How Often Should 5 Month-old Eat During Night?

hi, E., I am a mom of five five and under- so I kind of understand what you are going through. All three of my boys still wake once a night like clockwork for a cup of water. Living in this dry climate they do tend to be thirsty a LOT- and it gives them the opportunity to go to the bathroom, which is helpful with potty trainers.
I know you said your daughter is five months- I found until my babies were completely weaned from the breast and on the cup and mostly cereals and baby foods during the day they would wake every night at the same times, genuinely hungry. When they were old enough to be on food during the day combined with nursing/formula and had had enough bottles of formula or nursed with an adequate amount of calories for the day, I could be fairly certain it was out of habit and comfort they were waking at night.
I started cutting out nursing and picking them up at night completely. The only exception was if they needed a diaper change. I would leave a small nightlight on so I wouldn't have to turn the bedroom light on. I would offer them a bottle of warm water and put less and less in it over time. I would also gradually bring the temperature of the water from warm, to tepid to colder. I had a few who fussed to be picked up at first, and reject the water. I would stand there without talking and rub their back or tummy and gently but firmly give resistance with my hand whenever they would try to get up and say 'lay down'. The first night took a half hour on average for most of the kids, and throughout the night if they did wake the same thing. Offer water, and my presence, and gently teach them to lay down. I don't mean, BTW, when offering resistance to them trying to get up, that you forcibly hold them down in the bed. I mean you offer some resistance and lay them down again as many times as it takes for them to do it. Every one of my children except the oldest learned to lay down from a very young age when I asked-and that cut down half the battle at bedtime later on.(Unlike my oldest.) So a lot will depend on how much and what she eats during the day to see if she is ready for sleeping through the night, and putting in place a routine at night that will encourage her to sleep. ALL of my babies went to bed around 8pm, but still needed a bottle or nursing again before I went to bed, and would wake again around 5 or 6 to be fed again until they were close to a year. I hope this helps- God bless

Wow, lots of different advice! Just goes to show, that parents and kids are all different. My experience was that my babies slept a good 6 hours or so by three months. If she is taking a bottle, why not have dad help with the first feeding (10 pm?) and then you can take the 1 am?
To solve the sleep problem, that should give you a good 6 hours, if you go to bed at 7. Or, keep her up and put her down later. Or you feed at 10 pm, and have dad do 1am? I think that it sounds as if she is in the habit (I have 6 kids) but she could be genuinely hungry. My experience is that food does not really help much until about 7 months, but if it is working for you all, great!

My best advice is that "parenthood is a serious of experiments about what works for your child and you". You will have many things that at first are a mystery and don't work out for you, but then you will find a way.
Good luck!
Whatever you do, find a way to get some good sleep regularly!

I haven't read the other responses, but I have been told by my doctor NEVER to feed rice cereal from a bottle. It presents a dangerous choking hazard. Good luck to you.

It sounds to me like she may just be waking due to routine. My daughter (7.5 months) was only waking once at that point to eat but it was at a different time every night so I knew t was actual hunger. By 6 months she was sleeping straight through. I had the same issue you did: I could NEVER fall back to sleep for a very long time once I gotten up to feed her so I understand your troubles.

I would say you could most definitely eliminate one or two of the feedings. What worked for us was letting her cry. I thought it would be this long involved gut wrenching process but it took two nights: 7 min of crying the first night, 18 the second and that was it. At this age they can make up the calories during the day.

Good luck! I've been there and I know the sleep deprivation is awful.

Hi E.,

To answer your question simply - A five month old should eat as often as she's hungry in the night. You're luckier than you realize. Some of my friends have babies who eat every two hours!

But, I am just coming out of the extreme sleep exhaustion period of parenting our baby (first 6 months) so I really do feel your pain.

Babies are supposed to wake frequently. They have more frequent nutritional needs and it is their body's safety device (think of it as SIDS prevention!).

Try to think of night feedings as nighttime parenting. It doesn't end when you go to sleep. Try to get to bed as early as possible - by 9:30 latest - just until she levels off. This will help you to feel a little better.

