Last night DS wanted to feed 2-3 hrsly overnight.
this is fine except he gets on has a few sucks then goes to sleep. so i am thinking it is a comfort rather than hunger need.
By 3am i just gave him his dummy and co slept , he kept stirring but i persisted not feeding until 5am when i gave in (last feed 1230am)....
When is it ok to refuse feeds overnight? Surely he doesnt need 5 feeds overnight when he has gone with only 2 at times!
At around 6 weeks most babies hit a growth spurt, so he's almost certainly trying to increase your milk supply by feeding more frequently - even if he doesn't empty, he will be stimulating you by sucking even a few sucks.
I'm not sure when it's "ok" to stop feeding at night. In the interests of sustaining your milk supply it's better to let the baby be in control because he intuitively knows how to work your boobs. My DD fed at midnight and 5am until she was 7 months old, and during growth spurts she often came at 3am too.
Before trying to "refuse" night feeds I would try and get him to seriously have his night feed. Try and wake him up enough to suck for a while longer - then hopefully you get a bigger break before the next one.
I think 6 weeks is a little young to be refusing night feeds.
DS is 11 months old and still has 2 night feeds!
Like the other girls said, it'll probably be your bubs trying to increase your supply to meet his demands
Yeh, I too think it's too young yet to be cutting out those feeds. Ditto what the others have said with increasing your supply.
Although absolutely exhausting I know..
I guess the thing is, yes maybe at times he could live without 5 feeds a night if he had too, but at that age I don't think it's quite right to make him do so.
Ceri stopped her night feed (3 or 4am) between 10 and 12 weeks (so two weeks transition). I'd do everything to keep her awake enough for her 10.30/11pm feed though (cold face washers, tickling feet, undressing etc.) to ensure she had a full feed rather than a snack one where she'd just get the foremilk. Which I think helped a lot.
If you're worried about milk then try fenugreek, worked wonders for me. I only feed one side per feed (which is now 4 hourly'ish during the day 7am til 10pm)) so you'd think my boobs would dry up given they're only used every 8 hours but they're fine (though I do express the last used bb an hour after feeding).
I'd wouldn't be refusing night feeds yet either. I decided I'd feed DD when she woke overnight until she was 6 months old and she's just started sleeping through on her own accord. I know it's tiring though!
MJ use to do this. when she would drop off to sleep i would change her nappy, which would wake her and then she would feed some more.
This seemed to help.
FWIW, MJ dropped her night feeds at about 8 weeks and then at 6 mths she decided that she needed them again and she is having 1, but usually 2 feeds overnight.
I would tend to agree with the others that it is a growth spurt thing.
My DD was about 9 weeks when she dropped her night feeds. She started sleeping through then and I wasn't gong to wake her!! But I wouldn't have let her any sooner. xo
PP, DS2 was just the same for a while. I decided that I needed to get him to finish a feed properly in the night so he'd go longer between feeds. But I was so tired and when he dropped off to sleep the call of sleeping myself was pretty strong. I did try to wake him a few times, but he really wasn't interested so I just went back to sleep myself. So I just went with the flow and was pretty exhausted from the frequent wakings. It didn't last that long though. As soon as he was a bit bigger he started having proper feeds and sleeping longer between. I am sure little E will do this soon too, so as hard as it is, I'd hang in there for now. And if you're not already, maybe try a dream feed before you go to sleep.
Have you tried co-sleeping earlier (so it's not just the last resort at 3am?)? If it is just for comfort, he might wake less frequently if he's in with you. But, if he really needs the feed, at least you don't have to get out of bed & can get back to sleep sooner. Hang in there!
Too early to refuse night feeds?
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