Will he ever stop feeding at night?

Hi Gals

DS is now almost 9 months and still feeds twice at night (usually about midnight and 4am). He is on good solids during the day and he has around 3 bf's during the day with the last one at about 5pm.

So many babies his age seem to have completely stopped night feeds and of course I get the comments that he doesn't need it any more. I'm a little disheartened but I really believe he'll stop when he's ready....but will he?

I guess I'd really love to hear from other mums whose bubs did stop the night feeds all on their own....or do I need to give him a gentle nudge to stop?

Any advice welcome.

P.S. the dream feed never made a difference so I abandoned it.

He will, I promise but you might have to wait awhile.

I had the same issues with my DS, except when he was nine months old he was waking up 4 or 5 times a night. By the time he was one, it was down to twice.

He continued waking twice a night for another year and than just after his second birthday he started sleeping through - 12 hours a night completely out of the blue. I changed nothing, he was just ready.

It's so hard though when others are in your ear about it as well, I know what that's like :rolleyes:

I was told to wean him, to formula feed him at night (didn't do either) but I did try dreamfeeding...which didn't make a lick of difference. I know it does work for some babies though.

Hang in there I hope you get some zzz's soon.

Wow - your DS is feeding twice a night? I'm so jealous! DS is 10 months and feeds at least 3-4 times most nights...
I'm sure it'll get better....:pray:

I had to give a very gentle nudge.
She would wake, and I think we ended up having DH go in for about 2 nights, and re settle her, sometimes it would take about 20 mins, but she would sleep fine. She still comes to bed with me at about 5.30-6.30 for a feed then goes back to sleep.

I just couldnt keep feeding her at night though, she was getting too big to feed standing up and went through a phase where she would only feed if I were laying in bed, so very not practical for DHs work routine. So I just refused to feed her at night. I made sure she ate well and clusterfed at night so I knew she wasnt hungry, and we offered water if she was. If she would settle after 30mins then I would feed her, but I only needed to do that once or twice. For that 30 mins of course we would cuddle and pace and jiggle and al lthose other fun for mummy things! lol
I think that when I began to break the feed to sleep habit, she came to realise that even in the middle of the night she didnt need to feed to sleep iykwim?

She still wakes about 2 times a night, I go in, pick her up, cuddle for about 3 mins and she then tries to throw herself back into the cot lol and goes back to sleep.

Hang in there hun!! He will stop feeding overnight eventually, but there are some subtle things you can do in a gentle way to encourage him to cut down.

Good luck, HTH! :)

Thanks for all the advice and support. It always helps to hear from those who've been there.

I know he'll sleep through eventually but for now I'll enjoy being his mum and know that what we do in these early years impacts our kids for the rest of their lives.

My DD is 17 months and still has night feeds most nights. I think for her she has bad dreams or just gets unsettled and feeding helps her resettle. When she was the age of your little boy, she would have big feeds at night and I chose not to take action because in my opinion, she needed it. She hardly fed at all during the day (she ate solids but never sat still long enough for BM) so despite the child health nurses advice, I figured i'd rather her just have it. The frequency dropped though when I started taking her into a quiet, dim room to drink during the day so she actually had a proper feed rather than hopping on and off repeatedly!

Thanks Neenee. DS sounds similar in that he's pretty disinterested in bf during the day but at night he has big feeds. I've always kept night feeds low-key and quiet so I'll try doing the same for day feeds and see if that makes a difference :pray:

Tobily - you give me hope. DS still has a drink roughly twice (or more) a night. He self weaned at 15 ish months but continues to wake and has never slept through the night. I can only hope he starts to sleep through .......... one day ;)

every bub is different. i was still feeding my child every two hours at 18months, so a four hour stretch at nine months (in comparison) sounds pretty good to me.

i remember being told that night milk has some special goodies in it, that day milk doesn't, that helped me cope with the situation better. Plus feeding in bed.

No one thing works for every family, you need to tailor it to suit YOUR family, and your commitments.

i had a dh who slept (willingly) on the sofa for a year, brought baby to me for feeds. I didn't have to worry about going to paid work the next day. Everyone is in a different situation.

At over two now, my child seems to want a feed around midnight and another around 5am, i'm ok with that as i'm so used to it. She cries for milk, i just think "she's thirsty" and i go to her.

weaning is a very personal thing, what you want/feel comfortable with, what your child wants/feels comfy with - i think it's a balancing act. (not to mention, if you are physically able to produce the milk in the first place).