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Am I too quick to feed her in the night?

Matilda is 6 weeks today and, most nights, feeds at 7pm, 11pm, 2am and 5am (all times are ish!). She has started only taking 1oz or so (particularly at the last 2 feeds) so I'm wondering if I am being too quick to feed her. Oddly, she has never cried during the night out of hunger (she will during the day) but at night I wake up to her kicking her legs, snuffling and snorting like she is hunting for truffles! As soon as I hear her, I am up and out of bed and feeding her.

I am obviously hoping we knock one of these feeds on the head fairly soon but I am wondering whether she is waking her out of habit and that I am feeding her out of habit. At this age, is it likely she will still be hungry at all of these feeds or should I try to sit one out and see if she settles herself back to sleep?

Any advice would be great!

K x

Replies

  • I breastfed on demand and was up every 2/3 hours until 10 weeks, however, if your LO isn't crying for food, I imagine the leg kicking has woken them up (mine was the same!) I would suggest leaving her to self settle.
    She will let you know if she's hungry! x
  • Probably not hungry just having a toss and turn, love the hunting for truffles!!! It's just like that!!!!
  • Funnily enough I asked myself the same question at the weekend.

    Finley usually has a feed at 10pm, 3am and then wakes between 6 and 7am. I noticed that when I fed him at 3 he hadn't actually cried for food. He was doing the same thing and just kicking and snuffling.
    I decided to leave him thinking that he would cry if hungry and he soon settled himself and slept until 5am.

    He has done that every night since Friday night and last night didn't wake at all until 5am. Must admit I kept waking and wondering why he wasn't awake though.

    Sorry gone on a bit but basically Fin started doing the same, I left him (because he wasn't crying and was happy) and he is now sleeping longer.

  • My lo was the same at this age. She would make lots of little baby noises, and I would jump out of bed & feed her (didn't want her to wake hubby-yeah right!!).

    She would only take an oz at one or two of the bottles, so I would either see if she would settle herself, or settle her and then put her down. After a couple of nights, she wouldn't even stir!

    She's very unlikely to be hungry if she's only taking an oz, and as happysmurf said, she will soon let you know if she is! If you can stop this now, it will stop her from waking out of habit at those times in the future, as it will become the only way that she knows to get back to sleep.

    Have you tried offering an extra ounce at the 11pm feed, or the ones where you know she will take more? Hope she settles back to sleep for you tonight xx
  • esme was doing the same eating at 7, 11-12ish, 2-3ish, then 5ish. i fed her each time. she has last week, at 10 weeks started sleeping through from 9-6, this morning 7am! i think matilda will stop when she is ready, if she is anything likr mine.
  • Hi

    My DD is 5.5 months, and when she was your LO's age we were the same, the second she stirred hubby was up, making a bottle and we were feeding her......we eventually worked out that she didn't want it. A dummy was enough to help her get back to sleep.

    I would say avoid feeding her unless she really wants and demands it....that way they will learn to drop a feed....and if you use dummys just give her that and a gentle hand on the tummy and that should do the trick.

    LOL at "hunting for truffles"....we used to say it sounded like a farmyard coming from her her moses basket...we could identify each different animal!!!

    HTH

    Rach and Chloe
    xx
  • Right, tonight I am going to try and resist! Thanks all! x
  • I must admit I think I am the same. As soon as I hear Oliver in the night (snorting noises and limbs flying all over the place!) I run downstairs to make his bottle.

    I've decided tonight that I'm going to hold out and see how he goes.

    I'm also glad that he isn't the only baby that makes such strange noises!

  • It's so hard to get the balance right though isn't it...jump in quick and find they're not really hungry and you're just feeding a habit, or wait and if they really are hungry have a screaming fit within 10 minutes!!!

    My little truffle hunter is exactly the same, but as we swaddle him it looks brilliant when he kicks as he has to do both at once! I am getting better at leaving him now but he is sooooooo noisy!!!

    Hxx
  • Well something worked as we only fed at 2am, 5am and then she slept til 8am (so no 11pm / midnight feed. I don't know whether I managed to resist waking up at her snorting but the first thing I knew it was 2am and she was starting to cry. Probably a complete fluke - guess we'll find out tonight! x
  • Sounds great, hopefully it wasn't a fluke & she's settling down for you. Good luck for tonight xx
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