Does a 6 Month Old Still Need to Be Nursed at Night?

Like you said every child is different, but I wouldn't try and keep her awake if she is tired. I would maybe try and give her some rice cereal with her last feeding. That made my daughter sleep longer through the night, but if she goes to bed at 8 and sleeps until 4 or 5 a.m. thats a pretty good streach, I'd consider that sleeping all night for her, although I know for you getting up at that time still seems like the middle of the night, ha, but I feel soon she'll sleep a little longer.

Hi Mimi.
Don't sweat the middle of the night thing - as long as it doesn't bother you. Don't worry about what you're "supposed" to do, just do what is working for your family to keep everyone physically and mentally healthy.

If you'd like to phase out the feedings, you're doing the right thing by waiting a bit to go in when she cries. You can also put a digital clock in her room, and every night, or every other night, decrease the amount of minutes you feed her. This is a concept discussed in the Ferber book, "Solve your child's sleep problems" (I think). But your daughter does NOT have a sleep problem. Don't worry.

And I think 8pm sounds like a great bedtime. I would not change it because the middle-of-the-night feeding probably has nothing to do with the time she goes to bed.

All that said, you can always experiment with sleeptimes, because babies will surprise you with their patterns. If something new doesn't work you can always go back to the way it was.

Good Luck!

She goes to bed at 7pm. I breastfeed my daughter, at night, until she was 9 months. At her 6 month check up, her pedi said that nutritionally she didn't need to breastfeed at night, but when she did wake up, I knew she was hungry. I also didn't find that eating solids helped her. Around 6 months she started only waking up once to breastfeed and would fall asleep within 15 minutes of her feeding. She would then sleep till between 8-9. Now that she sleeps through the night, she wakes up between 7-8. At this age, they need at least 12 hours of sleep a night.

I nursed my youngest at night until he was about 7-8 months old. My boy was just that hungry! Unfortunately for me he also didn't sleep through the night (more than 4-5 hours straight) until he was 11 months old. Do what your mommy instinct tells you that you should do. She will be fine!

My daughter nursed at night until 10 months. I tried to get her to quit as I knew she didn't really need it. The nursing sessions cost me 15 minutes of sleep at night. Trying to comfort her to sleep or letting her cry cost us 3 hours each time we tried. I finally just decided that she needed the nursing for emotional reasons. I let her give it up. She sleeps straight through the night now (15 months). In fact, she has just started giving up her nighttime routine too (book and cuddles) and just asking to go straight to bed after her bath. I wouldn't worry about it. Good luck! You WILL sleep through the night again :-)

My daughter is 6 months old. Her last feed is 7:00pm and she is asleep right after. She wakes up around 7:00am. She ususally feeds around 1:00-2:00 and again around 4:00-5:00. At her 6 month check up her Ped said she didn't need to nurse at night anymore. So I tried to wean her off of atleast one feeding. She cried and cried and no one got any sleep (I tried this for a week). When I would finally go to her after crying or fussing for 20-30 minutes she would eat as if she was starving. After re-reading chapter 6 in "Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child" last night I decided I was not going to stress us all out anymore. The chapter is in reference to
5-12 month olds. It reads . . . "Your child may wake to be fed four to six hours after thier last feeding . . . This night feeding, and a second night feeding, may be needed until the baby is about 9 months of age . . . A second waking for feeding may occur around 4:00 or 5:00 am . . . Although many children do not need to be fed twice at night, others simply get up at 2:00 or 3:00am or not at all. Pediatritions are just saying that in general they don't need to be nursing at night anymore. They don't know when your baby goes to sleep, how much sleep they get, how much they nurse during the day. They don't know my baby the way I do! I feel so much better now that I have come to this realization. I hope this info helps. The book also says that at this age they should be going to bed around 6:00-8:00pm and waking at 6:00-8:00am. Getting about 12 hours of sleep.

My answer is one that I hated hearing when my daughter was 6 months old. Sleeping 5 hours is considered sleeping through the night, so if she is going to bed at 8 then a feeding between 2 or 4 AM is reasonable. I think my daughter gave up the early morning feeling at around 9 months, though I didn't give in and teach her to sleep through the night till she was 12 months (boy do I wish I had done that sooner!). No, I don't think you are putting her to sleep too early- problem is that you probably don't want to go to bed that early! She probably needs 10-12 hours of sleep through the night and another 3 or 4 hours worth of naps. Babies who total less than 12 hours total of sleep in 24 hours are at high risk for obesity in the toddler years because there bodies don't produce enough of the hunger supressing hormones.

Kudos on nursing this long. I can relate: 1st was exclusive till 11 months, 2nd till 14 months.

A child at 6 months should be getting about 12 - 14 hrs of sleep in 24 hours. If she is napping during the day and totalling that, she should be okay on sleep.

One trick I used with both of mine was to nurse before putting them down and then going in and nursing AGAIN before I went to bed (usually about 2 hours later). When they did get up in the night, it was usually later in the night and it was still dark so they went back to sleep for a little while longer. I was able to get longer sleep before that first wake so I was less tired than I'm sure you are.

