What Can Be Done About Continued Waking for Night Time Feeding?

QUESTION: My five-month old baby still awakens for his 2:00 A.M. feeding.
Although it is tiring for me, I don't mind feeding him if he's hungry. My
older sister also has a baby and she says I'm just spoiling my baby and that I
must phase out this middle of the night feeding. What do you think? Can you
suggest how I might help my baby to sleep through the night?
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ANSWER: Most pediatricians would agree with your sister. By 4 months of age,
95 percent of babies can sleep through an 8-hour night without feeding.
Physically they don't need the extra calories anymore by that age. Trained
night feeding is one of 3 clinically observed sleep disorders in babies and
children. The other two problems commonly seen are trained night crying and
fearful night crying. For all three problems, parents must work at changing
their baby's nighttime habits.
Early intervention is important for sleep problems, because infants older
than 6 months begin resisting change. To untrain a baby from nighttime
feeding, it is essential to begin to increase the time between daytime
feedings to four hours apart or more. The baby will then get used to going
for longer periods of time without being fed. You simply cannot expect a
child's nighttime habits to change if his stomach is trained to expect
frequent feedings. A general guide and goal should be 4 meals a day by 4
months, 3 meals a day by 6 months. If your baby seems to be asking for more
frequent meals during the day, give him some extra holding, attention or a
pacifier.
Feed your baby at bedtime, but don't give him the bottle in his bed. If
your baby seems to need extra sucking, you may try using a pacifier.
Once your baby's daytime feeding schedule is where it should be,
nighttime awakening will probably automatically decrease or disappear. Until
that natural change occurs, you might have to get up to feed your baby. But
if you do, make it a small meal.
Put your baby back in his crib when he's slightly hungry. If you breast
feed, nurse him only on one side. If you are bottle feeding, decrease the
amount you put in the bottle every few nights by one ounce. In about two
weeks, your baby should be sleeping through the night.