When to Stop Feeding During the Night?

I fed her until she was 6 months old, reduced the ounces and then just gave a paci did did cry it out for only 3 nights and she stayed asleep. Maybe just good luck for me!

I didn't read all the responses but I read BABY WISE. my son was sleeping from 11p-6am by 3 months. Biggest, hardest thing is letting them cry. Good luck- Very good book.

I agree with JenW. Feeding on demand is the way to go. Babies know when they need to be comforted and are hungry. Do not watch the clock is great advice!!

i am not sure if you are nursing (you mentioned a bottle but didn't say if it was breastmilk) my son was up often too - and there were so many reasons for what it could be - growth spurt, comfort, teething, getting ready to reach a milestone or just met one. there's a great website called www.kellymom.com that is full of helpful info. i also pulled this article from my pediatrician's website - he is one of the few male lactation consultants and is so helpful when it comes to nursing as he really knows his info!! many pediatricians do not!! in your case - whether or not you are nursing - only you know your baby. EVERY baby is dif't - so what hold true for one will not for another. some babies need to eat more often, some need more comfort and reassurance. my son is about to be 4 years old - i never did cio, i always fed him on demand - and he is now a healthy, confident and wonderful little boy. so stick with your instinct and don't worry what others say your baby should be doing.

hang in there - this will pass and your baby will move on to another routine!! my son never took a bottle so i can completely relate to being tired - but i don't regret one minute of it!
J.

from http://www.drjaygordon.com/development/bf/growspu.asp
Growth Spurts

By Cheryl Taylor, CBE

If there is a rule that would help moms survive growth spurts with a smile, it would have to be, "Don't Watch The Clock!" Don't watch the clock for how long baby has been nursing. Don't watch the clock for how long it's been since baby last wanted to nurse. Don't watch the clock for how many times you've been awakened that night to nurse.

Growth spurts happen. They happen with all nursing dyads. Some babies protest more about them and others seem to sail through them with the greatest of ease. Some books will tell you they happen at so many weeks or months. They may tend to, but the truth is, they can happen anytime.

Signs of a Growth Spurt

Baby is nursing often or almost nonstop
A baby who was previously sleeping through the night is now waking to nurse several times
Baby will latch and unlatch, fussing in between
These signs are all signals to the mom's body to "MAKE MORE MILK NOW!" Our bodies listen very well if we will merely respond to the baby's needs. The extra suckling will stimulate your body to make more milk.

Often Observed After a Growth Spurt

Baby sleeps extra for a day or two
Mom is a bit fuller than usual for a day or so
Baby calms down at the breast
You may see an increase in wettings with the increased supply baby is drinking
Growth spurts seem to throw new moms for a loop. Just when they thought they were beginning to understand their baby's signals, they abruptly changed. The frequent requests to nurse can be confusing as well as the frequency with which growth spurts happen within the first few months. The key is purely and simply to go with the flow (pun intended!) If you respond to your baby's signals to nurse during a growth spurt and do not interfere with them in any manner, your body will quickly respond and increase supply. Typically it happens within 24 to 48 hours. Sometimes growth spurts seem to drag on for a week. This would be a good time to make sure you're drinking plenty water.

Don't allow a growth spurt to rob you of your confidence in nursing. Instead, allow it to instill confidence in your ability to read your baby's cues. Your confidence will be further rewarded as your supply increases and your baby settles back down into a happy breastfeeding baby again, with a smart mommy who knew that sometimes baby really does know best and our job is to listen.

