How many times should I feed my baby at night?

Shivani - posted on 07/30/2012

hi kirti, my daughter is also march 2010 born i was having the same issues.but i right now i m giving her solid food at night like rice with dal or chicken at 7.45 to 8.00 pm after that i give her milk with very gud brand Nutrilite Kids Drink it really help me a lot. u can also try this
If u want tom know anything u can mail me at shivani.pandita@gmail.com.

Jennifer - posted on 01/26/2011

Every child is different..However, at the age of 1 they should be eating more solid food. My daughter turned 1 on the 8th of december and she eats whatever I cook (as long as its soft and small enough for her to chew) and she drinks whole milk out of her sippy cup. Like I said every baby is different. Try giving solid foods. It might help. My daughter loves it and she only eats 3 meals a day with a little snack at night and she sleeps like a rock.

Kristy - posted on 01/26/2011

I was reading on another forum that formula and milk are full of calories and when they stop working 2 to 3 hours after a bottle they wake up for another as they need these to fill full. So the thing to give is water as they fill full and its not full of calories, also they said to not make the bottle interesting to so therefor only water in it during the day. Just a thought on something i seen. I finally got my boy to stop wakeing up by comforting him to go back to sleep,no bottle or paci just lie him back down and rub his back for a mina nd then out of his room, when he got restless i went back in and did it again, took and hour and a half the first night, and hour the second and a half hour the third, fourth night he woke up and put himself nack to sleep and has been sleeping 12 hours a night since, bliss! I am lucky as he sucks on his hand for comfort so that is what he did to go back to sleep. Good luck.

Belinda - posted on 01/16/2011

I dont think they should be eating at night at all at this age. If hes waking at night i would say its due to something else or bad habbit. Try giving him water when he wakes he will soon learn its not worth it or it something else waking him

Cindy May - posted on 01/15/2011

To Kathleen Lysogorski -

feeding
5 = 200ml formula
8 = 10 tsp cereal (nestle cerelac) + 100ml purity fruit
10.30 = fruit and cup of rooibos with one sugar
12 = 4 grapes, one slice cheese, 2 baby tomatoes, 2 small vienna or chicken nugget + yoghurt
3 = fruit and juice or 1/2 rice cake
5.30 = left over from our meal - 1/2 a cup
7.30 = 350ml formula

snacks i give a piece of dried sausage to chew, dried fruit, fresh fruit, rice cake, or 1/2 a sandwich with borvril or cheese spread on.

good luck

Rachel - posted on 01/12/2011

My little girl was born on December 26, 2009 and she starting sleeping through the night about 5 months. I will feed her regular meals with the rest of the family such as breakfast lunch and dinner with snacks in between. She only gets a bottle in the morning after regular food and then at night after dinner. She is in bed and asleep by 9:15pm. They should sleep through the night by age 1.

Kathleen - posted on 01/11/2011

my 1 year old still wakes up for a formula bottle, when i try to give her a water bottle she refuses. i feed her solids 3 times a day with the fornula bottle. what kind of snacks do you guys give? she has cheerios and puffs. how much food do you give? i just want o make sure im giving her enough. she seems satisfied.

Lauren - posted on 01/10/2011

Like some of the others have posted, your son should be able to sleep through the night. The night-time awakenings are now more out of habit rather than a real need. While we weened our son (born Dec 12) of night feedings rather early, I thought some tips that helped me might help in your process of weening now.

Start by weening one wakening/feeding at a time. If you are nursing him for 10 minutes, each night nurse him 2 minutes less. For example, Monday-10 min, Tues-8 min, Wed-6 min, Thurs-4 min, Fri-2 minutes, Saturday-no feeding. This technique should minimize crying for all parties. Once you're tackled one of the night time feedings, do the same for the other one(s) until he is sleeping through the night without wake-ups.

Good luck!

Jules - posted on 01/10/2011

Is he sleeping in your room at night? I had that problem with my baby and as soon as put her in a seperate roomn she stopped waking up at night. The problem was that she would wake up see me and want to nurse, in her own room she will just roll over and go back to bed. Good luck!!

