Should i stop feeding my baby at night

How and when to wean your baby off of night feedings

Wondering when to wean your baby off the bottle or breast at night? Most babies can make it through the night without eating when they're 6 months old. You may be able to start night weaning your baby when they're 4 months old, or you may choose to wait until later. The key is to ensure your baby is getting plenty to eat during the day and right before bedtime. You can then gradually cut back on the amount of breast milk or formula and the number of times you feed your baby at night.

Can you hardly wait for your baby to sleep through the night? Fortunately, that milestone may be closer than you think. Many babies are able to sleep for at least six hours at a stretch when they're 3 months old, or weigh 12 to 13 pounds. However, some babies take longer: Roughly one quarter aren't sleeping six hours overnight by the time they hit their first birthday.

Babies wake during the night for many reasons, but notably because they're hungry. In the early months, babies need to eat every few hours, including through the night. Gradually, however, babies need to eat less and less at night – until by 6 months of age (possibly sooner or later), your baby may quit nighttime feedings and go up to 12 hours without waking to eat.

Sometimes babies self-wean from night feedings with no help from you – they'll just sleep through the night suddenly and never look back. But sometimes you have to nudge them, especially if they're down to one nighttime feeding they just aren't dropping.

Night weaning your baby means ensuring they get enough to eat during the day so they don't need to wake at night to eat. Here's how to get started.

When will my baby be ready for night weaning?

This varies, but somewhere between the ages of 4 and 6 months, most babies get enough calories during the day to sustain them for five or six hours at night.

It's not unusual for younger babies to sleep for much longer stretches without needing to eat – or for older ones to continue waking up to eat. Even if your baby doesn't need to eat in the middle of the night, they may still wake up wanting to. Babies who are used to eating several times a night tend to wake up out of habit, and it can take time to change this routine.

If you've recently gone back to work and are less available during the day, your baby may want to nurse or take a bottle at night as a way of reconnecting with you. And you may notice that your baby wakes up more often when they're teething, if they catch a cold, or when they're mastering a developmental milestone.

For all these reasons, it's helpful to approach the weaning process gradually and gently. Keep in mind that your baby is still young and has a tremendous need for comfort, closeness, and reassurance – particularly from you.

Should I start night weaning my baby?

Many experts recommend night weaning around the time babies are 6 months old, because at that point most babies don't physically need to eat at night. At this age, most babies wake to eat out of habit. And if you do wait to night wean your baby when they're older, know that it can be more challenging to wean a toddler off of night feedings. But the timeline isn't set in stone: You can start trying to get your baby to sleep longer stretches between feedings as early as 4 months of age, or much later than 6 months old.

Advertisement | page continues below

Ultimately, it's your choice whether to night wean or not. It's hard to maintain your own health and well-being if you're chronically sleep deprived. The decision to end your baby's night feedings depends in part on how they're affecting you.

If you enjoy nursing or giving a bottle to your baby at night, you can continue until your baby eventually quits on their own. On the other hand, if you find yourself feeling grumpy and exhausted, it may be time.

Keep in mind that your baby's sleep and nutritional needs may vary if they aren't gaining weight as expected or if they were born prematurely. If you're not sure whether your baby's ready for night weaning, talk to your child's doctor. The doctor can help you sort through any issues and help you make your decision based on how your baby's growing.

How to wean your baby off of night feedings

Once your baby is ready to give up night feedings, try the following techniques:

Make sure your baby gets plenty to eat throughout the day. As your baby grows and becomes more active, they may not want to stop to nurse or take a bottle during the day, and they may try to make up for it at night. To make sure they get enough to eat, take scheduled breaks during the day for a quiet bottle or nursing session in a place with no distractions. (If you're not sure that your child is eating enough, check their growth by having them weighed at the doctor's office.)
Start the night weaning process slowly and gradually. Nurse your baby for a shorter period of time on each breast or give them a smaller amount of breast milk or formula in their bottle when they wake at night. Try to prolong the intervals between feedings by patting and comforting your baby back to sleep.
Offer extra feedings in the evening. If your baby goes to bed with a full tummy, they're less likely to wake up hungry in the middle of the night.
Give a "dream feed." After your baby's already asleep – say at 11 p.m. or so – you may want to wake your baby for a final feeding before you go to bed yourself.
Avoid night weaning during times of transition. For example, wait if you're just about to return to work or take a family vacation. If you've recently become less available during the day, make sure to give your baby extra cuddle time when you're together, so they'll feel more connected and be less likely to seek comfort in the middle of the night.
Gradually eliminate feedings, one at a time. Gently soothe and comfort your baby when they wake up, and explain that it's time to sleep, not eat.
Keep any feedings you do at night short and sweet. That way your baby won't wake to eat just because they've come to expect late-night cuddles.
Consider sleep training. If your baby seems to eat plenty during the day but still wakes at night, it may not be because they're hungry but because they're used to it. At this point, you may want to consider baby sleep training to help your little one learn to self-soothe back to sleep.