Hi S.,

Your 3 month old is still very young and needs to be fed at night. I'm sure she when she wakes at night she also needs to be changed as well as being hungry. Babies process their food faster than adults. They use a lot of energy to do the small things that they do even sleep. They do their growing while they sleep. In order to have energy to do all these things they feed fuel which is their food. I know it is hard being a new first time mom especially with the lack of sleep to know the signs to look for and how to read your baby. Have you heard of "What to expect during the first year", it is a great book that helped me with my first one. I am very lucky to have a great pediatrician for my children (who is seasoned).
Your baby will let you know by sleeping through the night that she doesn't need the night feeding. Also, her pediatrician should be able to give you an indication as to how many ounces of formula she needs to have a day and when she would not need a night feeding. I am a breastfeeding mom and they process food faster than formula feed babies. My first ate every two hours around the clock, the second every three hours, the third every 3-4 hours and my newest addition now 8 months every 4 hours. After a while you learn to read their signs of discomfort from a diaper to the look of I'm hungry. If you touch their to the side of their mouth and the turn their head and open their mouth(like a little bird) they are definitely hungry. Her pediatrician at her well visits will ask you how often she eats a day, how many ounces she is getting and how many wet diapers and stood diapers she has a day. This will tell them along with how she is growing if she is getting the nutrients she needs. Hope this helps. Take care and most of all enjoy your precious little girl.

J. R.

Try the pacifier- the baby will let you know if it isn't the right way to go! By 3 months my boys were ready to go at least 6-7 hours at night. Good luck!

Hello and congrats on your little angel! I have a 7.5 month old. Around 2 months she started sleeping mostly through the night, but when she gets up usually it means she is hungry. I usually try to wait a few minutes before responding -sometimes she is just crying a little and will settle right back down without me doing anything. You know the difference between a fuss fuss tester sort of cry and an all out wail that means she needs something right away! I also felt that the Baby WHisperer (Tracy Haag) had a lot of good advice - she believes that the daytime routine is critical for good night sleeping. Make sure she is getting good regular feeds (every 2-3 hrs was the frequency for my breastfed daughter at this age) and good regular naps (every 1.5-2 hrs at that age for my daughter for a total of about 4 hrs/day) to help her sleep better at night. THe last bit of "prep" for a good nights sleep we started right around that age (3 months) was called the dreamfeed. We would put her to bed around 9pm, and then by about 11, before I was going to bed, I would go in an pick her up gently, without waking her, and put her on to nurse. She nurses in her sleep, without ever waking up, and then when I put her back she is usually good for 6-8 hrs. I think if you are doing a bottle you can just slip in into her mouth without even picking her up. I think it's magic - and I still do it at 7.5 months! It's also great time with her. THen she usually sleeps til 6 or 7. Or sometimes only 5 : ) .

Good luck, and it sounds like you are doing a great job!

Our first instinct is that they are hungry so we run for the bottle and sometime they drink it, sometimes they don't. I would try to give her the pacificer instead. If that fails and she is really upset, then she is truly hungry. We stopped the night time feedings around 3 months. Every now and again with our almost 15 month old she does wake up in the middle of the night due to a bad dream I am assuming but we just comfort her and don't give her a bottle, but rub her back and put the pacifier back in her mouth. :) Good luck.

Hi S.! I am dealing with this too, but my little girl is almost 4.5 months old. I find that she often sleeps through the night, and has since she was 2 months old, but then will go 3 or 4 days in a row wanting to eat in the middle of the night.
She goes to sleep on her own at night and for naps (sometimes with a fight!) so I assume in the middle of the night she is actually hungry. I think it varies baby to baby.
My daughter gets tired at night and we struggle to keep her awake til 6:30. If she makes it to 7 and finishes her whole bottle before bed, she'll usually make it through the night.
I am breast feeding and my huband will feed her with a bottle at night - she stays awake better and eats more that way.

Last night she woke up babbling at 2 am and did so for 30 minutes before it turned into crying. I am not sure if she wanted company or was hungry, but I fed her and she went back to bed with no crying or complaining.

I hear that at 14 lbs baby no longer NEED the calories to get through the night, but can get hungry and may want to eat.

If your baby is only falling asleep during the day and/or night by being fed, than it might be comfort more than hunger.
I wish my baby would take a pacifier but she won't!

Good luck!

You have to get the book by Dr. Ferber, world-renowned pediatrician and sleep specialist!!! It answers all your questions and is a pretty easy read. It helped us so much as new parents---probably one of the top 2 or 3 parenting tools/books we used to raise our 3 kids, now 8, 6, and 4. I loaned it to a friend and didn't get it back, so not sure of the title but if you do an internet search for Dr. Ferber I'm sure you'll find it. Good luck! P.S. Your 3 month old can absolutely go through the night without feeding. One thing I learned from the book is that the milk is actually interrupting their sleep as it prevents their system from "shutting down" for the night and going into deep sleep mode. So although you worry they are hungry and you are trying to help, you may actually be making things harder for your baby! Definitely listen to Ferber, he's done SO much research on this subject.

