Are you wanting to cut down on night feeds? Or maybe you're wondering when to cut down on feeds?
I've got you!
Here's my quick guide on night feeds!
3-months: If your baby is healthy, and there is no weight concerns or medical conditions, your baby can manage 1, sometimes 2 nights feeds.
4-6 months: Ideally, we'd like to only have one night feed, maybe even 0 night feeds.
6-7 months: Consider dropping any remaining night feeds!
8-months: If your baby is healthy and taking in solids well, it's time to really consider dropping any remaining night feeds!
9-months: This age group is notorious for being challenging when cutting down on night feeds (Think, standing in crib, crying...and they have SO much stamina) So if you can, I'd really really consider dropping night feeds before this age:)
Okay, so how do you determine which night feeds to cut first?
Check this out:
Night 1-3, when you're actively cutting out night feeds, here's the night feed 'window', meaning the time that you could feed your baby.
10 pm - 5 am, two feeds, at least 3 hours apart.
We do wait for your baby to wake up to initiate these feeds!
Night 4-6: See which feed in the previous three nights were 'meh' feeds, and determine which feed was a solid feed. Then cut the 'meh' feed.
12 am - 5 am, one or two night feeds, at least 3 hours apart.
Night 7 (if you're keeping a feed): One feed, between 12-5 am.
Night 7-9 (if you're cutting the feeds completely): Only ONE feed between 12 am - 5 am.
Night 9+: No more night feeds.
Now, you can do this a little faster if you want, or even a little slower. But it gives you an idea on how to cut down night feeds.
Tips for cutting night feeds:
If your baby is starting to feed, but falls asleep almost right away, then they weren't hungry, they were using you as a soother.
If bottle feeding, you can take a week and reduce the ounces by one ounce per night, at the end of the week, when there's only 1-2 ounces in the bottle, you can just cut it.
Make sure your baby is taking quality feeds during the day, meaning that they are feeding every 2-3 hours, or 3-3.5 hours if they're a bit older. If the interval is shorter than this, then they are snack feeding, and this comes back to bite you in the rear during the night!
If your baby is taking in most of their calories during the night, doing this will help shift those calories to the day!
Here for you,
Melody
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