« previous next »
Pages: [1]   Go Down

Author Topic: Reducing 6 month old night feeds  (Read 1523 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline 2littlegirls mom

  • New & Learning The Ropes
  • *
  • Showing Appreciation 0
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 20
    • Location: Minnesota, USA
Reducing 6 month old night feeds
« on: January 26, 2007, 21:57:40 pm »
My DD (6 months) wakes 2-3 times a night and I BF her.  I am trying to reduce these feedings to either 1 or zero.  My plan of attack right now is to reduce the feeds by a minute every 2-3 days.  So far I've kept her at 9 minutes for three nights.  Tonight I'll try 8 minutes.

Day schedule is fairly typical (no solids yet):
A/E 7am
S 9am (1 hour)
E 11 am (BF)
S 1pm (45 min - 1 hour)
E 3pm (BF)
S 4pm (45 min - 1 hour)
E 6:45 (been stretching this towards 7pm with hopes of removing topoff at bedtime)
S 8pm (includes BF; about 3/4s of time is BF to sleep)

She isn't really predictable at night.  She usually wakes between 10:30-12 the first time, then anywhere from 2.5 to 4 hours later.  Sometimes she'll wake a third time between 5-6.  I usually wake her for the day by 7:15.  Each of these times I feed her.  Lately she isn't always sound asleep when I put her down.

What I am wondering is, after having read other posts, will this work?  Would I be better off delaying or trying to skip a night feeding by PU/PD or some other comfort measure?  Will I be able to reduce the feedings to a short enough time period that she will not wake for them anymore?  Or at that point should I just refuse to feed her and attempt to calm her back to sleep?

Thanks for any reassurance/thoughts.
Logged
<img src="http://b2.lilypie.com/PP47m5.png"  border="0" width="400" height="80" /><img src="http://b4.lilypie.com/8CDmm5.png" border="0" width="400" height="80" />

Offline Samuel's mum

  • Resident BW Chatterbox!
  • *****
  • Showing Appreciation 764
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 10636
  • Emma in London, UK
    • Location: London, UK
Re: Reducing 6 month old night feeds
« Reply #1 on: January 26, 2007, 22:30:02 pm »
The lack of predictability and the variation in her time of wakening would indicate she is actually hungry. Don't feel too disheartened if this continues to be the case for a while. I'm not saying don't try what you are trying but 2 feeds at 6 months at some point between 7pm and 7am is pretty standard.
Presumably solids aren't too far away and things will shift (athough solids don't result in magic sleep cures).

I've not got experience of the reducing by a minute method. But it sounds very logical and you sound very organised so good luck.

I'm going to move this to nightwakings if you don't mind as that is the purpose of that board. Is that OK? The breastfeeding board focuses on the feeding issues rather than the sleeping issues. I'll put a link so bf mums will come and give you advice. :)
Logged
<img src="http://b5.lilypie.com/vpkWp1.png" alt="Lilypie 5th Birthday Ticker" border="0"  />
<img src="http://b1.lilypie.com/iPGj0.png" alt="Lilypie 1st Birthday Ticker" border="0"  />

Offline magda1461

  • Resident BW Chatterbox!
  • *****
  • Showing Appreciation 18
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 1021
  • The two Angels that where sent to me
    • Location: Australia
Re: Reducing 6 month old night feeds
« Reply #2 on: January 27, 2007, 04:07:57 am »
i reduced our nw feeds by giving DD water instead of milk.
also this was once she was firmly eating solids too. as they do need the calories to sustain them. also PUPD is also a great tool to get them back to sleep without offering milk.
you may also need the intervention of your DH as she will probably smell the milk on you if your doing PUPD.
Logged

Offline 2littlegirls mom

  • New & Learning The Ropes
  • *
  • Showing Appreciation 0
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 20
    • Location: Minnesota, USA
Re: Reducing 6 month old night feeds
« Reply #3 on: January 27, 2007, 19:11:54 pm »
It seems the consensus that my daughter is actually hungry at night.  Last night she slept at 8, woke at 12:30 and 5.  So there was at least four hours in there.  But wouldn't it work to move the caloric intake to daytime?  Although in essence that is what Stacy and Samuel's Mom are saying when solids are added to the feeding.  Also, by decreasing the nighttime feeding, wouldn't I be forcing her to take more during the day?  If I do not actively pursue dropping nighttime feeding, how long will this continue?  Or how long should I "allow" it?
Logged
<img src="http://b2.lilypie.com/PP47m5.png"  border="0" width="400" height="80" /><img src="http://b4.lilypie.com/8CDmm5.png" border="0" width="400" height="80" />

Offline Mason's Mum

  • New & Learning The Ropes
  • *
  • Showing Appreciation 0
  • Gender: Male
  • Posts: 45
    • Location: British Columbia, Canada
Re: Reducing 6 month old night feeds
« Reply #4 on: January 29, 2007, 04:24:21 am »
I was just reading your post and this sounds a lot like my son with one exception - he will sleep through the night for about 2 weeks and then wake once or twice in the night to feed for about a week.  I've wondered if it is in relation to my cycle and milk production.  Has your LO slept through the night?  I've also thought about sending my DH in to comfort him - it has worked a few times.  It's so hard to tell if they are really hungry isn't it?  Good luck to you.
Logged

Offline macbean

  • New & Learning The Ropes!
  • *
  • Showing Appreciation 0
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 6
    • Location:
Re: Reducing 6 month old night feeds
« Reply #5 on: January 29, 2007, 05:34:38 am »
My DD does exactly the same thing--she is six months and is also up twice/night lately. It is somewhat discouraging to me b/c she got up once/night and even slept through when she was much younger (when presumably she was growing even more rapidly than she is now), but who knows, maybe she's just burning more calories now? Or as Mason's mum said--I just realized in retrospect that she was up more and wanting to eat more during the day just when I was about to get my period...so maybe something was up with milk production. Anyway it is reassuring to me to know that this is normal for a six month old--in "real life" I seem to be surrounded by babies about her age whose sleep never varies and who always sleep right through. I do remember my older daughter gave up her last night feeding when she started finger foods, around 9 months. I'm going to let the two night feeds slide for a few more months, *unless* it starts to seem like she isn't really hungry when she wakes...we tried PU/PD for several nights recently and it just didn't work. I assume when she is no longer hungry, that or some other technique will work (fingers crossed, anyway!) Anyhow, good luck to you--I will be curious to see if making the feeds shorter during the night works. I am too out of it in the middle of hte night to pay attention to how long she eats or maybe I'd try that myself!!   
Logged
Pages: [1]   Go Up
« previous next »