I would strongly recommend that you stop any caloric intake as one of your first steps in getting your child to sleep through the night. Sometimes, stopping nocturnal feeds is all you need to do to get your child to sleep through the night. Years ago, I ordered a sleep test on an obese four year old who was waking up multiple times during the night. Since he snored, I thought it was possible that he might have obstructive sleep apnea.
As it turns out, he had a different problem. The tech noted that the child was waking up every two to three hours as the mother had told me. What she had not told me was that she was giving him an 8 oz bottle of milk every time he woke up.
Thus, we solved two mysteries— why he was waking up, and why he was obese. The fact is, unless your child is an infant, he does not need to eat between bedtime and wake time. Addressing this issue can help him and you sleep better at night. Imagine I woke you up every night at 2 AM and gave you an ice cream sundae. One week later, I stop feeding at night. But you still would wake up hungry.
This is what happens to some kids. It is unclear why this is the case. I suspect that some parents get in the habit of responding to any nocturnal awakenings with feeding.
Just like you might feel sleepy after having that ice cream sundae, they go back to sleep. Over time, the pattern gets reinforced. I call this pattern learned hunger. There is one guiding principle here. It is equivalent to asking your child to skip a meal every day. They could do it, but they would be miserable and so would you. Instead, the plan is to make slow incremental changes over time.
These changes are relatively easy to make and your child will tolerate them well. So, your child is over six months of age, growing well, and still feeding frequently at night. You can choose what works best for you and your baby. When the time is right for you and your baby , our suggestions below can help you make the transition away from night feeds.
If you decide to try night weaning, your baby still gets all the benefits of breastmilk if you keep breastfeeding during the day. Note that it might take several nights for you and your baby to get used to the new routine. This will help your baby get used to the change. He only had tsp of one mushy food a day. He also only sleeps naps if he is in my arms.
We co sleep at night. Is it fine he breastfeed so much during the night? During the day he breastfeed 4 times, but because I put him to the breast to nap or fall asleep or right after his vaccinations or if he cries or gets scared it ends up being a lot more.
Hi Alexandra, thanks for visiting the Baby Sleep Site. I am happy to help. It may be a good idea to try to teach him to sleep longer stretches so that when you are ready to transition him to his own sleeping space that you are not having to get up a bunch of times a night to help. At 8 months we would say 1 night feeding is normal and anything beyond that is likely a sleep association.
Feel free to contact us directly at [email protected] and we will gladly point you in the direction of more resources. Thanks for visiting! My little boy is 7 months old next week. He is on 3 meals a day and 4 oz bottles in the day and wakes in the night for a feed. We put him to bed at the same time every night.
When he wakes in the night I offer him a oz bottle which sometimes he finishes but recently he only drinks oz then pushes the bottle away. He also recently wakes at irregular times anywhere between am — am.
I go back to work in 10 weeks and would like us all to be sleeping through by then. Hi Sarah — Thank you for writing to us! He certainly is not taking much at night, and the fact that he can fall back to sleep on his own after a feed and at bedtime is a great start!
Hi Natalie — Thank you for writing and I am sorry that your little guy is waking and screaming! This is so hard for us as parents, and we completely understand!
Or, for the fastest service, we have expert sleep consultants who can help you determine why your baby is not sleeping well and create a plan to get you and your family back on track and sleeping well! All of our email consultation packages for new clients include a Personalized Sleep Plan, which is a detailed guide written just for your family given your specific sleep history, which you will share via an online questionnaire that takes just about minutes not necessarily all in one sitting.
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Be on the lookout for these signs; they could be indications that your baby is ready to drop nighttime feedings: Your baby is not eating as much during the day. Your baby is not eating much at night and treats nighttime feeds as playtime. In these cases, your baby is likely waking out of habit or due to her sleep associations , and not out of hunger. This may be a sign that her nighttime feedings are not really necessary anymore, and that she is ready to drop them.
If they are taking in more than ounces a night they may be taking in too much, and Mom and Dad should consider cutting out night feedings all together. To learn more about an ideal, age-appropriate eating and sleeping schedule, sign up for my newsletter! If in stop feeding my 10 month old through the night she wakes up every half hour.
But she hardly drinks or eats or sleep throughout the day. It sounds like baby does not yet know how to fall asleep on their own. It will likely involve talking to your pediatrician to make sure it is safe to withhold feeds overnight in order to encourage baby to eat more during the day. A good sleep training program will guide you through the entire process.
My little guy is 8 months and still does 1 or 2 overnight feeds a night. Usually he goes about hours between overnight bottles, but will typically drink almost the whole thing, then passes right out to sleep. However once or twice a week he makes it 8 hours and one overnight feed. Should I try to wean him to the one night feed since I know he is capable?
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