Tracie - posted on 01/05/2011

Every child is different. My oldest daughter, who is now 17 yrs old, stopped breastfeeding about 6 months and was sleeping through the night. My son, 14 yrs old, was about 4 months when he started sleeping through the night. My youngest daughter, (12/11/09), isn't ready to do that yet.... she is still breastfed at night, and still sleeps with us because of it.
I am not worried about it.....every child does what they are ready to, when they are ready to.
All 3 of my children started solids at about 3 months, and were fully eating table foods by 10 months....so that isn't any different. With my older two children, I gave them a bottle of water at night, if they needed it....but they were also done with breastfeeding earlier. My youngest just isn't there yet. I don't believe in forcing a child to do anything before they are ready, and it has worked fine with my oldest kids. They are both secure, happy, and healthy.....and very independent.
My youngest eats well throughout the day, and we give her a fruit or yogurt snack before bed....but she still wakes up at 12am, 4am, and sometimes 6am (when daddy gets up) for breastfeeding. Sometimes it is a healthy eating...and yes, sometimes it's more for comfort. If you are ok with it, then it's ok. It isn't going to harm your son..... It's really up to you.... my youngest daughter has only ever had sippy cups, and cups with straws....she refused bottles, but enjoys the others. So eventually, I am sure she will get a sippy of water in her crib....when we get there.
Good luck with whatever you decide....just remember that YOU are his mother and as such it's your decision....

Maggie - posted on 01/05/2011

At one he doesn't need feeds during the night. Most ppl say to give a final milk feed at 7.30 so later and that should get them through the night. My son has been getting a bf/bottle about 7pm since 6 months goes to sleep about 7.30-8 and sleeps through till 6.30-7am sometimes a bit longer. We had to cut out the one inbetween by not offering it, just going in a resettling. eventually he realised he wont be getting what he wants and just slept through it.

Lisa - posted on 01/05/2011

my little girl has been sleeping through the night since 7 months old. By 1 the waking is just habit and not hunger (as long as he has eaten well during the day)

Stacy - posted on 01/04/2011

My doctor told me with my son a few months ago to give him rice cereal a hour before bed and make it really thick. The thicker the longer it well stay with them. Talk to your doctor and see what he/she suggests.

Cindy May - posted on 01/04/2011

One option is to start watering down his formula feeds until he is just drinking water and then to try and push those 'water' feeds apart until he only wakes once then hopefully not at all.

Other reasons for their waking come in to play now - teething etc - so he could be waking because of that not hunger and then eating out of habit instead of hunger.

Cherie - posted on 01/03/2011

I havent fed my son at night for over 6mths I think now. His last bottle is at 7pm ish and hes usually down for the night by 8pm and gets his next bottle anytime between 7-8am next day depending on when he wakes up. But, I stopped breastfeeding him at 10.5mths due my backpain (from giant knockers thanks to breastfeeding) and doctor said at the point to switch straight to cows milk which I did No problems at all. He gets 3 good healthy solid meals during the day with 2 snack in between. Plus he drinks around 6-8 oz of water during the day. So perhaps pump up his food intake and try giving him water during the day as well.

Kim - posted on 01/03/2011

my boys haven't ate at night since they were 6 months old. They sleep 12 hours a night now without waking to eat.

Paulette - posted on 01/03/2011

By now your son should be sleeping through the night. I made the mistake when my son was teething by giving him a bottle when he woke because his gums were bothering him so he'd go back to sleep.

If you give him plenty of solids he should sleep through the night. If not, it's time to break the habit and you may have to let him cry himself back to sleep until he learns to sleep through the night. I know it sounds really bad, but it's not. Sometimes you have to do, what you have to do. If not he may never learn to sleep through the night. Best now before it's too late. It's probably more a habit for him then he's actually hungry. Does he eat much during the day? How often does he get breastfeed/bottle feed?

Tishana - posted on 01/02/2011

My son is the same way.

I only have to give my son a drink once during the night. I don't mind because if you think about it, some times we adults get up and are thirsty too, and we don't deny ourselves a drink at night simply because it's night time, right? Really, it all depends on what you think you should do, what you're okay with, etc etc, because every parent and every baby is different. Just remember that they will eventually grow out of this phase.

:)

Kirti - posted on 01/02/2011

I found something that I never thought could do some help. For few days Yashas is sleeping only once at daytime [instid of 2 times] so at night he wakes up only 1 or 2 times and I try to make him sleep without feeding him... And I think after few days it will work....

