no night nursing

[maisies_mum]

So heres a little background info my 7 month old DD has been getting up every 2-3 hours through the night and only nursing for about 3-5 mins and then wants to go back into her crib to sleep..... I decided last night that I would cut out her feeds at night and see how she does.  We tried putting her down at 8pm......she cried and we went up every 10 mins to soother her by picking her up or patting her bum......she finally went to sleep just after 9pm.  She didn't wake again until 12:40.....she was up again a couple of times between 12:40 and 2:00 but we would let her cry for 10 mins and then soother her and then lay her down again.  After 2:00 she didn't wake again until 6:50...I nursed her for about 15 mins when she feel back asleep until 8:40. 
Ok so now for the question is 7 months old to early to cut out all night feeds??  I was planning to feed her at about 2:30 or 3 if she woke again but she didn't until 6:50.....so she went almost 11 hours with out a feed....is this ok???

[daisymelan]

Hello!!

Did you do a dreamfeed?  My little one is 6.5 months and we only do a dream feed.  So his last feed is at say 8pm... dreamfeed at 11 and then goes until 8am.  It does seem a little long, but I know moms that don't do the dreamfeed at all at this age ann I also know moms that do the dream feed and then one other feed.  I think all little ones are different as you know ( mom of many I noticed! )

Good for you for working through the tough night.  Maybe just cutting out one at a time may result in less pain for all involved.  We had to slowly take out one feed at a time.

I personally won't be tackling taking out the dreamfeed until my little one is taking solids a little better... probably not until he is around 8 months or so.

Good luck!
Good luck.

[GraceKellysmom]

As for the feeding question. Many seven month olds will still wake once a night to feed. This is fine. Make sure that she eats well (4-6 bfs and 2 solid feeds at 7 months) during the day, gets a full feed before bed, and yes feed her once during the night.

If you are having sleep issues, our sleep board can help with getting them to sleep better without all the crying.

[shells]

My lo is 6.5 months old and still bf once during the night, between 2:30 and 5:00am. She was waking up at the exact same time each night so I thought it was more out of habit then hunger so I would not rush right in and she usually settled back to sleep. I find at around 4:00 she may wake up every 5-10 min, so I know she is waking out of hunger. I do not do a dream feed, so her last feed is at 7:00pm.  She has been on solids now for about 1 month. I think that all babies will have different metabolisms some need to be feed at night some don't. I know this isn't a solution to your problem just my experiences.

[Samuel's mum]

It sounds as though you had a busy night! I hope the last few have been O.K. I just want to repeat that it's very common for a baby of 7 months to have a night feed. The end goal is a night everyone is happy with - it doesn't have to mean 12 hours of no nursing for all babies...
BUT if she is naturally sleeping for 11 hours - great. You don't need to wake her at that age. The regular waking with very short feeds she was doing could indicate she is using you for comfort between sleep cycles. I would recommend looking into some 'baby whisperer' techniques mentioned on the sleep boards if that continues.  Good Luck.

[CaedensMama]

My nights currently look like - Bed at 6:30i-7ish, DF when I go to bed (9ish) and no milk till after 3:30-4 and then he is up around 6:30 -
He usually wakes maybe twice between 2:30-3:30 but settles himself back to sleep -
I will work on dropping the 4am fed when he sleeping better till 4. And then the DF after that.

HOWEVER - my ped did tell me he is fine for 8-12 easily at this point, it is just too hard for him to make it yet.

Hope that helps!