It’s common to wonder whether your baby is ready to drop a feed, or if they are waking up hungry.
If you are worried about whether to drop feeds at night and how to do it…you are in the right place!
Having worked with hundreds of families, I can tell you that feeding is the most common worry among tired parents.
Caloric intake varies and as your baby gets older they can handle longer periods of time between feeds.
Newborns often need multiple feeds overnight.
So, how can we as parents have peace of mind and how do we actually do this?!
I want to be very clear here, all babies have different nighttime feeding requirements, some can go all night without a feed from an early age and some don’t wean off night feeds until they are older. Please if you are concerned about your baby’s weight or they have a medical condition, consult with your Paediatrician or family doctor and get their go-ahead before weaning night feeds.
The need for sleep and the need for food are equally important. So how do we balance them and ensure both?
The one thing we can be sure of is that babies are excellent calorie regulators, meaning they will get what it is they need in a 24 hour period. They will naturally eat more during the day to make up for the long stretches of sleep at night- that they desperately need as they grow and sleep cycles mature.
https://www.lilbabysleep.ca/early-mornings-mini-course
As sleep cycles mature, you will likely experience wake-ups every 90-120 minutes overnight, and often times this becomes an opportunity to help them back to sleep, and a feed is a common way to do that.
A few signs that your baby is ready to drop a feed:
Sign 1: Can they fall asleep on their own or do they need to feed to sleep?
Does your baby fall asleep while feeding or does baby get fed to sleep? These are two different things.
If baby is falling asleep during a feed, they are likely relaxed, tired, and were going to fall asleep anyways. This is not bad and it happens sometimes. The difference is that if you are feeding to sleep you are actively feeding until they fall asleep. every time. Feeding for the purpose of falling asleep not for the purpose of nutrient intake. This can cause a suck to sleep or nurse to sleep association. One of the most common types of associations I see in my practice.
If you are fine with feeding each time baby wakes then it’s all good! Like I always say, if it works for you then it’s not a problem! But if you are waking multiple times to settle baby to sleep, it can have an effect on your rest and mental health and have an impact on baby’s much-needed sleep as well causing fractured sleep and lots of digesting overnight.
Remember babies NEED sleep just like they need food, a diaper change, and love from their mama.
If you find baby gets on the breast or bottle and sucks for a few minutes and then falls asleep or just sucks but doesn’t gulp down the food..then I would tend to think that they are just feeding for comfort. If they are hungry they will EAT and eat it all. Watch for slow sucks and short feeds.
Sign 2: They will go back to sleep without feeding. If a baby is hungry, they won’t give up easily. If you comfort and soothe your baby in a different way and they go back to sleep for a long stretch without feeding, then they likely weren’t hungry.
Sign 3: They are waking often to eat. A full sleep cycle is about 2 hours so if your baby is waking every few hours, It’s likely that they are just waking from a sleep cycle and need the sucking to go back to sleep. If you have fed your baby the likelihood that they’ll be hungry again in a few hours is very low. Now, this also depends on age but generally for babies over 4 months you can expect to have a gap of at least 4-6 hours between feeds if they need them. This again is a sign that you’re looking at a suck-to-sleep association more than actual hunger.
Sign 4: They are under 6 months and haven’t started solids. Without knowing babies weight and calorie intake we can assume that a baby under 6 months still needs at least one feed at night. Again this is not always the case but this is the general guideline. If baby hasn’t started solids, then the likelihood that they need one feed at night is higher.
Here are some factors that I consider before ever suggesting we wean off a feed:
Age (adjusted and birth)
Weight and weight gain
Doctor’s okay
Calorie intake - I will calculate your baby’s average daily calorie intake
Solids - What meals look like and are they providing the needed nutrients to sustain baby overnight.
Timing of feeds
Parent’s comfort - some parents prefer to keep a feed just to have peace of mind (that’s okay!)
Wake ups and do they signal hunger
If you have considered all of the above and are ready then here are
5 steps to weaning feeds:
Separate sleep from feeds. Move the feed to the beginning of the bedtime routine or at least 20-30 minutes before sleep/naps.
Start to reduce the amount of time on the breast if breast/chestfeeding. Unlatch 2 minutes earlier each time and make sure baby goes down wide awake. If bottle feeding 2oz less each time until you are at 2 oz of milk or less, then just re-settle instead of feed.
Send Dad in instead to settle back to sleep in a different way.
Work with a sleep consultant to get a re-settling plan together and help your baby learn to fall asleep in a different way. while slowly weaning night feeds.
Make sure you are offering lots of opportunities for meals and feeds during the day.
Also, working on sleep doesn’t have to mean cold turkey cutting feeds as mentioned, you can still feed at night if it’s needed.
You can work on sleep AND still feed your baby at night. If baby still needs that night feed, then you can absolutely fit it into your sleep plan. There are many ways to do this and should not affect your efforts to improve sleep.
You just need to take a comprehensive view of your particular situation and child. This is often difficult to do with a one size fits all approach to sleep. Babies are human and we have to give them the individual attention that they need.
If you do speak to a sleep consultant and they suggest weaning a feed then a gradual approach is sometimes best but this depends on temperament, how often feeds are and how strong the association is.
Either way, once you have a great little sleeper with great sleep skills, they will naturally wean themselves and not wake up for a feed.
If you are still not sure whether your baby still needs to feed at night or exactly how to do it. Let me help you.
Taking a look at the entire picture can help you determine what is the best approach to take for YOUR family. This is the value of having a coach to guide you and get you the RIGHT plan. The likely hood of your success depends on it.
***No information above is meant as medical information and you should speak to your doctor to make sure your baby is healthy and ready to wean off night feedings.