Since you only have one baby right now, take to heart the advice that you're probably hearing a lot - SLEEP WHEN YOUR BABY DOES!! Every time your baby naps in the day, take one yourself until you're feeling a little better. Or, have mom or a friend come over and watch the baby while you sleep. You're not being lazy or underachieving.

I know it's almost a desperate feeling to be this tired but I promise...It's NORMAL and it will soon pass.

Hang in there!!

M.

There is a book called Babywise that can help you immensely. My son slept thru the night at 10 weeks. My daughter at 8 weeks. This book will help you learn that feeding schedules affect sleeping schedules. Trust me, it works! Good luck.

Rule of thumb - if baby is over 8lbs and over 8weeks - there is no need for night time feedings. You have to set a bedtime routine and stick to it and it will pay off. You give her a bath, read her a story, feed her and explain you are laying her down to sleep - oh, and may sure she has NO burps! If she wakes up during the night you just go in and don't pick her up and rub her back and tell her to go back to sleep. It will be difficult the first few nights however after that you will be thanking your lucky stars. You will have a healthier baby and a healthier you. We did this with my youngest son when he was 9 weeks old and he finally got it on the third night and he has been a wonderful sleeper ever since. He sleeps from 7:30-8pm until 7:30-8am in the morning. He also takes a two and half hour nap during the day. If you wait until she gets much older she can throw herself around the crib or make herself sick - so, get it done now. Just be patient. Talk with your pediatrician about it too. I breastfeed him the entire time - he did terrific! As soon as she wakes in the morning she will be really hungry so make sure to feed her right away. My son even winged himself from nursing right before he turned 1.

She sounds totally typical to me. Sleeping through the night is developmental and she will do it when she is ready. It is best to let her do it when she is ready. Don't wake her, but attend to her when she wakes. Only she knows if she is thursty or hungry. Rice cereal, solid foods, etc... will only help if she is developmentally ready. This is why I chose to have my babies in bed with me. I could quickly attend to their needs and go right back to bed. That way I got the most amount of sleep possible. Enjoy your time with her, it just goes too fast. Soon you will wish she would still let you rock her to sleep. The No Cry Sleep Solution by Elizabeth Pantly is a wonderful resource also for encouraging kiddos to sleep longer stretches at night, but using gentle and kind ways of doing it. Here are some other links that my help:

http://www.askdrsears.com/html/7/T070100.asp
http://www.kathydettwyler.org/detsleepthrough.html
http://www.naturalchild.org/guest/pinky_mckay.html
http://www.ezzo.info/babywise.htm
http://www.gentlechristianmothers.com/articles/cuefeeding...
http://www.fix.net/%7Erprewett/evidence.html

My advice to you is to bite the bullet and drop a night feed. At first you will have to be nice about it and go in when they cry in order to pat/comfort/sweettalk the baby..try to do this in the dark. The baby should get the picture after a while. I hate to tell you this but you encourage these habits in her by making yourself available to nurse/rock and cater to her baby demands. If you want sleep, though, your going to have to taper off the servitude in the am. Also, don't feel guilty it is healthier for the baby too to get some good deep sleep that comes with a long stretch of z's. Good luck sister.

My son is also 5-months old, and also wakes up every 3 hours to nurse. He sleeps in his swing or bassinet until his first waking and I put him into bed with me. It's easier for me to fall asleep by myself.
If I can't fall back asleep, I listed to a book on tape (can download free from library) and that usually puts me right back to sleep.
My daughter was a lot harder. I finally night weaned her at 11 months and it took 2 nights (without a struggle). We tried earlier, but she wasn't ready.
As you've already heard, it'll pass.

All babies are different. If you feed her and she is truly eating, then she is hungry. She will decide when she needs to skip a feeding. At this age, nutrition is still very important. She will let you know what her schedule is at this point. If however you try to feed her and she won't eat, just falls asleep or cries, then it is time for her to go back to sleep. You are the expert on her, and noone will know better than you. Good luck, you'll get your sleep as she gets older. Sleep loss is very normal at this stage. We've all been there.

