How Many Night Feedings Are Needed?

Hi there,
Babies should show signs of readiness for solids and even then solids are an introduction. Signs include sitting up securely, keeping tongue back when swallowing, interest in your food and has the pincer grasp ( can pick food up himself). The baby who needs food swiped back in his mouth is not ready yet! Pureed foods are not really needed. Try peas, pasta, mac/cheese. Introduce one at a time and look for reactions. Feeding solids too early just causes allergies later in life and is damaging to the gut. There's many books out like "Baby, Let's Eat!"

Oatmeal in a bottle is not current information and is not considered safe. Most people posting are not childcare specialists and just opinions of mothers with varying degrees of education. Try to find reliable sources of info: books by Jay Gordon, MD or William Sears or La Leche League.

I hate to point this out, but 9 months is not a recommended time to have separation from your infant. Read through your parenting books and you will see that this is a time that can cause separation anxiety for your baby. It's not only a feeding issue but an emotional one.

Since you seem like you have high standards for mothering, take a look at http://www.attachmentparenting.org/

Best!
H.

1 mom found this helpful

Get him on some solids asap. If he is full he should be up 0-1 times a night at this age unless he is sick or teething.

Have you kept trying to start him on solids? I read that it could take up to 10 times for a baby to accept new foods. If he didn't like cereal (it is bland!) perhaps he would like Stage 1 apples or pears. My son eats everything in sight, so we started on peas and he gobbled them up. But in your case, you could start with the "good stuff" first to get him used to eating solids. That will help fill him up so he sleeps longer through the night. A good site for feeding is www.wholesomebabyfood.com. It has tips for introducing solids and also sample menus by age. Good luck, and have a wonderful trip!

Hi R.,

It sounds like he's feeding for comfort since it's that often. My daughter didn't eat solid food regularly until 11 months. She played with it but ate little.

You might want to get a magnetic sleep pad for the baby. It will induce more delta level sleep. There's no need for him to be eating at night anymore and I think 11 and 6 would be adequate and if he's sleeping on the pad he's highly unlikely to wake up. Disrupted sleep is very unhealthy and will age you faster than you probably want to age.

I wish I had known about the pads sooner. I ended up with chronic fatigue from the constant night wakings and studied quite a bit about sleep after that.

S. Hoehner
www.ncdpro.com/detoxqueen call me if you'd like more info about the magnetic pads.

PLEASE, remember to take your pump with you! A breast infection can ruin a romantic time together. If you don't have a pump, you can hand express the milk. Have you tried bananas, avocado or sweet potatoes as first foods? If your son if refusing these good foods too, his body is telling you he is not ready for solids. But, seven weeks is a LONG time in the changes of a baby. Otherwise the timing seems good if that is what he currently does. ;)

My pediatrician told me that we had to cut out night time feedings at 6 months (some books say 6 mos, some say 9 mos). I told the doctor that I didn't want to, because night time feedings were when my son would actually nurse for about 20 minutes - during the day he nurses for about 5 minutes. I was concerned that he wouldn't be getting enough to eat. The doctor said that once he went a couple of nights without anything to eat, he would start to eat more during the day. We stopped the middle of the night feedings that very night and that week was horrible - but worth it. My husband had to help out a lot because I wouldn't be able to comfort my son since he was used to nursing. We were told that we could offer him a bottle of water, which we did - he didn't want it though. Supposedly, if you offer a bottle of water the baby won't want it and eventually will stop waking up looking to eat, knowing that he will only get water. He is 9 months old now. His last feeding is usually somewhere between 8 and 9 pm. His first feeding is anytime after 5am. He still doesn't sleep thru the night, but we know that he isn't waking up from hunger at this point. We have been VERY slowly introducing solids since he was about 5 mos old. He has reflux, so I don't want to give him too much too soon. He is now up to 3 solid meals a day, and I am still breastfeeding him. My advice would be to cut out the 2am feeding, and continue with the 11pm and 6am feedings, if you are comfortable with that. I hope that you have found this to be helpful. Best of luck to you!

by 8 months even a purely breast fed child can go at least 8 hours without any concern for hunger... your child is probably still waking up frequently because he loves to snuggle and nurse with his mom - not out of nutritional need. i would start working on cutting back your night-time feedings... otherwise he could continue to wake up wanting to nurse until he is 2 or 3! aren't you exhausted? you need sleep too.

By 8 months even an exclusively breastfed baby should be able to sleep through the night without any feedings. Don't let people pressure you into starting solids before you are ready. There is nothing wrong with waiting until your baby shows interest. I have several friends who waited until their little one was 10 monhts before starting solids. Their babies are all healthy and eating fine. But babies are definitely ready to try some foods by 8 months so if your baby seems interested it might help to try some cereal at bedtime. . .

Anyway, Chances are a alot of his waking is due to habit. Maybe try having your husband get up with him during the night and at first just rocking him back to sleep without any food, and then after a few nights just leave him in his bed and pat his back until he falls back to sleep. . . then eventually try to let him fuss for a couple minutes and just see if he can get himself back to sleep. Alot of times they'll surprise you and go right back to sleep after a minute or two. I say it's a good idea for you not to be getting up with him during the times when you want to wean his feedings because he'll expect milk from you.

Anyway, hope that helpds! Good luck!

At 8 mo old even a breast fed baby should be sleeping the night through. Perhaps he is not getting enough to keep him satisfied long enough? I would say he should at least be taking 2-3 tbsp of cereal evenings which will curb his hunger and help him sleep the night through. I breast fed all four of mine and all were sleeping through the night by the time they were 2mo old, the oldest started solids around 3mo, the twins started solids around 7 mo, our youngest not until 9 mo (he slept the night through at 1 wk old! he did make up for it during the day and was gaining weight so we didn't worry.)Blessings & good luck.