is this good advice?

I was given some advice from a couple of friends today when I told them DS is still feeding every 3 hours at night (He's 16 weeks old). I'm totally fine with it, we bedshare so it's not as if I have to get out of bed to feed or anything, he just wakes, wriggles a bit, finds my boob and has a feed and then we both fall back to sleep. Anyway, they said I should just give him a dummy instead of a feed, that's what they did and apparently their babies sleep 10 or 11 hours straight. I feed on demand, and I'm worried about my supply decreasing if I start to deny feeds. Should I try this or are my worries valid?

bec I can only offer my own experience, but Nate has had a dummy from day and still fed hourly overnight for 6 months. He fed overnight until 16months too because I believe babies still need it until they are ready to stop on their own.
Your supply will adjust to the amount of feeds it needs to supply.
But that's just my opinion only.

I generally follow the rule "if it ain't broke don't fix it". If you're happy to continue feeding at night and DS is happy, there's no real reason to change anything. He's still fairly little. I still bf DD at night, but at around 6 months when we started solids I noticed she began to drop feeds.

At his age, no I wouldn't follow that at all.

Once he hits about 9 months maybe. But like TC says, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

i agree with PP - if you're happy the way things are, then there's no need to change anything.

i also believe that at that age, 10 or 11 hours is a long time to go without a BF.

i only have my own experience - and my DS refused to ever take a dummy & still wakes overnight at almost 19 months.

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I generally follow the rule "if it ain't broke don't fix it". If you're happy to continue feeding at night and DS is happy, there's no real reason to change anything. He's still fairly little. I still bf DD at night, but at around 6 months when we started solids I noticed she began to drop feeds.

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TC & LimeSlice - thanks I agree with that rule. I suppose I just started to question our night feeds after sitting with them for an hour listening to how well their babies sleep.

sloane - I think that's a long time to go without a bf too, I'd be worried about dehydration.

Kim - hats off to you for the hourly night feeds, well done.

Thank you everyone, I think I'm just going to keep doing it our way. It's working :)

oh it would be a boring place if all of our babies were the same :D

I agree with Limey that your DS is way too young to be worry about overnight feeds and while some babies won't feed at night at this age there are still a lot that do.

I love how you are following your instincts and keep going with that. FWIW I had one that never stopped feeding overnight until we fully weaned very recently. Keep doing what you are happy with and when it becomes a problem for you then look at your options.

bec, I just realised you're in SA. By the sounds of it we have some hot weather coming up, so it probably wouldn't be the best time to drop feeds, especially if you're already worried about dehydration.

It's so hard though. We want to do the best for our little ones and are always questioning ourselves (well I am anyway). Then we talk to other mums and start questioning all over again. But isn't it great that we can come to BB and find reassurance that following our instincts is not a bad thing?

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I'm totally fine with it, we bedshare so it's not as if I have to get out of bed to feed or anything, he just wakes, wriggles a bit, finds my boob and has a feed and then we both fall back to sleep.

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There's your answer :)

I agree, that's a long time without a feed. My DD couldn't go that long until 18 months old.

Thanks TC - I am always questioning what I am doing. Everything I do seems to surprise people, from cloth nappies (comments like you actually WASH nappies??) to co-sleeping (what, aren't you worried about sharing a bed??) to how often Isaac feeds.. every 3 hours doesn't seem like too often to me but peoples comments make me feel like he hasn't reached that magical 'sleeping through' stage that everyone seems to think I should be aiming for. I'm not usually one who cares about what people think of me, but having a baby has changed that a bit, especially when I'm questioning if I'm doing the right things or not.

Heaven - thanks, I answered it myself! I thought about it later, and realised I shouldn't really be listening to advice from someone who started their baby on solids at 3 months anyway. :o

i too can only speak from personal experiance but DD fed over night till 2 years old, and atleast three times a night till about 16 months. But it didnt bother me either. We got too a point where i was pregnant and wanted to get her sleeping through but by that time she was ready to stop and it was pretty easy, a few nights of asking for it 1000 times and now she sleeps thought fine! Friends often told me to give her water and i tried a few times but it just didnt cut it with her.
every child is different, i honestly think that DD wouldnt have been ready to stop before she did. And each parent is different, for your friends it might not have been right for them to be getting up to feed over night. If your happy to do it and you have reservations then i would listen to that inner mumma and carry on with the way your doing it!

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I was given some advice from a couple of friends today when I told them DS is still feeding every 3 hours at night (He's 16 weeks old).......

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Can I just say: hahahahahaha!!!! No, I'm not laughing at you.... I'm laughing at me (and it's hysterical manic laughter too)! DS2 is 11 months on Thursday and for the past couple of months he's been waking every 3-4 hours at night for a BF!

I BF on demand when we are at home and of a night (at childcare I give him a BF after lunch and he adapts to that really well). I figure one day soon enough he will sleep through because he won't need a night-time feed. When I hear his little tummy growling there's no way I will deny him a feed. Besides DH could never go 10-11 hours without a feed and I figure our little fella is just like daddy!

I think we are slowly getting back to only waking once but as it is now he has a BF before bed (around 7pm) then wakes around 10ish then around 2ish and then is up and about by 6. Go with what works for you...... someone said, if it ain't broke don't fix it: excellent advice!

16w to me is way too young to be encouraging dropping feeds. Sure if they do it on their own then great but at this age I'd say they need the extra feeds... then again my 22m DD still feeds 2-3 times a night so you could be waiting a while for them to drop night feeding of their own accord hehe.

Did you actually ever think of it as a problem before your friends gave you this advice? There is no need to worry about whether other people see what you're doing as a problem, only you. And lets face it, if a bubba wants to feed then there is a reason for it.

Waking 3hrly at 16 weeks is nothing. My DS fed two hrly through the night until about 20 months.

Jellyfish & LoveLea you aren't giving me any great hope that I could soon be enjoying loooooooong uninterrupted sleeps!:doh:

Jellyfish - it is too young to drop feeds.. for some reason people think all that matters is getting more sleep.

LoveLea - thanks, and no I didn't see it as a problem before. Just after having listening to them go on about their perfect sleepers for ages at lunch I started to doubt myself, but have since realised that yes I am still perfectly happy with feeding on demand. I shouldn't have even listened to them, as one of the ladies in particular is doing things I'd never do (extremely early solids etc), so she's not someone I should take advice from.

Even when we are perfectly happy, no matter how much we try not to let it, other peoples negativity does creep into our thoughts.

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