For more help night weaning your baby from a pediatric sleep physician, check out our course, Baby Sleep 101.

Night weaning if you're breastfeeding

Suddenly stopping the frequency of your nighttime nursing sessions can lead to painful engorgement and increased likelihood of developing an infection known as mastitis. That's one more reason it's good to start slow and drop one feeding at a time, so your breasts can get used to your new routine more easily. In the meantime, you may find that you initially need to wake up and pump breast milk during the night to relieve engorgement.

A key to night weaning your baby is making sure they're getting enough to eat during the day. You may find that you need to pump after one or more feedings during the day, then save the additional milk for an extra feeding in the evening. This can help boost your milk supply as well as ensure that your baby fills up before bedtime. As always, you'll know your baby is getting enough to eat if they're gaining weight as expected and having at least six wet diapers during the day.

Once your baby is around 6 months old, they'll start solids. Breast milk will still be your baby's main source of nutrition, although you may find that they need to breastfeed less as they gradually eat more solid foods.

Night weaning if you're formula feeding

If you're bottle-feeding and ready to night wean your baby, make sure they get enough to eat during the day. By 6 months of age, formula-fed babies need to eat between 6 to 8 ounces (or 180 to 240 mL) per bottle, four to five times every 24 hours.

Once your baby starts solids, formula will still be their main source of nutrition. But with time, solid foods will cover more of your baby's nutritional needs – and you'll eventually start giving your baby fewer bottles with slightly more formula in each. The bedtime bottle is usually the last to go, and even once you wean your child off it, you may want to give them a bedtime snack or a cup of milk to help them make it through the night without getting hungry.

Learn more:

Baby sleep 101 virtual course

Was this article helpful?

Yes

How to Stop Night Feeds in Your Child and Sleep Better

Before you starting thinking about sleep training, you need to look at your child’s eating habits at night. I would strongly recommend that you stop any caloric intake as one of your first steps in getting your child to sleep through the night. Sometimes, stopping nocturnal feeds is all you need to do to get your child to sleep through the night. Here’s my guide on how to stop night feeds and get better sleep at night.

Free Bonus: I created a quick guide to help you stop feeding at night. It’s a quick 4 page PDF you can save and reference later as you try this yourself. Click Here to get the guide, free.

Years ago, I ordered a sleep test on an obese four year old who was waking up multiple times during the night. Since he snored, I thought it was possible that he might have obstructive sleep apnea. As it turns out, he had a different problem. The tech noted that the child was waking up every two to three hours as the mother had told me. What she had not told me was that she was giving him an 8 oz bottle of milk every time he woke up. Thus, we solved two mysteries– why he was waking up, and why he was obese.

The fact is, unless your child is an infant, he does not need to eat between bedtime and wake time. Addressing this issue can help him (and you) sleep better at night.

Why does feeding at night result in sleep disruption?

Imagine I woke you up every night at 2 AM and gave you an ice cream sundae. One week later, I stop feeding at night. But you still would wake up hungry. This is what happens to some kids. It is unclear why this is the case. I suspect that some parents get in the habit of responding to any nocturnal awakenings with feeding. Just like you might feel sleepy after having that ice cream sundae, they go back to sleep. Over time, the pattern gets reinforced. I call this pattern learned hunger.

When can I stop feeding at night?

There are a couple of questions to consider.

