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7mo night feeding comfort or hunger

Cupcakes339Cupcakes339 member
in Breastfeeding
So my coworker who is a father of 2 (8 and 5 y.o.) is having a small talk before a meeting and asks if my 7mo LO is STTN yet.  I said yes, she has been since 2 mo but she dream eats 2 times a night so i still have to get up. (Actually, she used to dream eat only once per night at 3 AM but when she was 5.5mo she started feeding 2 times per night at 11:30 and 4:30). Then he says I should train her to wean night feeding to get a good night's sleep. I told him if I didnt, then she would wake up crying from hunger so I wouldnt get a good night sleep that way. But he says that babies at this age does not need night feeding, the one before bed time is enough to hold through the night and she is just used to night feedings for comfort. I tend to disagree with him since sometimes she would thrash and wake up at different times and would not eat but at her usual times she does and good amount too. So I tend to think that she does get hungry at night. But I thought I'd ask few more moms here and see what their LOs are like at night. I am a night owl so I can handle 1 feeding at night with no problem but 2 night feedings are bit harder but I wouldn't skip a feeding for my baby as long as she is hungry. I figure every baby is different but in general are your BF babies still needing multiple night feedings?
TIA!
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Re: 7mo night feeding comfort or hunger

  • cinderincinderin member
    I am sure my DS was eating twice a night at that point.

    You could always wait for her to wake and have your DH try to rock her back to sleep. If he is successful, she wasn't hungry. If she won't go down till she eats - there's your answer.

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  • krae771krae771 member
    My 8 month old STTN and has on and off since he was 3 months old.  He was EBF 6 months and now BF + solids.  However, he has always been a pretty good night sleeper.  Occasionally he has phases where he will wake up to eat several nights in a row (growth spurts, developmental changes, sick and not eating as much during the day).  He did this for about 10 days 2 weeks ago and we adjusted his bedtime (made it earlier) and also added a little milk to his daycare bottles and he has went back to STTN.  I also cluster feed him in the evening every hour and this definitely helps with his sleep...if we missed an evening feeding, he would certainly be up in the night wanting to eat.  He was nursing 7 times per day and last week, we cut it down to 6 times per day (plus 2 meals of solids).  He goes about 10-11 hours without nursing at night.  If I were you, I would cut down to one night feeding and see how she does and also try to feed her as much as she is willing to take during the day, and maybe she will be less hungry during the night.  I do think that babies can get used to eating at night and eat less during the day because of it.  Also, we don't always comfort the baby with nursing right away.  If he is not crying, but making noise, we will give him a few minutes to see if he can fall asleep on his own.  If my LO wakes up at an unusual time and I don't think he is having a growth spurt, I will sometimes send my husband in first to see if he can get him back to sleep within a few minutes...if not, I will feed him. 
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