When can I night wean?

Babies need to eat during the night….this is a fact of life! But how often, and until what age? This is where things just aren’t clear cut.

In the newborn days its expected that your baby will likely need to eat quite frequently overnight, they have small tummies and need those calories! As babies grow, they begin to stretch a little longer between overnight feeds, until they no longer need one. BUT there really isn’t a magic age/stage/weight that signals readiness for this! Generally speaking:

• Most newborns need to eat overnight

• Some babies under 4 months can sleep through the night without a feeding

• Many babies over 6 months are ready to sleep through the night without a feeding

• Most babies over 12 months are ready to sleep through the night without a feeding.

What about introducing formula…will that speed things up?

The research on this topic is a bit of a mixed bag, some studies have shown that breastfed babies do wake more frequently, especially when those babies are breastfed back to sleep. Other research hasn’t been able to identify any significant difference in night wakings over the first year of life between formula fed and breastfed babies. To complicate things further, a well-known study surveying over 6,000 mothers suggests that exclusive breastfeeding actually led to slightly MORE sleep for parents. Its hard to isolate the reasons behind this difference, but some possibilities include time considerations for overnight bottle preparation (making bottles takes time- the feeding process takes longer), or co-sleeping arrangements between breastfed infants and their moms. Overall, studying babies and their parents feeding and sleep habits is tricky as data is typically self reported, and night waking and night feeding can be defined in different ways.

Here are my thoughts:

• Both formula fed and breastfed babies can struggle with sleep…if formula was somehow a magic sleep fix, HALF of the families I work with wouldn’t need my support!

• In my experience working with 100’s of infants, breastfed babes do tend to keep that last night feed a little longer.

• Regardless of how your baby is fed, you should see night feeding needs decrease over their first year of their life (the research on this is pretty straightforward!). So, if baby is continuing to wake frequently during the night as the months tick by we can be fairly confident this has nothing to do with what/how they are being fed.

Babies wake up for lots of different reasons- not just hunger.

Many babies depend on a parent’s assistance to fall asleep at bedtime- feeding, rocking, pacifier replacement etc. For some babies this works great, and everyone sleeps well. For others, assistance to fall asleep initially means the need for repeated assistance overnight, EVERY time they need to reinitiate stages of deep sleep (healthy humans need to do this 2-6 times per night). It’s common for us parents to quickly offer a feeding each time baby wakes crying, we want to get back to bed ASAP! Sometimes this night feeding absolutely is the fix (hunger) but other times it’s just a band-aid for the real challenge...baby doesn’t have the skills to fall back asleep without assistance.

So, how do you know if THIS is what’s happening, or if your baby truly needs to eat multiple times overnight?

While there is no magic age/stage/weight formula to help us determine a baby’s true overnight feeding needs, there are some signs we can look for! Here are some questions to consider if you are wondering if baby is ready to drop some (or all) of their night feeds:

1) Is your baby a newborn?

If yes, then its VERY likely they do need frequent overnight feedings! If your newborn is suddenly waking way more often than usual you can feel free to try other ways to settle first- but know that short stretches of sleep between feedings is totally normal at this stage! For some strategies to maximize sleep in the first 0-3 months be sure to download my free newborn sleep guide here!

2) Is your baby getting enough calories during the day?

One of my top baby sleep tips (for any age!) is to focus on full and frequent daytime feedings! The best way to slowly reduce a baby’s calorie needs overnight is to ensure they are getting lots during the day. This I why I don’t like to let babies sleep for more than 2h at any one nap, we want to save those stretches for overnight sleep AND avoid skipping daytime feeding opportunities! I know it may be tempting to try to bulk up calorie intake at bedtime, or add in formula/solids in the hopes of this leading to longer stretches of sleep… unfortunately it just isn’t this straightforward! Check out my blog on feeding and sleep FAQ’s here for more on this topic!

3) Is your baby falling asleep immediately after being offered the breast or bottle?

