Night feeding - How do you know if it is a habit vs a necessary meal
My girls were doing great, only getting up 1 time a night for a 6 oz bottle until just after they turned 6 months and now they have been waking up 2x's a night pretty regularly for the past month or so.
They eat about 30 oz during the day with a small meal in late morning. I try to bump up the ounces at their last daytime bottle a little bit to get them to last longer at night but it doesn't really seem to help. They are bigger girls 19 lbs 10 oz and 27 inches long at their 6 month appt so I feel like they need at least some of the extra ounces at night, but I feel like two full feedings would be too much. Plus, if they get 6 oz at their 2nd night feeding they don't eat a full bottle at breakfast.
My question is in the subject line, how do I figure out if they need the 2nd bottle or if they are just waking up out of habit. And after that, how do I (A) help them get rid of that tiring little habit, or (B) get them to eat more during the day so they don't need it at night?
Any suggestions, tip, or book/article recs are totally appreciated!
Re: Night feeding - How do you know if it is a habit vs a necessary meal
I would say that at that age, and that weight, and the fact that they used to only wake up once a night... it's a habit. My guys weighed 19 lbs at their 9 month appointment and had been sleeping through, or waking once, for a long time.
We did have some set-backs around 7.5 months, where they woke more often and we found ourselves feeding them multiple times a night. But given that they had slept through the night prior to that, I did not feel all the feedings were necessary.
We ended up doing letting them cry a little-- we found that they both quieted down pretty quickly earlier in the night, and then we would feed them if they woke again. We chose a time after which we would feed them (I think we started with 4) and pushed it back.
Whenever we find their night wakings creeping earlier, we do try to train them again. I really hate listening to them cry on those nights, but we are all so much happier once their sleep is back on track.
The boys' pedi said if they wake up between a range of hours- say between 3 & 5 then they are probably hungry.
If they wake up at 5:30 (give or take a few minutes) every single night, then they are waking out of habit. The way to get past it, is to let them CIO or they will eventually stop.. but it may take some time.
EDIT: I agree with Becca, we set a set time we started with 5 & kept pushing it back, by letting them cry a bit, until they just started waking up at 7-730 which is when they start their day.