diluting the night feed to stop NW

[Crispy Chick]

Hi

After previously posting about my LO being fussy at 4am (and continuing to feed him) i think i have now realised that he no longer needs this feed (feeds at 1 am anyway) as he is hardly touching his morning milk.  I think i have created the problem by rushing to him when he fusses at night.  Now he has started to cry for it!!

So i want to try and wean him off this feed - is it best to dilute the feed e.g. 5 0z water to 4 0z formula or to just offer less ounces of feed to start with e.g. 4 oz?

[*Amy*]

I did this and what i did was - every three nights I would do one scoop of formula less so first night
7 oz water 6 scoops
3 nights later
7oz water 5 scoops and so on till it was just water - this worked a treat!!!! and stopped all night feeds for me!!
good luck

[Colin Macs Mom]

check this out

http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=46907.0

[Crispy Chick]

Thanks for advice.  I tried limiting the feed to 3oz 2 nights ago - it backfired as he woke hungry at 5am.....

so i decided that being only 12 weeks old he must still need the feed.  Then  last night - he only woke for 1 feed!!!!  he did it himself.  Who knows what is to follow, but ithink i will stick with what he wants for the time being.  That linkhas some great advice though if trying to wean an older baby of night feeds!!

[LucySol]

Do you give him a DF? i think at 12 weeks a lot of lo's are still needing that early morning feed,i know both of mine did.i would work at getting rid of the 1 am feed first xxx

[Colin Macs Mom]

oh goodness yes, at 12 weeks it's far too early to consider eliminating a night feed.

[Crispy Chick]

1am feed moved to 3.30am feed last night - so not going to try Df for time being as i am convinced he can move it on himself and we will get down to one feed consistently

[Colin Macs Mom]

It's awfully early even for one feed, so please don't hesitate to stick with both if it doesn't go as you expect.

[Crispy Chick]

Yeah i agree.  It has not gone as planned - last night fed at 11.30pm and 5am - but he is starting to sleep better in between feeds so happy with that.  My main concern with the later night feed is he is hardly taking any milk at 7.30am, so i do not want to get into a viscious circle of feeding more during the night - but i am going to give it another month and see how things settle down.

thanks
Christine

[Colin Macs Mom]

You can offer a little less at the later feed so that he does a good first feed of the day. But other than that, I would give it some more time.