Still night feeding, is it habit or hunger? STTN too much to expect at 8 months?

[Chicane]

DS is 8 months - our EASY is pretty good most days, we have a few wobbly days but generally he's on track. He is still waking once in the night to feed. Occasionally it will be twice...he feeds well at this NW - takes both full breasts then goes back to sleep easily. He has STTN twice.

I really want STTN!!! My questions are

1. Is it too much to expect?
2. How would I go about making it happen? (he doesn't use a dummy - only very rarely if he has trouble getting down...)
3. Should I just leave it and see if he stops the NW feed on his own?

I think he wakes for hunger because he takes a full feed...or could it be habitual?...its usually between 5-8 hrs after BT that he wakes...and often he wakes again at 5-5.30am I will feed again most times he will go back to sleep until 6.30-7ish but sometimes not (yech)

THoughts and experiences would be much appreciated. xxx

[~ Vik ~]

I will preface all of this by saying that I never actively weaned night feeds. I'm really of the mind that STTN is a developmental milestone, like rolling over or sitting up, that babies reach when they are ready.  There are things you can do to encourage STTN, like teaching the skills for independent sleep and ensuring they get plenty of calories through the day, but ultimately you can't coax a baby to STTN if they're not ready. Just MHO, and I know others feel differently so you're sure to get some great advice if weaning night feeds is what you want to do, but I'll share our experience with Dylan

We did one night feed up until about 1 year old - he started waking inconsistently (ie, not every night) around 11mo, and by 12mo he just stopped waking for it. He always woke in the wee hours of the morning, and always took a full feed except towards the end. Sometimes he fed to sleep, more often he went back to bed awake. He was a fairly independent sleeper and would stir at night but get himself back off, but couldn't settle himself at that time so I figured that it was a need that was waking him and I fed. I definitely wanted him to STTN earlier, but I knew that he would when he was ready. And he did, all on his own

Here is a link with some gentle methods for encouraging fewer night feeds if you are interested too: http://www.kellymom.com/bf/weaning/weaning-night.html

good luck!!
 

[Chicane]

thanks Vikki, I think I have the same opinion...just fishing around to see what others think/have done...would love an allnighter sometime soon though!

[skipper11]

Hi there,

We have an 8 month old who just started STTN, but I agree with the previous poster.  We did have to do some sleep training as she was waking up at times when she obviously wasn't hungry, but she gave up her night feeds on her own quite some time ago.  She's a big baby and when we would feed her at night -- even if it was at 10 pm or so -- she'd wake up at 7 am and not want to eat.  She also wouldn't eat very much at her night feeds.  With that bit of information, I tried not feeding her when she woke up (was only waking once a night at that time) and she went back to sleep with no problems.  The next morning, she had a normal meal.  So I knew she was ready to stop eating at night.  She still does have the occasional few nights where she'll wake up and genuinely be hungry.  If that happens, I feed her (of course!). 

Anyway, just wanted to tell you how it went for us.  Good luck!

[Chicane]

Hmmm..see with us he has a full BF middle of night and another full BF when he wakes up in the morning...so I guess that would indicate that he still needs that night feed?

thanks guys

[skipper11]

I think that sounds right.  My daughter would eat for maybe 4 to 5 min at her night feed, and not eat like she does when she's really hungry, and then really, in the morning she wouldn't be interested in eating at all.  It wasn't just that she wouldn't eat enough, but sometimes she wouldn't eat at all for awhile after she woke up.

I wouldn't say STTN is too much to hope for at this age, but from what other people say it doesn't sound like all (or even most babies are ready for it.  If you do want to take steps to help your baby to be ready to drop the nighttime feeds, you could try ensuring that he is getting enough to eat at each meal during the day.  For us, our baby became a pretty distracted eater a few months ago.  Now she eats on one side, will take an extended break and play for 10 or 15 min, then eat on the other side.  She used to take a full meal in 10 to 20 min, but now most of the time she needs a long "break" in her meals.  Before I started giving her that break in her meals, she started waking up hungry at night again.

Of course, maybe he is eating plenty during the day and still needs to eat at night too!  He may need to eat at night regardless of how much he eats during the day, or he may need to eat at night because he isn't getting quite enough food to eat during the day.  I do think that in some cases it may be a vicious cycle -- when I kept feeding my baby at night, she wouldn't be hungry in the morning, so she wouldn't eat as much during the day, and then she would need to eat at night.  But like you said, if he's taking a full feed at night and one in the morning too, it sounds like he is hungry.  Best of luck!