Is your child growing well? If the answer is no, your child may need those calories at night. If you are not sure how your child is growing, please talk to your pediatrician.
How old is your child? Bottle fed infants typically can wean off night feeding by 6 months of age. Breast fed infants tend to take longer, up to a year of age. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends exclusive breastfeeding for six months, with the addition of complementary foods continuting up to a year, or longer “as desired by mother and infant”. It’s important to note that night weaning can lead to weaning altogether. More on this below.
Do you want to continue night nursing? Some moms, especially those who work outside of the home, value the closeness and extra time that night nursing provides. If that is the case, you don’t need to stop, provided that you are getting enough rest. If not, you may need to make a choice between getting better sleep and dealing with a dwindling milk supply.

How to stop feeding at night

There is one guiding principle here. Don’t go cold turkey. It is equivalent to asking your child to skip a meal every day. They could do it, but they would be miserable (and so would you). Instead, the plan is to make slow incremental changes over time. These changes are relatively easy to make and your child will tolerate them well.

Free Bonus: I created a quick guide to help you stop feeding at night. It’s a quick PDF you can save and reference later as you try this yourself. Click Here to get the guide, free.

How to stop bottle feeding at night

So, your child is over six months of age, growing well, and still feeding frequently at night. If you child drinks milk (breast, cow, goat, or otherwise) or formula, this is relatively straightforward. There are two ways to to wean this, and I have a strong preference for the first one.

Wean one ounce a night: Let’s say your child takes three 4 oz bottles a night. You take the last bottle and reduce it by an an oz on night one. On night 2, you reduce bottle 2 by 1 oz. On night 3 you reduce Bottle #1 by 1 oz. When a bottle gets down to 2 oz, substitute a bottle of water. After this step, you get rid of the bottle. Whatever you do, don’t wake up your child if they sleep through a feeding– that is the goal. If they skip a feeding one night but wake up the following night for that feeding, it is OK to give them the scheduled bottle. Expert tip: write this schedule out beforehand. You won’t remember it in the middle of the night.
Here’s this example by by night:
Night 1: 4 oz, 4 oz, 3 oz
Night 2: 4 oz, 3 oz, 3 oz
Night 3: 3 oz, 3 oz, 3oz
Night 4: 3 oz, 3 oz, 2 oz
Night 5: 3 oz, 2 oz, 2 oz
Night 6: 2 oz, 2 oz, 2 oz
Night 7: 2 oz, 2 oz, h30
Night 8: 2 oz, h30, h30
Night 9: h30, h30, h30.
I would limit the water bottles to 2 oz, simply to reduce the amount of urine produced and wet diapers to deal with. If your child doesn’t want the water, that is fine. But don’t give in and give the milk.
All other methods: The other ways to do this include increasing the amount of time between feeds, and reducing calories in each bottle. I don’t like the first way, because then you drag out the intervals when your child is potentially crying. I don’t like the second because a) it’s too complicated to figure out how to dilute the milk night to night b) milk + water = gross.

How to stop breastfeeding at night

Free Bonus: I created a quick guide to help you stop feeding at night. It’s a quick 4 page PDF you can save and reference later as you try this yourself. Click Here to get the guide, free.

This is a bit of a more complicated topic. I reached out to my friend and former colleague Dr. Sylvia Romm for more information on this topic. Sylvia is a pediatrician and the founder of Milk On Tap, a company which provides lactation support to families via the internet. Here’s what she has to say about the evolution of nocturnal feeding in infants:

All babies are born eating every 2–4 hours, even at night

A mother’s body only makes more milk if milk is emptied from the breast. If milk is left in the breast, the body gets the signal that it should make less milk

Women have different capacities for milk storage (it doesn’t have anything to do with breast size). Women with larger capacities can go longer before their breasts are full, and therefore can go longer before their milk supply is affected. Women with smaller capacities have to feed more often, or their milk will go down.

In the early weeks, breastfed babies should rarely go longer than 4 hours without eating, not only to ensure that the baby is eating enough, but also to ensure mother’s milk supply is established. Even then, most women need to breastfeed at least 8 times per day, although some women can breastfeed often during a period of time (usually during the night, called cluster feeding) and can go longer chunks of time at other times in the day without affecting their supply.

After about 4–6 weeks, some women can start to feed their children less often, generally moving towards 6 times per day. These are usually women with a larger capacity. These women can start to find that they may be able to go longer stretches at night.

At this age, most babies will still want to wake often at night, and so night feedings are more for the baby.

At 2–3 months, some babies can go for longer stretches at night (by that I mean starting to break the 6 hour mark). That’s when mother’s supply can begin to be an issue. Mothers without the larger capacity report that they can never go more than 6 hours without breastfeeding, or their supply starts to go down.

