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-> Parenting our children
-> Infants
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amother
OP
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 Wed, Feb 14 2024, 5:54 pm
If I want my baby to sleep for longer stretches at night, should I be offering feeds during the day even if baby is not showing signs of hunger, in order to get more calories in?
Ftm here. Do the babies who sleep through the night eat that much more during the day? Right now my baby is still waking up every few hours.
Thanks in advance.
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amother
Chocolate
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Wed, Feb 14 2024, 5:56 pm
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Until a certain age, which is different in every baby, they need to nurse at night regardless of whether you offered a lot during the day. But once baby is old enough, you can offer more often during the day so you can get the calories in then. It's up to the baby if they'll go along with it - you can't and shouldn't turn feeding into a battle.
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amother
OP
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Wed, Feb 14 2024, 6:03 pm
| amother Chocolate wrote: | | Until a certain age, which is different in every baby, they need to nurse at night regardless of whether you offered a lot during the day. But once baby is old enough, you can offer more often during the day so you can get the calories in then. It's up to the baby if they'll go along with it - you can't and shouldn't turn feeding into a battle. |
Thank you. How will I know when that is?
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amother
OP
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Wed, Feb 14 2024, 7:31 pm
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Another question: how do you know when you should feed baby at night wake ups and when you should just soothe them back to sleep?
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amother
Maroon
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Wed, Feb 14 2024, 8:01 pm
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How old is the.baby? How many ounces is she taking during the day?
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amother
Tan
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Wed, Feb 14 2024, 8:05 pm
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Feed your baby in middle of the night. Your baby can be hungry or thirsty. How old is your baby?
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amother
Starflower
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Wed, Feb 14 2024, 8:25 pm
| amother OP wrote: | | Another question: how do you know when you should feed baby at night wake ups and when you should just soothe them back to sleep? |
If it's been at least 2 to 3 hours and your baby is crying then they're hungry. Usually by me if it's less than 3 hours IN MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT ONLY, I will give them a paci once and if they still keep fussing, I nurse. I do this up until the point that I start giving food for supper, in addition to nursing.
I have quite a few kids and I always only nurse , never give a bottle. Some woke up every 3ish hours until 6+ months. Some slept longer. One used to sleep 12 hours every single night no matter what I did during the day. (Dw. He's now a preteen and he finds it extremely difficult to fall asleep every night and sometimes I think I would have rather I had a normal 6 months with him when he was a newborn than him having to struggle like this for so many years!)
I do think that it's the nature of a kid to sleep more or less. Anecdotally I have found that the babies that were able to nurse on demand because I wasn't working full time or I wasn't working at all did give me a little bit of longer stretches at night, but not always. I will also try to squeeze in an extra feed before like 9:00 p.m. if they ate before 7:00 and hopefully the first stretch they give me will be the longest.
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amother
OP
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Thu, Feb 15 2024, 3:57 pm
| amother Maroon wrote: | | How old is the.baby? How many ounces is she taking during the day? |
Almost 5 months. Nursing so I don't know ounces.
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amother
OP
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Thu, Feb 15 2024, 4:00 pm
| amother Tan wrote: | | Feed your baby in middle of the night. Your baby can be hungry or thirsty. How old is your baby? |
I do feed but occasionally I'll ask my husband to try soothing instead and once in a blue moon it works (I'll feed if a few minutes of soothing doesn't help) so I wonder if there could be more times when soothing is all that's needed.
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amother
OP
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Thu, Feb 15 2024, 4:02 pm
| amother Starflower wrote: | If it's been at least 2 to 3 hours and your baby is crying then they're hungry. Usually by me if it's less than 3 hours IN MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT ONLY, I will give them a paci once and if they still keep fussing, I nurse. I do this up until the point that I start giving food for supper, in addition to nursing.
I have quite a few kids and I always only nurse , never give a bottle. Some woke up every 3ish hours until 6+ months. Some slept longer. One used to sleep 12 hours every single night no matter what I did during the day. (Dw. He's now a preteen and he finds it extremely difficult to fall asleep every night and sometimes I think I would have rather I had a normal 6 months with him when he was a newborn than him having to struggle like this for so many years!)
I do think that it's the nature of a kid to sleep more or less. Anecdotally I have found that the babies that were able to nurse on demand because I wasn't working full time or I wasn't working at all did give me a little bit of longer stretches at night, but not always. I will also try to squeeze in an extra feed before like 9:00 p.m. if they ate before 7:00 and hopefully the first stretch they give me will be the longest. |
Thank you very much. You've confirmed a lot of what I felt but started doubting myself when I heard so many people say their babies sleep through the night.
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amother
OP
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Thu, Feb 15 2024, 4:03 pm
| amother OP wrote: | If I want my baby to sleep for longer stretches at night, should I be offering feeds during the day even if baby is not showing signs of hunger, in order to get more calories in?
Ftm here. Do the babies who sleep through the night eat that much more during the day? Right now my baby is still waking up every few hours.
Thanks in advance. |
Any responses to this? If being on alert to squeeze extra day feeds can help longer night stretches?
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amother
Tiffanyblue
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Thu, Feb 15 2024, 4:14 pm
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Are you fully bottle feeding?
