To feed or not at night?

[maddymoo]

My ds of six months is still waking me up during the night. He wakes at around midnight then again around four. Sometimes he sleeps through the midnight feed but always will wake around 4am.
I don't know wether or not i should give him the midnight feed. Does he still need it? Is giving it to him encouraging him to wake up?

waking up twice during the night is'nt so bad, but after six months of it I've had enough. I feel as if i'm wondering around the house all night as I have a dd2 who talks in her sleep and wakes up at 5:30am Something has got to change for the better very soon:fingerscrossed: What should I do?

[maddymoo]

Oh and I have just started him on solids thinking that he is hungry but he's not really interested yet.

[Mell]

Is he breastfed or bottle fed?

DS2 is breastfed and he is 11mths old and he is still waking during the night for feeds.

[allysophia]

9months. Bf. Coslept and still wakes 2-3times.

I don't really mind to be honest. I obviously never get out of bed for him, sleep topless, and he just helps himself.

I really feel this is the way nature intended (eating off a sleeping mum at night) so yes, I think the meal is benefical at night. Makes him happy :D Thats what being a parent is all about, making em happy :)

[maddymoo]

He is bottle fed

[alanasmum]

I can only advise from my personal experience. I would continue to feed your bub at night. I dropped DD's last night bottle (2.00am) when she was 7 months old instead of letting her drop it when she was ready and I think this was a mistake. She continued to wake at night and still does (she just turned 1). I battled with her for hours sometimes trying to get her to sleep without the feed and I don't know why I did. It would have been much easier to feed her and put her straight back to bed. But I think I read too many books that said at 6 months they no longer need a night feed. With our next bub (if I'm ever convinced to have another one!) I'll let him/her guide me rather than the books. Just my opinion. Do what you think is best for your bub.

[~Candy~]

All my kids have woken at night till about 2 yrs old..I just get up, get them a bottle, change their nappy and back to sleep again..it doesn't bother me. If I tried to get them back to sleep with out the bottle..I'd be up for ever and so would the other kids too..lol

[cwsmum]

DS still woke for night feeds til he was around 12mths old. He would have a bottle around midnight then wake at about 6am and have either breakfast or a bottle, depending on if I was ready to get up for the day or not. DS was still having a midnight bottle til he was over yrs old, tho I think it was more habit than anything else after he was 18mths.

[KLM1975]

so nice to hear there are other 'softy' mums out there like me. my son who is 10 mths old now, still wakes at 12 and 4 for a booby. i too have thought about stopping this and being more 'strict' to make him sleep all night. then just as i think that i think, oh bugger it...he will only be little for such a short time that i think i should keep getting up and cuddling him and feeding him back to sleep because when i do he just looks so damn peaceful it breaks my heart. i think everyone should do what is right for them!

[jamb]

My boy was bottlefed from 4 months and he had a bottle overnight up until at least 18 months from memory, around that time we changed it to half milk/water and he still goes o bed with that at 2.5yrs, just doesnt really drink it, more a comfort thing i think.

[ICanDream]

I'm a bit of a meanie mum, we stopped the night feeds around 6 months. He was feeding every two to three hours during the day, on two to three solid meals a day and simply didn't need it. At 10 months we've just dropped the dreamfeed too. We still have to get up and settle maybe twice during the night but we just don't feed and he doesn't seem to miss it. :smiliedance:

[peachie]

My DS is also 6 months (today!) and he also wakes around midnight and 4am. Like you I am also very over it!!

Some nights I wake him for a feed around 10:30pm so I don't have to get up twice a night, although this normally brings the 4am wake up to 3am and then again 5:30am. I stopped feeding him during the night about two weeks ago. Now I just rewrap and pop his dummy back in and linger outside the door for a few minutes and sure enough he goes back to sleep.

He's got a cold at the moment and first teeth coming through so last night he woke nearly hourly from midnight to 4am and I thought I'd need to feed him each time but I just raced into his room and tucked his arms and dummy back in. Now the problem is how to teach him to self settle without the dummy and wrapping!!

We also started solids a few weeks ago and are having mixed results. Some days he interested, other days not at all.

[ourfirstbubba]

I think babies wake for a reason..if your bub is hungry then feed him....an ECHN once told me that if bubs wakes up before the sun is up then I should not feed her?? I just nodded and kept on doing what I am doing..hubby gives bub a dream feed at 11pm and this takes her through to 6.30am..but there have been some mornings when she has done a poo at 5am and I know she is hungry..so I feed her and change her nappy and she is back asleep within 15 mins..so much easier than listening to the poor bubba crying...I think follow your heart and do what feels right...for us, we can't leave Natalia cry, she is crying for a reason...

[Africamum]

My DS is 13.5 months and still has several feeds during the night.

I think it is a very natural thing to do.

As we cosleep from about 1am, I only get out of bed once to bring him into our bed and it doesn't really worry me.

[shed]

My DS is eleven months and he still wakes some nights, but some nights I think he has slept through but I haven't really noticed it. We co-sleep and breastfeed so I just leave my pyjamas unbuttoned.

I always said I would stop the night feeds when he turned eleven months old, but he has just gradually done it himself I think, so I will continue to follow his lead.

[musicalmummy]

i don't know if your problem is fixed yet. i found feeding dd up during the day has helped her better. she has 4x240ml bottles when she gets up then before i put her down again i give her an extra 60ml. she is loving this and sleeps from 730pm - 630am.