There are no studies out there that look at this topic, but from my anecdotal experience, I believe that the push to sleep train at 4 months in the US contributes to women “not making enough milk”, or saying that their “milk just dried up”. This is a common age for mothers to both report that they are encouraging their babies to sleep longer and for women to report that their milk supply is failing to keep up with their baby’s needs.

However, that’s OK, As long as mothers realize that night weaning may lead to complete weaning at this age.

Many mothers report that they need to do an extra pump or feed at night once their child is sleeping longer at night. If you do feed, trying a dream feed (where you don’t wake up the child but feed them anyway) can both help a child sleep longer and help mother keep up her supply.

As Sylvia points out, there is actually not much research to provide guidance with night weaning. She notes that this can be a “confusing and difficult journey for parents and baby.”

Sylvia notes are a couple of different ways to go about night weaning.

You can shorten each night feeding session: This can be hard to do, however, as it is hard to be disciplined and watch the clock in the middle of the night.
You can space out the feeds: If your child feeds on a pretty regular schedule, you can try to stretch out the interval between feeding. However, this is pretty hard to do if your kid is crying.
Get Dad (or the non-nursing partner) involved: This might be the most effective method, Syliva says, “I’ve found that the most successful method is moving the child out of the bed and picking a middle of the night wake up that’s usually a feeding, but sending dad in to the kid instead. That way the baby can be comforted back to sleep, but they learn that it’s not a feeding time. Dad can’t give in, so that temptation is removed. It gets dad involved, and gives mom more sleep. Honestly, I love daddies, but usually if the baby isn’t fed, the kiddos just start sleeping through that wake up.”

Note that options 2 and 3 are going to be pretty difficult if you are bedsharing with your child. So you may want to move your child out of your bed first. (Here’s my post on how to stop cosleeping the least painful way possible).

The Take Home

Many families, especially those who are breastfeeding, may struggle with letting go of night feeds. However, when you are ready to do so, making the changes above can go a long way towards an uninterrupted night of sleep. Please share this article if you find it useful, and leave any questions you have in the comments.

Free Bonus: I created a quick guide to help you stop feeding at night. It’s a quick 4 page PDF you can save and reference later as you try this yourself. Click Here to get the guide, free.

How to wean a child from night feeding

November 13, 2021 Likbez Life

There are times when this is not worth doing.

Is it necessary to wean from night feeding at all? For example, American pediatrician Richard Ferber, founder of the Center for Children's Sleep Disorders at the Children's Hospital in Boston and author of the bestselling book Child's Sleep. The solution to all problems, ”warns: if the baby no longer needs nightly food, the habit of feeding him at night can cause sleep disturbances.

The connection is simple: when a child eats, the digestive tract begins to work actively. This means that after eating and falling asleep, the baby will quickly wake up due to an overflowing diaper or discomfort in the stomach. To calm down, the baby will eat again, and the situation will repeat itself. If you do not break this vicious circle and do not stop night feedings, the opportunity to sleep for both parents and the baby will not be presented for a long time.

On the other hand, renowned pediatrician William Sears, author of Your Baby From Birth to Two Years, How to Put Your Baby to Sleep, and others, urges parents not to rush to give up nighttime feedings. Unless, of course, it exhausts the whole family. According to Sears, night feeding helps the baby feel safe and strengthens the bond between him and his parents.

When you should not stop feeding at night

Experts from the American medical resources HealthLine and BabyCenter list situations when you should definitely not stop feeding at night, so as not to cause unnecessary stress to the baby.

The child is sick or teething.
The baby is not gaining weight well.
The baby is experiencing a growth or development spurt. For example, learns to roll over, sit, or rapidly stretches.
The mother recently went to work and the baby sees less of her during the day. In this case, he may ask for a breast or a bottle more often than usual in order to feel connected to his mother again.

At what age can you start weaning from night feeding

Preferably no earlier than six months. Until this age, babies are fed almost exclusively on breast milk or formula. Although these are high-calorie foods, the stomach is still too small to stock up on them, and the feeling of hunger quickly returns.

According to experts, breastfed babies need to eat 8 to 12 times a day. On artificial - from 6 to 10 times. Thus, the average child under the age of six months will feel hungry every 2-4 hours. Including at night. So night feeding is inevitable.