How does she eat during the day? How often/how much? I have a son that is 4 months and we have not had a nite bottle forever! We are on a routine throughout the day (was getting 6 oz every 4 hrs, but just changed to 7 oz every 5 hrs). He gets his last bottle at 10 pm and the next one in the morning (between 6 or 7 am, whenever he wakes up). We just started w/ the cereal, too. Maybe if you can find a schedule that works for you both she won't wake up as often...good luck!

HI E.- this sounds so normal:) My 3 month old will sleep anywhere from 3-7 hours through the night waking as often as 1-3 hours. I just really try to roll with it even though I am tired:) I do believe they wake up due to thirst too- poor things cannot go to the fridge and get a drink of water:)
I have heard baby wise is not recommended for breastfeeding babies since the breasmilk does not hold them that long and they need to wake and nurse often. I know it is rough but they will determine what sleep they need and when they need to wake- my oldest daughter did not sleep through the night until she was 4:(.
I was also told that alot of formula in the night gets them to sleep way too deeply and is not necessaraly a good thing:(

Are you able to nap during the day- I try to get at least an hour nap in the day and it helps me get through- I do not do well without sleep at all and this is tough.
Maybe talk to your doctor about something like melatonin to take at night to help you get back to sleep- there are several things that are natural that help you go back to sleep- magnesium and calcium too.
Good luck!
You know you have options so that is good.

She should be able to go through the night, but realize "through the night" is really only 6 hours. Although 6 is way better than 3! Food/cereal never seemed to do anything to extend my son's sleep (he just turned 1). I would feed him at about 10pm, he would wake at 1, 4, and 7. We started putting him off about 20-30 minutes at a time, so that his 1 became 2, and then 6 instead of 4. If you really want her to go longer, you can get her used to going a little bit longer a little at a time since babies very easily get into a routine, at least mine did. This got my son to get rid of one of the middle of the night feedings. I would only have to wake up once instead of twice. Eventually he just stopped waking up at night to eat. What a blessing that first week was! Be careful with having someone else get up in the night for one or two nights if you are still going to nurse, but want a night off. Your milk supply can change quickly and you don't want a very upset baby not getting enough from nursing because you took a night off the night before. I had a very quickly responding milk supply and if I missed (or was a little off on pumping), I knew it the next day!

I haven't read all the responses, but I'm sure you're getting quite a variety.

IMO: This is totally normal for a 5mo breastfed baby.
Formula and rice cereal could be waking her. A 5mo's system is too immature for solids, I feel.
3 hours is a sleep cycle for her. She is still pretty young to go much beyond that.
Just as soon as you establish a routine, SOMETHING will change anyway, so don't rely on routine TOO much.
Read The NO Cry Sleep Solution for an understanding on baby sleep and changing it gently. Good luck.

I don't know if I read it right, but if you feed her at 7 and put her down at 7:30pm, she is probably gonna wake up by midnight to eat. I would suggest keeping her up a little longer in the evenings. If you keep her up until 8:30 and try doing a night time bath beofre feeding her. Then try cereal with her formula and of course feed it to her warm. This worked for all of my boys and they all slept throught the night (from 9pm-7/8am) by 6 months of age. Most babies will wake up for the occasional bottle and I assume she will hold her own bottle. Give her the night time bottle and when doing all of this don't turn on the lights. Light seems to stimulate babies at night to wanna play. Hope you try this and hope it works

She should get through the night without eating at this age. All of my children woke during the night and I'd feed them at this age... but then my 4th baby slept through the night from 2 months on... good luck to you!

I am so sorry, but you are at her mercy! But because you stay at home all is not lost. You need to create another schedule for her. there will be alot of unhappiness in the begining, but you can do it. Until then You must sleep when she sleeps it's theonly way yu will make it. i have a 2 year old who still does not sleep through the night and it can be miserable. But Changing her now is more diffucult than working on a 5 month old. Just remember to pick yur battles. She is still so young. and there will be other battles to come