My son is 6 months old and about 16 pounds. He is an awesome sleeper (and has always been) he'll sleep from 8:30 pm to 5/6/7 am! Around two months old I started to wake him at midnight to feed him. My reasoning was twofold. 1.) I stay up later and that way I can go to sleep knowing he won't wake up until his 7 am feeding. 2. He has ALWAYS been a finicky eater. Someday's he'll only eat 2 oz of his bottle every 3 to 4 hours, other's he won't eat at all and I have to (almost) force him to eat! The only reason he gains weight is that I feed him cereal in his bottle. Now I am feeding baby food and he'll eat from a spoon all day, he loves it! BUT at his midnight feeding he always eats 7-9 ozs! I have tried everything (adding cereal, changing formula, adding more formula) nothing will make him drink more. I tried to not feed him at 12 am (per my doctor; she said he would eat more in the am). Not so, he only at 2 oz the next morning!! Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks everyone for the advice!! We dropped the midnight feeding and his daytime feedings have picked up!! He now eats 5 oz every 3 hours! Thank you for all the wonderful help!
Why are you trying to make him gain weight? Is he sickly? Is he underweight? Is he not meeting his developmental milestones. There is absolutely no reason to force feed a baby. If he's hungry he'll eat. Plus, putting cereal in his bottle is not recommended by the AAP as its a choking hazard.
If you are that concerned about his weight and about how much he eats, I suggest you speak with a dietitian.
My advice is to never wake a sleeping baby.
Doesn't matter how late you are up and you think he needs to eat.
Let him sleep!
I think he's trying to tell you he's okay.
Don't get him in the habit of having his biggest meal at midnight.
That's hard on his tummy to digest, in my opinion.
Feed him during the day. Let him be awake and active during the day and let him sleep at night.
Both of my children slept all night from the time they were infants. I heard horror stories of them being up every 2 hours to eat and it just never happened. They ate during the day and they slept all night. They were both perfectly healthy. My son is 14 and way bigger than me. He obviously never starved.
Don't force the habit of the midnight feedings this early or you will have a 2, 3, 4 year old that wants to be up and eating at midnight.
Babies will not starve themselves. They really won't.
If he's gaining weight and doing well , why change it?
He's eating pretty well right now. Don't worry about waking him for the midnight feeding. He will make up for it during the day. He'll be hitting a growth spurt soon and his appetite will increase then.
It may take a few days to change his schedule. When he gets really hungry, he will eat. If he doesn't eat at midnight, he will get that feeding in during the day, whether it's morning, afternoon or evening. He has his own "body clock" and he just may not be a big morning eater.
He sounds healthy so give it time, and stick to it.
At this age you can expect about 12 hours a night of sleep. I would recommend not waking him up. He may get into the habit of eating in the middle of the night and he needs the uninterrupted sleep. It may take a little while, but he will adjust to eating what he needs to eat. Cereal is highly nutritious, but you could always mix the cereal with formula in the bowl. My daughter refused to breastfeed at 10 months old and also refused the bottle and sippy cup, so putting formula in with cereal was all I had. Baby food has lots of liquid content. Let him sleep and he'll adjust his eating and drinking over time. Sounds like he's healthy!
I dropped the midnight feeding when my daughter was 8 weeks old. She was sleeping through the night - about 9PM-7AM at that time. I nursed, so I can't say how much she was eating exactly. BUT I do know that for the first several nights she was sleeping through the night I was WAY engorged in the morning and she would never eat it all. I was miserable. So, she wasn't eating much more in the morning. However, I ended up adding a feeding into the day, making her feedings about 2 1/2 hours apart instead of 3 or 3 1/2. So, I think it might be normal that he won't eat more right away in the morning, but maybe he'll eat more throughout the day than normal? I'd try it for a few days at least... He's a good sized baby, it's very normal for bigger babies to sleep through the night without eating. My daughter was about the same size at 6 months. I say, let the baby sleep and especially let the mama sleep! I think he'll find a way to make up for the missed feeding at midnight during the day. Good luck!
At 6mos and 16 lbs, your son is healty. He will eat when he is hungry only. If he is sleeping thru the night, you can rest and sleep thru the night as well. You have a great sleeper, dont worry! be at peace! My daughter is 6 mo and 12 lbs, she still eats every 3 hours, even thru the night. She does not sleep for long periods at all. Be greatful yours gives you time to rest, don't waste it worrying if he is eating engough. He is.