Yes, I also agree that you shouldn't worry about it. Chances are, she's waking up because she is a little hungry or maybe she just woke up and wants to be comforted a little so she can fall back asleep.
Just for reference though, by daughter started sleeping through the night at 3.5 months. It was just one of those things where she woke up one night and ate and then the next night, slept straight through and she hasn't needed to eat at night since. So maybe her waking up once, sometimes twice a night, is just her weaning herself off of night time feedings.
Does she cry or just make noises? You could try to just rock her back to sleep or rub her back, but if she is crying and you think she wants her bottle, by all means, give it to her.
I would also recommend that if she hasn't had a pacifier yet, don't introduce one now. It seems like she's doing just fine without it.

Hi S.,
Talk to your Dr. , but I believe that they need the night feedings untill 6months or so.
K.

Hi S.. I am a new mom myself of a 5 week old son so I may not be the best person to speak on this. But, based on my experience with my son, if he is truly hungry, the pacifier will not pacify him. He will spit it out and start to fuss. That is how I know he is hungry and not just wanting to suck for comfort. I suggest you try giving your daughter a pacifier one night. I think that if she is truly hungry she'll let you know fairly quickly by rejecting the pacifier and beginning to fuss. Good luck! J.

I haven't experienced this first hand yet (due in 5 weeks!) but we had our breastfeeding class on Thursday and the lactation consultant mentioned that babies have major growth spurts at 3 weeks, 6 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months -- it's possibly your baby girl is in the middle of one of these spurts and that's why she's eating more in the middle of the night. I couldn't really tell from your post if she's always woken up 2x/night to eat, or if this is relatively recent.

My daughter stopped waking up in the middle if the night when she was like 2 months old, and she was fine and I just fed her when she woke up in the morning. If the baby sleeps through the night get some rest yourself!!!!

Hi S.,

Yes, be careful. I have an 8-month-old girl who is now having a problem going to sleep unless she eats first. There seems to be a period where there just learning to fall asleep on their own. I, like you, assumed that she needed to be fed. However, the pediatrician said that anywhere from 3 months up they can sleep through the night without being fed. Usually for eight hours(although, this does vary by baby). She either might have gas or needs reassurance that you're there. My point is to be careful because it can easily become a bad habit. I am still trying to wean my baby off her nightime feeding. However, definately check with your pediatrician to make sure that she is getting enough to eat, isn't colicky, diabetic, etc. You should also check to see if her diapers are wet. That's also a good indication that she's getting enough to eat during the day. Also,go with your instinct. Anyway, good luck.

D.

All babies are different! My first was like clockwork--she ate at 11pm and 3am avery night until 9mos. From 9-11 mos she slept through from 11pm to 6am. From 11-13mos she had a growth spurt and ate at 3am again before finally sleeping all night for good.

My second baby matured muchmore slowly sleep-wise and needed to eat several times a night for the first year, and still needed some comfort in the night until 18mos.

Now we're on number three and she's somewhere in the middle. She eats more some weeks than others and I never know when she's going to have another growth spurt or a bad week of teething and need to eat and snuggle more.

My advice is to offer the paci while you prep a bottle. If she falls back to sleep you'll know she wasn't really hungry. If not, she is and you can feed her the bottle you've prepped. Also, don't assume once she's slept through once that she won't ever need to eat in the night again!

i always breast fed my kids, (and they were always in my room next to me for the first 6 months) so when they woke up, i would try getting them to take their binky a few times, then i would get up and feed them. with my oldest, she was getting up 4-5 times a night until she was 11 months old. i was ready to stop nursing at that point, and the day i stopped, she slept thru the night. talk about aggrivating!!! i would have stopped sooner, but she wouldnt take formula! i dont know if this helps at all, but i hope so! good luck!