At about six months, the situation changes: the stomach enlarges, and solid food appears in the diet. Cereals and vegetable purees take longer to digest, and satiety periods become longer.

Therefore, by the age of six months, two out of three babies are able to sleep through the night and not wake up from hunger. For some children, this happens a little earlier, starting at three months or when they reach a weight of about 5. 5 kg. For others, interrupted nighttime sleep lasts up to a year, and sometimes longer. But six months is a good benchmark for parents to finally think about the opportunity to get enough sleep.

How to Wean Your Baby From Night Feeding

Here's a strategy to make it as comfortable as possible.

1. Be patient and be prepared to take it step by step

Slowly reduce the duration of your nightly feedings, each time taking the breast a little earlier. Or, if you are formula feeding, reduce the amount of formula in the bottle. And to make the baby fall asleep easier, stroke him, sing a lullaby or shake him.

2. Make sure your child gets enough food throughout the day

Growing babies are active and curious. Sometimes, having played too much, they may refuse to eat. If this happens several times a day, at night the baby will try to replenish the calorie stores, again and again demanding a breast or a bottle.

Therefore, make sure that the baby eats during the day. At least once every 3-4 hours, take breaks from games or walks, turn off cartoons or music, put away toys and invite your child to rest in your arms, relax and have a thoughtful snack.

If you are following this recommendation, but you are not sure that your child is getting enough food, keep track of his height and weight: they should be within the limits of age. Your pediatrician will tell you about them. Height and weight above or below the norm indicate that you need to adjust the number of calories.

3. Plan your bedtime

Without food, an infant older than six months can sleep up to 8 consecutive hours on average. This means that if he falls asleep at 20:00, he will inevitably get hungry by a maximum of four in the morning. Plan your daily routine in such a way that the child goes to bed (and, accordingly, wakes up) at a convenient time for you.

4. Delegate nighttime feeding or motion sickness to dad or another family member

It happens that a baby asks for a breast or a bottle just to smell the mother. Try to break the link "I eat - it means my mother is near."

The easiest way to do this is with the help of dad or another close relative: let someone else, and not mom, take care of the baby at night for a while - offer a bottle, shake, stroke. Pretty soon the child will get used to the fact that food is not connected with the mother.

5. Be prepared to take a step back

Babies usually adapt quickly to new environments. They may cry for a night or two (you have to pet and lull them to sleep) and then get used to being without a breast or a bottle.

But if the baby cries inconsolably for several nights in a row, stop the experiment. Your child may not have matured enough yet. Bring back the night feeds, and then try giving them up again in a couple of weeks.

Up to what age to feed the baby at night and how to replace the formula

Infant formula is only a necessary replacement for mother's milk in the absence of sufficient lactation or underweight in the infant. In all other respects, the infant formula feeding algorithm remains the same as with breastfeeding. The baby also needs nightly feedings about every 3-4 hours. This is due to scientifically proven facts. Babies up to a year old have an accelerated metabolism, food is digested faster, and naturally, they experience hunger at night. Also, any anxiety of the baby at night forces him to demand his mother's participation, and of course - food as a sedative. There is even a theory that children are genetically woken up to eat to avoid "Sudden Infant Death Syndrome" in their sleep.

But also can't it continue indefinitely? The child grows, develops actively, from the age of 6 months receives a variety of complementary foods, and over time should form a normal daily routine. And for this you need to figure out: how to wean a child at night to eat the mixture in the most gentle ways.

Up to what age to give the mixture at night

Experts differ on this issue, but the average age when you can do without night feedings is nevertheless deduced. Infants with normal development can sleep peacefully at night without formula 10-12 hours from 9-12 months. Of course, if parents do not consider it necessary to restrict their child in nutrition, they can safely continue to feed their child at night and beyond. But they must be aware that, firstly, over time, these periods of eating become just a habit for the baby. And secondly, mothers should also think about their own well-being after sleepless nights. So, the approximate age of weaning a child from night feedings has been determined, it remains to find out how to replace the mixture for the night after a year for the first time of the transition to a new regimen.

Night formula alternative

Formula feeding formula is extremely nutritious and delicious for your baby. Therefore, the nightly replacement should be unequal, so that the baby subsequently feels that he does not need to wake up for such food. For these reasons, many mothers, thinking about how to replace the mixture for the night, use not the best products.