How to stop those night feeds?

Singapore
December 6, 2007 9:42pm CST
Currently, my son's last feed is around 8-8.30pm. He tends to sleep for long hours after this feed and usually wakes up at about 1am and 4am for his feeds. Recently, he starts waking up at about 2-3am and 5-6am. Still, it's 2X a night. I wonder how I can train him to start sleeping through the night. Some say to reduce the amount of feed at night, but if I reduce it, he tend to wake up at closer interval of 2 hours. Now, I'm just lack of sleep all the time.
3 responses
@Gemmygirl1 (2867)
• Australia
12 Dec 07
I think you're expecting too much from a baby so young, it will take 3 or 4 months more before he doesn't need to feed as often. Newborns will feed every 3-4 hours for a few months at LEAST, i'm surprised no-one informed you of this, i guess i just thought all mother's to be already knew there would be many sleepless nights along the way. My daughter used to only wake once a night thankfully, but all babies are different, the food they get goes straight through them & then need to feed more frequently. Give it another month or so & you may see some changes, less frequent feeding & such but as a fairly new Mum, you should be prepared for all these sleepless nights!!! Don't do housework when your baby sleeps, that's when you should be having a nap to catch up on your sleep - that was one of the first things i was ever told by my midwife, she said, sleep comes first over housework & that way, you stay refreshed & in the best physical condition for the long nights with the baby! Good Luck!
• Singapore
12 Dec 07
Thanks for your advice. I am ok with waking up feeding him. Just that I need to get prepared when the time comes when he wakes up in the middle of the night but no longer require any feeding. When I was discharged from hospital, my son was feeding way above the average amount and I got really worried that it was too much. I think on the 4th day, it's sufficient for him to take 200ml for the whole day but he was already feeding 100ml for ONE feed. I was really worried that my care-giver was giving too much. Now, he is taking an average (slightly above) of 125ml per feed. I wasn't sure when babies will actually drop their night feed eventually and had to get myself ready for it.
@jothis (518)
• India
8 Dec 07
Night feeding is a common issue. This leads to lack of sleep for mothers. In my home also I used to face the same issue. Not only for the mother of the child, other member also get out of sleep. Childrens start crying and this leads to the waking up of all members of the house. So I recoment you to giv child feed regularly and if child is of the age od more than 6 months you can get yor child sllep some late. And feed the child just before sleeping and it will giv you some releaf from this problem
• Singapore
12 Dec 07
Thanks for your input. Yes, currently, he's fed very regularly during the day. He sleeps for slightly longer stretch at night, and this is really good news already! :)
@sedel1027 (17846)
• Cupertino, California
7 Dec 07
How old is he? A lot of kids do not start sleeping through the night until about 6 months of age. If he is older than 4 month, you may want to try him on some rice cereal or veggies. He may just need the additional food in his stomach to help him make it through the night.
1 person likes this
• Singapore
7 Dec 07
I see, he's only about 2 months now. I guess I'm being a little to anxious. :)