Night feeds, what is expected and when you can start to reduce them? Babies need to have night feeds to keep up their calorie intake and to help them keep growing.
Night feeds?
Babies need to have night feeds to keep up their calorie intake and to help them keep growing.
Growing is hard bloody work.
Some bubs will drop feeds really early other will still be having a night feed at 12 months. Now if your little one is having a night feed, they are sleeping well, you are sleeping well, and everyone is happy that is great you can keep doing it. I am going to give you some tips if your little one is feeding overnight, and you think it is time to reduce those night feeds this is for you.
When to start reducing feeds overnight?
- If your little one is not hungry in the morning when they wake, this is a good indicator they are ready to reduce night feeds.
- At around 4-5 months you can aim for feeds to be 4 hourly overnight. Once on 4 hourly feeds that would mean 2 feeds overnight.
- If your little one is having more milk overnight then they are during the day.
Which feed to reduce first?
So, your little one needs to reduce their milk intake overnight. If they are having more then 2 feeds a night and they are over 4 months the first thing you will do is reduce them to 2 feeds. If they are comfortably on 2 feeds you will remove the milk feed closest to the morning, the 2nd feed of the night.
How to do it?
So now the tricky bit. I am all for reducing the milk feeds gradually. This will allow them to pick up the calories during the day. If you are bottle feeding reduce the mils each night. If you are breast feeding reduce the amount of time you are feeding each time.
Reducing night feeds can be tricky at time but that is what I am here for, if you need some help contact me. You can also book a consultation here.
Happy Sleeping xx