While some babies may start to sleep through the night early on, it is biologically normal to still have 1-2 overnight feeds up until they are around 9 months of age 👶🏻
Therefore, if you have been feeding your baby to sleep and are finding that they are habitually waking or appear to be genuinely hungry, we can aim to reduce and eventually eliminate their overnight feeds 🍼
This process can be done by gradually reducing time at the breast by 5-10 minutes every few days. Once the night feed has been reduced to 5-10 minutes, you can cut it entirely and implement your chosen settling method when or if they wake. If bottle feeding, you can decrease the volume of their night feeds by 30-50mL every few days. Once the feed has been reduced to 30-50mL, you can cut the feed entirely and implement your chosen settling method when or if they wake.
Note: It is important to simultaneously increase your baby’s daytime feeds and calorie intake to compensate for the reduction in their overnight feeds, preventing them from waking due to genuine hunger. We also want to ensure before reducing any overnight feeds that your baby is thriving and hasn’t experienced a drop in weight percentiles since birth. Additionally, ruling out any tongue, lip, or cheek ties that may be impacting their ability to have a full feed.
If you are still continuing to have overnight wakes or need a little extra support in choosing a settling method, please reach out and book a consultation via our website 🫶🏻🩷💫