Should I limit feed to eliminate last NW?

[violagal]

Hi all, I have a 14week old ds who for the last 2-3 weeks has been sleeping pretty well at night now from 7-7.30pm to anywhere between 2.30-4.30am. Upon waking we offer a full feed (6oz) and he generally goes back to sleep until 7-7.30am. However the last few days he has been pretty disinterested in his morning feed so I'm reading that as him not needing as much in the night. Question is should I just continue as is and wait for that last feed to stretch to 6-7am or should I consciously try and cut the night feed in the hope that he will wake up hungry at 7am? I just want to avoid reverting to a 3am then 5.30am feed!
He is ff and is on a 3-3.5 hour easy so during the day eats at 7, 10.30, 2, 5 with topup 6.30-7.
Thanks,
Emma

[Erin M]

If you feel like the night feed is affecting that first feed of the morning, you could try cutting an ounce or two and see if it helps.  At 14 weeks, I would add that you've got a monster growth spurt coming up at the 4(ish) month mark, so you may find that you need to up those ounces again in a few weeks time. 

[violagal]

Hi Erin, thanks for the reply. I do definitely think it is affecting the first feed so maybe will try dropping it to 4-5oz. Thanks for warning about growth spurt - i was totally caught out by the 3 month one which happened at about 11 weeks and had him taking 40oz a day for 3 days! Is the 4month one as big as the 3 month one?! I assume if he starts waking up during the night during a growth spurt you just feed as much as they need until it calms down?

[Erin M]

The 4 month one is generally the most noticeable and biggest for most babies (though they don't all read the books, my sneaky ds had his biggest one at 5 months).    Just give him the ounces he seems to need until the growth spurt passes.  You can try to up the daytime ounces, but my LOs all needed to eat more at night too during growth spurts.