made no difference to what time the baby wanted the next feed. If he's going from 6/7pm to 4am for a feed then it's great.

Original poster

laura2023 · 16/04/2023 09:26

@PinkPink1
I think you're purposefully taking my comments out of context now.

At no point did I say I would feed him at 6pm and then not again until the morning, to suggest that I would is ridiculous. I've said again and again that I give him bottles as and when he asks for them.

Im waking him up at 10pm so he has an extra bottle before bed, he would sleep through that if I let him.

OP posts:

Riceball · 16/04/2023 09:27

In a couple of months you could try moving his bedtime a bit later? He’s too young now. Just follow his lead.

Mummyof3Me2021 · 16/04/2023 09:49

Have you tried waking him for a dream feed about midnight?

Mummyof3Me2021 · 16/04/2023 09:51

It prob is habit but babies are creatures of habit. It could be to do with his sleep cycle and he might just want a hug and reassurance and two sips of a bottle but, unfortunately, that's babies!

EternalSunshine19 · 16/04/2023 10:01

"As long as they say he's healthy and he seems happy then I'm happy too".
But you're not happy. you're on the Internet asking advice on how to stop your baby waking up at 4am for a few sips of milk.

Original poster

laura2023 · 16/04/2023 10:03

EternalSunshine19 · 16/04/2023 10:01

"As long as they say he's healthy and he seems happy then I'm happy too".
But you're not happy. you're on the Internet asking advice on how to stop your baby waking up at 4am for a few sips of milk.

Yes, because I want what's best for him.
If continuing to do that is what's best then Ill do that but I'm not convinced that it is.

OP posts:

Original poster

laura2023 · 16/04/2023 10:04

Mummyof3Me2021 · 16/04/2023 09:49

Have you tried waking him for a dream feed about midnight?

Yeah, he's not a fan of dream feeds. Just clamps his mouth shut and refuses after a couple of mouthfuls lol

OP posts:

FinallyFoundIt · 16/04/2023 10:32

His sleep rhythms are waking him up at 4am. I doubt not feeding will make a difference. Sorry - you're just going to have to live with this until it changes or he's older, but with 4 month regression round the corner it's probably going to change soon anyway

Original poster

laura2023 · 16/04/2023 10:34

FinallyFoundIt · 16/04/2023 10:32

His sleep rhythms are waking him up at 4am. I doubt not feeding will make a difference. Sorry - you're just going to have to live with this until it changes or he's older, but with 4 month regression round the corner it's probably going to change soon anyway

That makes sense, I hadn't considered sleep rhythms but it would explain why how much/when he's had feeds doesn't make any difference.

Very excited for the sleep regression to start 🙈

OP posts:

Moonshine160 · 16/04/2023 12:54

At his age I would just offer a full feed for any night waking regardless of what time it is or how long since his last feed. If you go trying to change things at this point you could worsen his night sleep rather than improving it. And it sounds like he sleeps pretty damn well, I can only dream of my 7 month old sleeping as well as that overnight. I don’t think a 3 month old can only be waking overnight out of “habit”. It’s just what young babies do.

naomiembrace · 16/04/2023 19:11

Babies are much more likely to wake in early hours of morning as they're in a lighter period of sleep at that time. We had similar to you and dream feed didn't make any difference. The 4 am wake up will very probably slowly shift later and later without you doing anything.

SwapTheYforaD · 16/04/2023 19:20

Maybe he just misses you guys and wants a cuddle

SouthLondonMum22 · 16/04/2023 19:30

Mine is 4 months and has slept 7pm-7am since 8 weeks. He also used to wake up at 3 or 4am after a long stretch and I gradually encouraged him by 5-10 minutes or so at a time to feed later and later until it was 6am-7am.

I also made sure that he had plenty during the day so a bottle every 3 hours works perfectly for him to then last all night. I'm also sure to up the oz if he is draining bottles.

Definitely normal for some babies to be good sleepers!

SwapTheYforaD · 16/04/2023 19:35

I think you've been getting a bit of a hard time on here by some pagers OP. It's such a difficult period and seems like thing won't change but they will, sometimes out of to us control. My (now toddler) slept long hours through the night when a baby then all seemed to change, tbh around the 3 month mark (there is something called the 3 month regression), to waking quite often. I'm not sure if there is much that can be done unfortunately but it will be interesting to see if anyone has any good (helpful!) advice here. As I suggested in my previous response it may be something that's nothing to do with wanting a feed- like wanting to just see you, or trapped wind that wakes baby around that time which then makes it difficult for him to self settle.

At what age can babies self settle? I thought it was 4-5 months (though mine still can't and is much older!)

Stay strong. It's bloody hard isn't it!

bettymoo212 · 16/04/2023 19:52

Oh gosh, my baby was still waking every three hours for a feed at that age. She didn’t drop all night feeds completely until she was over 18 months!