MOTN Feeding Question

ahart326

Hi! I have a question regarding a middle of the night feeding. My DD currently goes to bed around 7 and wakes up anywhere between 7 and 8am. I get her up at 8 every day. If she wakes up before then, she will just lay in her crib sucking her thumb until I come get her. She usually wakes up once a night to feed although she has gone a few times not waking up at all. She typically wakes up anytime between 1:30am and 5:30am for this feed. Sometimes when she hasn't woken up yet to eat, I wake up to go pump and see her on the monitor in her crib awake quietly rolling around sucking on her thumb. I'm assuming she is awake, although her eyes are closed she seems really restless. Usually I will just feed her then figuring that she is going to wake me up soon to eat anyway. (Doesn't it always figure that they wake up to eat right after you pump!) She's really good at going back to sleep after she's laid back down. However, I'm just wondering if I should be feeding her without her "telling" me she's hungry? Am I just promoting this middle of the night feed that she might otherwise drop? My concern is that if I don't feed her she might just lay awake in the middle of the night for a long time or be really restless for a few hours when she could be getting better and deeper sleep if she's fed. I guess I'm just trying to avoid her waking up at 6 or 7am to eat and then being up for the day and it throwing off her schedule. That's what happened today. Just looking for some advice or personal experience I guess! Thanks 

alliebsmith

My LO is formula fed and used to do this. I would let her sleep and roll around if she wasn't crying because that's good for their gross motor development and if she was really hungry she would let you know. Sometimes, if you automatically feed her without her cueing you then she might not always cry when hungry because she assumes you will do the guesswork. To drop the MOTN feed I would put an extra ounce of formula in my LO last bottle before bed and that lasted her through 12 hours at night. She still wakes up and tosses and turns but eventually goes back to sleep. It teaches them how to self soothe and put themselves to sleep.

Ash1103

I formula feed so if it were me i would add an ounce as well or dreamfeed around 10 or11pm. However since u breastfeed maybe u could at least dreamfeed. Then when she seems restless pop her paci in. You may have to get up a few times to do so but hopefully it weans her from the MOTN feeding

lestes1121

I EBF and I dream feed my baby at least twice a night. I don't mind it tho. I let her cue me. Her hunger cues at night are being restless. I offer her paci and if she spits it out three times and is still restless I just go ahead and feed with out waiting for her to fully wake up. After feeding she usually isn't restless anymore. Her feedings vary but don't throw her schedule off my more than 30 minutes. Sometimes she sleeps for 5 hour stretches at night and some nights she cues as often as every 2 hours.

CanadaMom17

It's not unusual for EBF babies to need a feed (or 2) until 9 or 10 months so you're likely just heading off crying for a feed.  My lo rustles around before needing feeding too.

supersarah77

Personally, I feed on demand, so I'd let her tell me when she's hungry. And not just restless. If she's up for the day an hour earlier so be it. To me that's worth getting the extra continuous sleep.

That said I think your mama intuition trumps anything we say.