I hope this helps.

Blessings,
P. <><

My sleep-deprived sister, I say "amen" to 'all kids are different.' Actaully, 6 months is by NO MEANS to old for night feedings. There are a few babies who are long sleepers early on, but the vast majority either wake up or have been "trained" (i.e., ignored until they just give up crying for comfort or feedings). I'm not suggesting that sleep training is wrong--some moms simply have to do it so they can function at jobs, etc, but I am saying that it is absolutely not the norm for an infant, especially breastfed, to sleep through the night. As a professional in the field, I discourage you from increasing feedings or adding cereal to bottles. Not only does is it not proven to help with wakefullness, but it encourages allergies, obesity, and countless digestive problems. Best practice is now to wait until six months to BEGIN introducing cereals, though most still do it earlier. It should be quite awhile before your girl is getting any substantial caloric intake from solids, so that is not the way to help her sleep. My suggestion is to put her to bed when she's tired, feed her when she's hungry (sigh), and keep telling yourself that one day you WILL get a full night's sleep! Good luck!!

My son is 11months old and he still wakes up at 11pm and around 4am to nurse. He really is hungry too b/c I started trying to offer him the pacifier and he will not take it! Babies who are breast fed do eat more often just b/c it's metabolized faster than formula. I agree with the other post-follow your mommy instincts! As for her bedtime...my daughter always had a 7pm bedtime. My son is usually ready to go down around 6pm. I'm a mom that lets my kids tell me when they're ready to sleep (within reason of course) so if she's tired by 7pm let her sleep! She'll be fine.

Dear Mimi:

I think that your baby knows what she needs. Since she is going to bed so early, she does need to eat during the night. My mom said that we slept trhough the night early, but she considered it sleeping all night when we slept from midnight to 5 a.m. since that is when she slept. (I need a lot more sleep than mom did unfortunately!)

Your daughter is doing great, she will sleep more and more. You are both off to a great start! You can play with her schedule a bit to make things easier for you if you are exhausted.

However I don't believe in letting babies go hungry. I think it is important that we learn to listen to our bodies signals. Most people become obese becuase they have overcome their innate ability to listen to true hunger cues.

My son ate every two hours at that age. It turned out that my son had a medical problem. At least my son didn't have to suffer from malnutrition in addition to the malabsorption problem resuluting from an chronic intestinal infection.

Good Luck!

Jen

Like you said, they are all different. My 9 month old is ready for bed between 8:00 and 8:30. She still wakes up at least twice a night to nurse. She rarely goes back to sleep without nursing. Just listen to what your baby's needs are, she'll let you know what she needs.

She's going 8 hours - she's looking for breakfast when she gets up. That's pretty normal, and I put them to sleep when they were sleepy. I tried to put me to sleep within an hour of that, too.

S.

I must have either had a good baby or I was a mean momma, I cant remember but definitely by 6 months, he was sleeping through the night. Sometimes he would wake up crying and I would put his binky back in his mouth and he would fall back asleep but I was a working mom and couldnt afford to be sleep deprived as a teacher.

I think it sort of depends on what you and your baby want. If you are willing to, Im sure physically she CAN make it through the night at 6 months. If you feel better feeding your baby and are getting enough rest, then do what you want.

Good luck!

You are the best judge of what is right for your child. I wanted to share with you what my mom & grandmom's shared with me and that is that our children are pretty great at letting us know what they need...the problem comes with our interpretation. For example when kids eat dirt it is a pretty good indication that they need some mineral that is in that dirt. I nursed both my boys whenever they were hungry and to this day allow them to help me regulate their diet. We have set meal times but as teens they are often hungry in between times. The great thing is that eventhough genetically our family tends to have problems with weight control neither of my boys do. If your baby wakes in the night hungry feed her. No 8pm is not too early for her to go to bed. Baby's bodies are growing so quickly that they need alot of fuel and rest to accomplish that growth. You mentioned that your baby is now eating some solids...don't forget the fats like butter and oils...these are essential for the continued brain development that is going on through the "twos". I hope that this has helped a little. Always remember that as her mother you do know in your gut and heart what is best. Try not to get caught up in what society thinks is right and listen to that sweet baby telling you her needs. - N. T

Hello, First i want to start by saying im so proud of you for still exclusively breastfeeding that is awesome.. Im a rn and certified lactation consultant and i just wanted to let you know that your 6mth old is totally normal.. I wouldnt worry at all if she is just waking up for 1 feeding, i think my son did that until he was 7mths old.. I think your putting her to bed at a great time and babies need lots of sleep, im not sure but im thinking 14-16 hours in a 24 hour period, dont quote me though. Your doing wonderfull and your sound like a great mom, keep up the good work...

My daughter started sleeping through the night very early. Around the end of her second month. She had her last feeding around 8:30pm and her next in the morning when she woke up.
I think it's fine = )