When to drop night feeds?

[BritInNZ]

My son is 7 months old and formula fed. He isn't a massive drinker of milk - typically feeds at 7, 10.30-11ish, 3 and 6.30. He never finishes a bottle, usually has around 150ml but the morning bottle is always a battle and sometimes he only has 75-100ml and I get the rest of it in him through using in his breakfast.

He's down to one feed a night but the timing of this is all over the place. Monday night he slept 6.30-4.40 until a feed but then Tuesday night he woke at 12.30 and I tried to settle for an hour before feeding him. Then he woke at 3.30 and we re-settled and he woke for the day at 6. Still didn't have a good feed despite it being 6.5 hours since his feed, I'm guessing he's just not a breakfast baby.

Everything online says he should be able to go through the night without a feed now (which might solve the morning milk battle) but I've tried reducing the bottle right down and that just ended up with him waking at 5am. If he wakes between 12 and 3am I will do 150ml, if it's after 3am then I only do 100ml.

Will he eventually drop the feed on his own? He's eating a decent amount of solids most the time now (when he's not teething) so I'm not sure if I should be trying to get rid of the feed or just wait it out?

My DD is 11 months and dropped her night feed by herself at about 9 and a half months. However, I know plenty of people who have babies the same age as my DD who are still feeding in the night. Don't feel pressure to drop the feed, and definitely don't worry about what Google is telling you! If you really want to drop the night feed then you can just not give it and try to just settle him without it but if you're happy doing it, I'd say stick to it and eventually he'll drop it himself. That's just my experience though

I watered down night feed once by ounce each night eventually DS stopped waking for it...took about 6,7 nights.

Are you sure he wants feeding when he wakes up and there is nothing else upsetting him? My ds can sleep through without a feed however this goes out the window when he is teething and he can wake up several times a night.

DD was absolute hell to get a bottle into but id dream feed her before i went to sleep and it was my favourite time of the day, shed lie there all peaceful and drink without a fight.

She dropped it herself in the end but dream feeding may be worth a shot

DS1 dropped his overnight feed as he turned 1. DS2 was much earlier. I just went with them for an easy ride overnight. Both were good sleepers and wanted to be asleep so it was far easier to give a quick feed and back to bed than fight the battle of refusing the feed just because a book said they shouldn't need it.

Yes absolutely. He is a good sleeper and self settles, but when he wakes and he's wanting a feed we could try and do spaced soothing for 2 hours and he won't go back to sleep. And then by the end of it I'm like 'I should have just fed you two hours ago and I would be back asleep by now'!

I've been trying to water down his night feed but he's then waking at 5am and screaming until 7 when I get him up 🫠

My son is the same! I'm lucky if I get 150ml into him after a 30 min battle. My sleep consultant said to stop dream feeds by the time a baby is 7 months because otherwise it's interrupting their best sleep of the night. I tried it when he was younger too and it made no difference

Thanks for the comments everyone. No idea what's going on with DS as he's been terrible since that 10 hour stint. Last night he woke at 11.50 for a feed which is the earliest it has been for months?! We manage to settle him back to sleep for another hour and a half and fed at 1.20, then he woke at 4am and 5am and didn't go back to sleep before I got him up at 7 😭 it almost feels like a regression?! I'm very tired and grumpy!

My 3 all slept through from 3 months. 7 months seems old to be up in night to me. How much solid food does he have? My 3rd child is 8 months old and has 3 solid meals. His bottles are 7am, 2pm and 7pm, but he's not fussed about them so volumes are decreasing. Solids at 8am, 12pm and 5pm, with access to water.

Hello, I know this has been a long time since you posted but I'm wondering how things worked out (and how!) as I am almost in the exact same situation. Any tips please? Thanks, also tried and grumpy!