Advice wanted-BF @ Night

GRMama24

Hi All!

 I'm not a regular on this board but wanted to check in and ask for advice.

DS is now over 6mo old and weighs in at about 20 lb. He is EBF. He goes to sleep at 8pm, wakes at 11pm to eat, 3 am to eat, and around 7am to eat. Basically every four hours at night. He continues every 2-3 hours during the day. I have just started introducing solids a few days ago, but he is not really eating them, lol. Which is okay. We also bedshare. At this point when he wakes I try to soothe him back to sleep before feeding and every once in a while he does go back to sleep (we sometimes drop the 11 feeding). He is also eating a bit less at each feeding during the night.

Here are my questions/thoughts that I need help with. Should he still be eating this often at night? My gut tells me to feed him when he is hungry but I have a lot of people telling me to night wean him because this is just a habit and he does not need it. Should I be concerned about the amount he is eating at night or continue feeding him?

I plan on bringing this up with his pedi at his 6mo appt next week (its a bit late) but thought I would ask you ladies first. 

GRMama24

To add- I guess I am worried that I might be overfeeding him (is that possible?). I want things like sttn to progress as naturally as possible, too (ie avoid rigorous sleep training methods).

RoryorHenry?

That sounds very similar to my dd's feeding pattern and she is 5 and a half months. I feed on demand and I'm definitely feel that you should feed whenever they are hungry. She rarely goes more than 4 hours at night without eating and I'm not concerned

mb314

I wouldn't worry about over-feeding him. Is he in daycare or away from you during the day?  He may be reverse-cycling.

 I don't have any advice, but just wanted to say my 6 month old DS is the same way.  He goes to bed at 7 and

GRMama24

Thank you for your responses!

My gut says to just keep on filling my little guy up with milk when he wants it. It is hard when so many people tell you to do this or that and sometimes you second guess yourself but you have reassured me that it is

Meganequine

It depends on what your pedi is like (for the type of advice you'll get). At 6 months mine told me it was a personal choice- that he didn't need to eat in the middle of the night medically, but it really depends on the child. Some wake super hungry and

xoexpat

My twins are 6.5 months and their pattern is very similar.  My health visitor said it was because they were not eating solids and that I needed to push that on them and hurry them through that stage.  *eye roll*

Although I would love to