Should I stop night feeds? Does she really need them?

[miasmum]

Hi,

My dd #2 is 14 weeks and is waking twice a night for a feed.  She is bottle fed and has 5-6 feeds a day.

Our typical day for feeds is :

3.30-4.30am   Feed (still asleep) 175ml
8-9am   Bottle 175ml
12pm Bottle 175ml
3pm Bottle 175ml
6pm Bottle 175ml and bed
9pm Bottle 175ml Dreamfeed (I'm too tired to stay up and do a DF at 10.30-11pm  )
12am Bottle 175ml (she usually wakes at 11.30pm and we try to re-settle her until 12-12.30 to feed her)
Back to the start at 3.30-4.30am.

Some days is it 6am, 10am, 2pm, 6pm,9pm but the nights are the same 12-1am then 3-4am. 

She is a good weight (6.4kgs) and eats well.  I am not sure that she is ready to stop the night feeds.  I was waiting for when she started to take a lot less at each night feed.  She still eats the same at night as during the day.  I can't give her more to eat during the day because she just won't take more.  She always leaves between 40-60mls in the bottle at each feed.

I read on another post that babies are sleeping through at 12 weeks and not waking for feeds.  Am I feeding her and causing accidental parenting?  He night wakings are usually around the same time each night.  She has a dummy that I am going to start to wean from today .  How do I stop the night wakings when there is no dummy to plug in?  I was going to tackle the dummy first and them the night waking/feeds. 

Just read the post of what you want to know.  She fusses then cries straight away at night and we go in put the dummy back in and keep doing this to re-settle her until she gets close to the 3-4 hour feed time.  We haven't tried any sleep training yet because she was a great sleeper and has just become unsettled due to illness and accidental parenting.  I have been rocking her and holding her to sleep and using the dummy.  When she wakes at night I assume she will feed 4 hourly like during the day.  I have a toddler as well and while I know dd#2 probably won't wake her due to crying I am nervous at trying it. 

Any help would be great.  I can't remember when dd#1 stopped feeding through the night or how many times she woke to feed.  I just remember when she started solids at 6mo I stopped the night feeds because I figured she didn't need them with the extra food.

We are just getting over a big illness and I know she may need to eat at night for a while longer but how much longer and how do I stop it.

Thanks,

[Colin Macs Mom]

Hi Amanda,

At 14 weeks your DD2 surely needs those feeds still. Before too long she may be ready to space it out a little bit more though.

I read on another post that babies are sleeping through at 12 weeks and not waking for feeds.  Am I feeding her and causing accidental parenting?  He night wakings are usually around the same time each night.  She has a dummy that I am going to start to wean from today .  How do I stop the night wakings when there is no dummy to plug in?  I was going to tackle the dummy first and them the night waking/feeds. 

This is quite unusual. You are definitely not causing any AP and at 14 weeks it is absolutely normal for her to wake for at least one feed. I would really urge you not to consider trying to cut out any feeds yet. As for the dummy, you should definitely check out the props board for more detailed information but you can use pat/shhh to settle her but she's too young yet for PU/PD.