When should you feed your baby & atleast for how many months??

India
February 27, 2007 4:01am CST
Should you always feed your baby when he/she cries?? Do you should develop habit of feeding baby at night. One of my aunt's said that..dont feed them at night for fixed hours so the baby gets use to that system of sleeping at night and baby will not get up at odd hours... Share your experiences..
2 responses
• United States
27 Feb 07
Feeding on demand will help a baby sleep through the night, If their tummy is full they can rest and wont wake up as easily. Even so to expect a child to sleep through the night before 6 months is silly. Even then it may take longer before they do it regularly. Putting them on a schedual isnt helpful at all. The baby will get hungry when it digests not when a schedual dictates. Think of it like this, when you are hungry, do you go and get something to eat, even a snack? Or do you say, no my next schedualed meal isnt for another 3 hours, i cant eat. I dont know one person who would say to wait if you are hungry. Why should you do the same to your child?
2 people like this
• India
27 Feb 07
hey thanks! Ya in a way you are right..and also wanted to seriously thank you as your valuable responses on my earlier discussions on parenting. Its been a great help.
1 person likes this
@mememama (3076)
• United States
27 Feb 07
I fed my son when he was a baby whenever he was hungry. I think it's sad that people starve their babies at night for their own selfish reasons. Babies will sleep through the night when they are ready. Their stomachrs are tiny plus they go through so many growth spurts at that age so they need nutrition. Many people that let their babies cry it out at night when they are hungry have had babies that are underweight or as docs put it "failure to thrive". My son slept through the night at around 6 months and I let him decide when he no longer needed feedings in the middle of the night. When he was a newborn, he ate every few hours. Then it stretched out to 3, then 4, then 5, etc until he slept through the night.
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• India
11 Mar 07
Thanks for responding mememama...:)