[Lissybits]

Mmmm - we are 9 months old and have the same problem only twice a night
It's usually around the same time every night 12-1am and then at 4- 4.30am.
I too have wondered if it was habit or real hunger but he takes a full feed at both and then again in the morning :-
TBH, I'm too tired to even contemplate sleep training so I just feed him (he always falls asleep on the breast ) and pop him straight back to bed.

He has never STTN And as happened to Vikki, I'm hoping one day (pretty soon!) he'll cut one feed out and eventually STTN! Ha!!!!! Ever the optimist

But they are little for such a short time..............
Going to check Vikki's link out even still

[sparrow]

Hi Chicane, our 8 month old has never slept through the night.  I think we've had 3 nights where she only woke once to feed.  We always have 2 feeds and they're usually full feeds.

I'm feeling similar to the others, that I don't want to force STTN.  If she were getting 3 big solid meals and I was confident she was getting all her calories in the day I might feel differently.  But we're really not pushing the solids yet. She experiments with them, and sometimes will have a big dinner, but it's really inconsistent.  I'm thinking of working on getting it down to 1 feed a night but I know I'll have to put more energy into having her eat more food during the day... we kind of fly by the seat of our pants over here so moving towards 3 consistent meals will take some planning and discipline!  Ahhh but the boob is just so convenient.

[Chicane]

Hey Skipper11

Now she eats on one side, will take an extended break and play for 10 or 15 min, then eat on the other side.  She used to take a full meal in 10 to 20 min, but now most of the time she needs a long "break" in her meals.

Ours is doing that too! I am glad we are not the only ones...its quite frustrating.

And like you Sparrow our solids are pretty inconsistent too, identical to you.

So, am leaning towards leaving it as is...the thought of night training gives me the heebies anyway

thanks for your responses, its fascinating to hear what others are doing xxx

[skipper11]

That's another good point -- solids are well established with my little one.  We didn't start until 6 months, but she acted like that is what she had been waiting for her whole life!  She ate all of her cereal the first day we offered it.    She loves her solids, and eats 3 meals a day now.  Once we got her up to 2 meals a day she started STTN regularly, for a little while.  Then she started waking up hungry, we added her third meal, and now she seems to be getting enough to eat during the day.

[kaynay]

HI there ...we are 8 mos as well...we have had consistent early morning feeds anywhere from 3-6oz or a 10 min bf one side...the occasional morning would be earlier like last night was 4 am instead of 5 but if its eating and right back to sleep seems like they need it...if anything maybe work toward stretching the 1st feed so it can become around the time of the 2nd feed so you are left with 1 feed...sometimes I experiment with a bottle at that time to gage if its really hunger and it seems to be we too in the am just do a top on around 730 anywhere from a quick bf to a 3-5 oz bottle...then solids 45 min later...I am thinking to up the solids a tad they have been inconsistent but I read their tummies hold so much more nearing their 9th month and in prep for the 9 month growth spurt so hoping or dare I even plan to keep milk intake around 24oz while upping solids maybe 1 extra food cube 1 meal a day etc...I did notice when our finiky solids eater skips his lunch solids he wakes a tad earlier in the night say 4am ish as opposed to have 3 solids meals and regular milk we get a 5-530 or even past 6 waking ...I like to start the day at 7-730 so I consider these early waking wee hours of the morning feeds a night feeds for now...we are in the same boat...I tried to wean it and it didnt work what I did for months 6 and 7 though was stretch it a combination of a night of holding back before going in and maybe another night and really really trying to get more calories in him during the day that helped as I dare I even say it OK with 1 early morning feed if he goes back to sleep...if he does that is another story and probably not food related but routine if its not one thing its a dare other...so you combat night feeds just to have early wakings not hunger related and that is a head rearing of some kind of ugly I do not even want to talk about! So I say try for 1 night feed if you can some how some way but if you are ok with 2 then ok...maybe it is solid food related maybe you need to up those a tad and get more into a routine with them somehow someway if not then it is what it is they are so small for so short a time I am almost past the point of trying as long as he gets a good stretch in 8 hrs then wakes I can only assume hunger..god knows though.