Eating at night - hungry or habit?

[Missy Lou]

I'm sure there are other posts on this topic so sorry if I missed them.

My lo will be 16 weeks tomorrow but was 3 weeks early.  She's on a 3.5 hour EASY.  I DF at about 10:30.  She'll sleep until about 2 and then wake to eat and generally eats 3.5 ounces (eats 4.5 ounces during the day).  She'll then go down again until about 5 and then wake.  I'll give her a paci and try to get her to sleep a little longer (another issue I guess).  Anyway, I keep reading about the night feed and it being a habit and not really hunger.  At almost 16 weeks, she'll only go 4 hours before the night feed and then about 5 or 5.5 hours until morning feed.  that doesn't seem very long.  plus she usually wakes at the same time - 2 or 2:30.  Last night I tried giving her the paci when she woke but she spit it out and started talking/fussing so I fed her.

i don't mind one night feeding at this age but i don't want to hinder her sleeping for longer periods at night by continuing to feed her when she's not hungry.  how do i determine whether it's hunger or habit? 

[Kimberly®]

Sounds like your LO is right on track Keep up with at least one feed a night for the time being. Premi's often need night feeds longer as they are usually born really small and need to catch up on weight. She'll let you know when she's ready. remember her corrected age is 13 weeks, things will be easier for you if you keep that in mind.

HTH