Reply To: Multiple night feeds (and very early wake time) – 5mo

[Emma H]

Hi Jill,

What you have said is exactly right – just continue feeding him when he wakes overnight and what should happen is he will start to lengthen the time between feeds and the number of feeds will just start to drop off.

To help this happen though, I do recommend that when you hear him stirring overnight, you pause to make sure that he is truly awake, rather than just in REM sleep or cycling between sleep cycles.

You will be able to tell that he is truly awake by his noises. The call outs tend to be closer together (so no real pauses between) and persistent. If he is truly awake then go ahead and feed him.

If, after a few weeks he continues to wake frequently overnight, then you would help him drop those comfort feeds, focusing on the first half of the night first.
It’s great the last few mornings he has fallen back to sleep on his own – this just shows that he is starting to link those sleep cycles himself, instead of needing a feed to do so.

Does that make sense?
Emma