Mel - posted on 01/01/2011

My daughter was born on the 1st of December and I got her to stop the night feeds at about 7-8 months. I was also breastfeeding but found that if i gave her a bottle of formula before bed instead of breastfeeding it seemed to keep her full until morning. I also just stopped feeding her during the night and just used to lay her down and pat her back until she went to sleep. Someone also told me that they kept a bottle with water in it and when bub woke up looking for a feed they just gave him that and he eventually gave up because he wasn't getting milk and started sleeping through. Whichever works for you i wish you luck

CRYSTAL - posted on 12/31/2010

MY SON WAS DOING THE SAME THING AND MY DOCTOR SAID TO STOP THE NITE FEEDINGS CUZ IT'S NOT THAT HE IS HUNGRY IT'S CUZ THAT'S HOW HE'S COMFORTING HIMSELF SO I DID N NOW HE SLEEPS THROUGH THE NITE...I ALWAYS THOUGHT HE WAS HUNGRY TOO..SO TALK TO UR DOCTOR HOPE THIS HELPS..

Sarah - posted on 12/30/2010

Babies at this age should be getting all their nutritional needs during the day and mostly from solids. Make sure he gets enough to eat during the day by offering him small meals more often (every couple of hours) - eg. my girl (also 1) has breakfast (7am), morning snack (9-9.30am), lunch (11.30), early afternoon snack (2pm), late afternoon snack (4pm), and dinner (5.30pm), plus I breastfeed her before bed at 7-7.30pm, and she sleeps right through until 6.30/7am. Also be sure to offer him plenty to drink (ie. at each "meal").



By age 1, most babies "should" be able to last the night without a top-up feed. I say "should", because every baby is different and not all babies follow the supposed "rules". It depends if you are happy to continue offering him a feed at night or whether you do want to cut it out. He's not going to like it if you stop offering him the bottle/boob at night because that is what he's used to - I think it's probably more a habit as opposed to actual hunger that is causing him to wake a few hours after going to bed. If you do want to stop the night feeds, bear in mind it will take 3-4 nights before he realises he is not going to get a feed anymore. You need to be consistent though - it won't make any difference if you respond differently each time (ie give him the bottle one night, then not the next, etc). Just some thoughts anyway... good luck with whatever you decide to do.

Sara - posted on 12/30/2010

My daughter turned 1 yesterday and she still wakes up during the night. She doesn't like breakfast too much so she usually just snacks. She does eat dinner good, which is usually meat, veggie, and something else, then I give her some fruit for desert. She also doesn't eat baby food anymore because she started refusing it at about 10 months. I do breastfeed and she eats on demand. I'm not going to force her to sleep through the night because when she's ready, she will do it.

Allison - posted on 12/28/2010

My son was born on the exact same day as yours (cool, huh?), and he stopped eating at night about 3 months ago. My pediatrician told me they lose the middle of the night feeding between 6 and 9 months. I think I read somewhere that if he still seems hungry during the night at this point, it might be a signal that he didn't have enough to eat during the day. Mine has regular breakfast, lunch, and dinner meals, an afternoon snack, and three 8 ounce servings of milk throughout the day. The last serving of milk I give him about 30 minutes before he goes to bed. He goes to bed around 8 or 9 each night and will sleep until 8 A.M. if I don't have to wake him earlier.

Elfrieda - posted on 12/28/2010

I don't think he needs it. A one year old should be able to sleep through the night. Try stuffing him with his favourite food before bed and then get your husband to settle him down again when he wakes up. (if you do it, it will be more work because he associates you with food) I would go slow, and eliminate one feed at a time. Maybe start with the 4 am feed, then after he's used to it eliminate the 1 am feed. Others like to go coldturkey, but I don't because it's so much for the baby to get used to all at once.
My son turned 1 two days after yours! I am still giving him a bottle at 10:30 before I go to bed (he goes down at 7:30 and wakes up at 7:30) and I'm thinking about stopping that. I'll wait a bit on that though, since he does seem to be HUNGRY in the morning and wants breakfast immediately when he wakes up.
I suggest giving him something filling like sweet potato or squash as his nightsnack. That might tide him over!

Emma - posted on 12/28/2010

give him plenty of solid foods that should fill him up! failing that its probably more habbit for him as babies at this age shouldnt need a night time bottle sorry i couldnt be more help!