If your little one just isn’t super interested in taking a full feeding during a night wake up… it’s possible they are looking for comfort rather than calories. Its important to note that some babies will ALWAYS take a full feeding overnight, no matter when their last feed was- these babes are sometimes less interested in daytime feedings or solid food.

4) Does your baby struggle to fall back asleep after a night feeding?

While we always want to consider the possibility of discomfort, a baby who consistently stays awake after eating may not have been awoken by hunger! It could be that baby just doesn’t have the skills to fall back asleep (and a feeding didn’t help) or that a wake up that was previously hunger driven has now become habitual. Another common reason of big long night wakings is something called a “split night”. This is a specific type of wake up that’s caused by a child’s sleep pressure dissociating from their circadian rhythm….in other words, they don’t have enough sleep pressure to sleep even though their body wants to! These kinds of wake ups are typically caused by scheduling being off- the need to drop a nap, not enough total awake time, or morning sleep ins. If you need some help determining your baby’s best schedule, be sure to download my free guide here!

5) Is your baby waking up at the exact same time on the clock every night to eat?

Does baby wake up at 12:15 and 4:25 every night? Super consistent wake up times are often natural sleep cycle transitions- baby may just need help getting back to sleep, rather than a feeding. The timing of hunger-based wake ups usually has some natural variability, with baby doing a 5h stretch one night, then a 6h stretch the next.

6) Are your baby’s wake ups immediately intense?

Often, hungry babies begin to grumble and grunt, before a full on escalation…they want to sleep, but something (hunger!) is preventing them from being able to. Wake ups that are immediately intense is typically more representative of a baby waking up between sleep cycles- big cries because they are startled and need help to fall back asleep again ASAP!

7) Does your baby sleep for a good stretch following a feeding?

Following a night feed most babies should be able to sleep for around 3-4 hours! If your getting much shorter stretches of sleep (and your past the newborn days!) it’s very possible that something else is waking your baby- or they are just struggling to stay sleeping on their own!

8) Is your baby falling asleep independently?

This is THE BIGGEST question to ask yourself if you are confused about your baby’s overnight feeding needs…and the place to start figuring it all out! The very best way to determine how many (if any) feedings your baby truly needs is to give them the opportunity to learn to fall asleep independently at BEDTIME! Once your baby can fall asleep on their own they will be able to start to re-initiate sleep when they need to connect their sleep cycles overnight, unless they have another need… true night feeding needs will become WAY more obvious! This is actually my preferred way to “night wean”! Its not about just sleep training through night wakings, this approach on its own will typically lead to a LOT of crying for many nights in a row- without any progress. We instead need to work on bedtime, establishing independent sleep there first will naturally lead to less night waking overall. Parents I work with consistently tell me that once their little one began falling asleep independently they became way more confident in their ability to respond intentionally to their child overnight, no more 2am guessing and stressing!

And no, independent sleep doesn’t have to mean leaving your baby alone to “cry it out”! While some level of crying is expected at first (falling asleep in a new way is really quite frustrating and confusing!) you never have to leave your baby alone if you don’t want to! Sleep training ABSOLUTELY doesn’t have to mean no more night feeding, no more room sharing, rigid schedules, or being stuck at home forever…these are big fat myths! Learn more about our sleep training approach in our FAQ section!

Every baby is different.

Please know that determining a child’s overnight feeding needs is sometimes not quite as straightforward as the above checklist! These considerations are based on my experience working with 100’s of infants, and my training in Pediatric Sleep research and interventions. It is however not inclusive of all situations or individual babies. It’s ALWAYS best to check in with your doctor before night weaning, or making any big feeding changes! Its also important to note that there is nothing “bad” about continuing to feed your child frequently through the night as they get older….only YOU get to determine what is a sleep “problem”.

If you do feel like you and your baby are ready for some longer stretches of sleep between overnight feedings, let’s chat! Helping families establish sustainably good sleep in ways THEY feel good about is always our ultimate goal! Connect with us here to book a free sleep evaluation call to learn more about how we can best support you!