Hi S.,
Though my "babies" are 10 & 12, I surely remember feeding them 1 to 2x nightly - 3 months is very young and they still need to eat on demand. Sounds like you are right on target with your little one. Probably able to get info from the Pediatrition, too. I was on the phone with them ALL the time with little questions especially with the first child. Good luck!!

Absolutely she is still hungry! Her tummy is still so small that she cannot make it thru the night without something to eat. Babies need to eat usually around every 3-4 hours for at least 6 months and then after that, probably every 5-6 hours for another 6-12 months. She won't be sleeping 12 hours thru the night for a looooooong time. But don't get discouraged! They won't be babies for long, trust me, it goes too fast!

Around 3 to 4 months, babies stop needing to eat in the middle of the night. Closer to 4 months, they definitely start to make the connection between waking up and getting comfort/food from you. The baby will NOT waste away!

Of course, I have a 4 month old who I'm still feeding 1 to 2 times each night...easier said than done!!! With my 2 1/2 year old, it was the same thing, though - around 4 months, he stopped needing it.

Good luck!

At three months, they definitely still need to eat during the night. I think at the 4 month apt, your ped will discuss starting to stop night feedings.

You could certainly try just comforting her and then only feed her if she's still fussy, but it may well be that she still needs to eat often. My son wasn't ready to sleep through at that age, and what I did for a while was get him up and feed him when *I* went to bed, which staved off a middle-of-the-night wakeup call (usually.) Sometime around 8 months I gave that up and he's slept 10-12 hours straight ever since, so do whatever works for you. Rest assured that little babies know when they're hungry and when they've had enough, so she'll give you the cues! :)

Good luck and enjoy the ride!

I am a mom of three and all of my girls slept through the night by three months. I always used the same routine, never let them nap after 4 pm, try not to feed them for three hours before you plan to put them to bed, just before bedtime give them a warm bath (or wash with warm cloth) and put a comfy sleeper nightgown on them (no snaps, tags or rough seams!) Give them a large bottle (or nurse) and try not to let them fall asleep it is usually best to put them down drowsy and let them fall asleep on their own. This will usually get you at least eight hours. If she does still wakes up, try rocking her for minute with the lights off and see if she doesn't settle on her own. If she still doesn't go back down you may have to give the bottle, but this shouldn't last for much longer. Hope I gave some information you could use. Good luck!

Hi I am a mother of three and my doctors always told me to feed on demand and I listen to them with my first one and he didn't sleep through the night till he was two. The other two I did till I was sure they were growing good and getting enough food during the day then I started cutting out the night time feedings or offering water at night. They both started sleeping through the night at three months and four months. So you know you baby better than anyone and if you think you can cut back on the night time feedings then go for it but if you feel she still needs the extra calories try feeding your baby more before bed and first thing in the morning. Hope this helps.

In my favorite sleep book "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child", most babies give up the last night feeding at around 9 months old. Our son probably could have stopped at 7 months, but we kept it going until he hit 9 months.

Looks like you got a lot of great advice (although I will NOT be feeding my twins 3-4 times a night at 7 months old). All babies are different. My 10 week old twins are already extending their night feedings. At their first stirring, I give them a binky and that tends to quiet them for a while. I have been slowly extending their night feedings by using the binky several times (again if it is a quiet sort of low key stirring). By now I can tell their "hunger" cries and that's when I feed them at night.

While I am losing a little sleep myself on a short term basis by waking a couple times to give them the binky and slowly extending the night feeding, it is already showing signs of working and they are up to 5.5 - 6 hours at night without needing to feed. My friend tells me their is some technical term for extending feedings this way...it just makes sense to me.

Trust your instincts...you will know if your baby is hungry and "needs" to eat. Good luck and let me know how it goes !

A three month old that only wakes up 1 or 2 times a night? You should be happy with that! From what I understand, babies need a night time feeding or two until at least 4 mo. I stopped my daughter's night time feeding at 6 months by giving her the pacifier instead and had little trouble. Your pediatrician should be able to give you the physiological answer.

A three month old DEFINITELY still needs to eat at night. I still nurse my 7 month old 3-4 times a night.