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amother
OP
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Fri, Feb 16 2024, 6:21 am
No. I'm pretty much fully nursing.
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amother
Razzmatazz
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Fri, Feb 16 2024, 7:09 am
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The way to do this is divide the amount they need in 24 hours by 12 hours then split that into 4 feedings. Feed every 4 hours during daytime so baby is extra hi Gary and can eat more. That age should be around 8 oz every 4 hours for this to work. Hatzlacha!! And no it is not abusive:)
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Song4eva
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Fri, Feb 16 2024, 7:30 am
She’s nursing so she won’t know if baby is getting 8 oz
Even if she pumps it’s extremely difficult to get 8 oz in one pumping session
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amother
Rainbow
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Fri, Feb 16 2024, 7:42 am
| amother Razzmatazz wrote: | | The way to do this is divide the amount they need in 24 hours by 12 hours then split that into 4 feedings. Feed every 4 hours during daytime so baby is extra hi Gary and can eat more. That age should be around 8 oz every 4 hours for this to work. Hatzlacha!! And no it is not abusive:) |
I disagree 100%!!
First of all it’s almost impossible for NURSING babies to get everything they need in just 4 daytime feedings, especially at 4-5 months old!
Second of all, even for formula babies, I have found you’re usually more successful getting them to eat more during the day if you offer them EXTRA feedings, not less feedings!!
Maybe there is a tiny tiny percentage of nursing babies that your advice would work for but I would not recommend. Just because it worked for your babies does NOT mean it will work for all or even most.
OP, for a breastfed baby it is much much harder to get them to “eat all their calories” during the day. This is because nursing babies usually naturally drink less per feeding, and breast milk is also digested quicker than formula. Starving them between feeds is not the answer. Especially when it may not even help.
For some formula babies it does work but even then it’s not really something that can be forced at that age, it’s really partly luck if your baby wants/can handle a lot of daytime feeding. I would never force a 5 month old to squish all their calories into 12 hours instead of 24.
However, you can definitely try to cluster feed in the afternoon, evenings and see if that helps.
I have never exclusively nursed but basically all the people I know who did nurse, had to consciously wean their baby off of nighttime feeds, oftentimes at 9-12 months, sometimes even later. Nighttime nursing does become more of a habit at some point for babies and less if a need, which makes it harder to wean. But this is OK. You’ll know when your baby is nursing more as a comfort and you’ll be able then to make a plan to night wean but that won’t be for another while.
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amother
OP
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Sun, Feb 18 2024, 11:45 am
| amother Rainbow wrote: | I disagree 100%!!
First of all it’s almost impossible for NURSING babies to get everything they need in just 4 daytime feedings, especially at 4-5 months old!
Second of all, even for formula babies, I have found you’re usually more successful getting them to eat more during the day if you offer them EXTRA feedings, not less feedings!!
Maybe there is a tiny tiny percentage of nursing babies that your advice would work for but I would not recommend. Just because it worked for your babies does NOT mean it will work for all or even most.
OP, for a breastfed baby it is much much harder to get them to “eat all their calories” during the day. This is because nursing babies usually naturally drink less per feeding, and breast milk is also digested quicker than formula. Starving them between feeds is not the answer. Especially when it may not even help.
For some formula babies it does work but even then it’s not really something that can be forced at that age, it’s really partly luck if your baby wants/can handle a lot of daytime feeding. I would never force a 5 month old to squish all their calories into 12 hours instead of 24.
However, you can definitely try to cluster feed in the afternoon, evenings and see if that helps.
I have never exclusively nursed but basically all the people I know who did nurse, had to consciously wean their baby off of nighttime feeds, oftentimes at 9-12 months, sometimes even later. Nighttime nursing does become more of a habit at some point for babies and less if a need, which makes it harder to wean. But this is OK. You’ll know when your baby is nursing more as a comfort and you’ll be able then to make a plan to night wean but that won’t be for another while. |
Ok. Thank you very much for your response. I definitely wasn't looking to squish it into 12 hours only, more like hoping for a solid 6-8 hour stretch, so I guess that's 16-18 hours of eating. But ok, I will be patient 🙂 .
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amother
Tan
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Sun, Feb 18 2024, 12:18 pm
Op, a nursing baby should eat throughout the night. That’s normal. Don’t stop feeds. You don’t know how much your baby is taking and many babies take 25% off their caloric intake during the night. Nursing is for hunger, thirst and comfort and being their for your baby at night is the right thing.
Don’t listen to those people who talk about their baby sleeping 12 hours. If their baby does it naturally that’s great but unfortunately a lot of mothers resort to really unhealthy tactics to get their baby to do that.
Follow your baby’s lead and nurse them during the night if they need it.
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amother
Tan
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Sun, Feb 18 2024, 12:20 pm
| amother Razzmatazz wrote: | | The way to do this is divide the amount they need in 24 hours by 12 hours then split that into 4 feedings. Feed every 4 hours during daytime so baby is extra hi Gary and can eat more. That age should be around 8 oz every 4 hours for this to work. Hatzlacha!! And no it is not abusive:) |
This is so abusive! Why do you keep on pushing your outdated and abusive advice on every thread?
Op and whoever is reading this thread, don’t listen.
It’s abusive, neglectful and cruel to a baby to do that.
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