do babies need to eat during the night?

[sillysmile]

I've heard over and over again that babies over a year don't NEED to eat from a nutritional or physiological standpoint (though they may have a psychological or emotional need to).

How in the world to people know this to be true? Or is it just an assumption based on the fact that they can maintain their weight without the night feedings?

I have a nearly-1 yr old, who co-sleeps and still wakes every hour or two
(usually wanting to eat).

[Maluhia]

I think they do.

I'd love it if there were a study, but in the end I know my DD needed to eat in the night and the immunities sure helped

[guestmama9966]

[JessicaS]

If an infant is waking that many times there is often a reason.

Is your child going through a recent growth spurt or teething? There are things that can cause a child to nurse more frequently.

[haydn'smommy]

I think it's mostly based on the fact that they can get enough calories to maintain weight and to grow during the daytime, waking hours so they don't technically *need* to wake to feed as far as their nutritional needs are concerned.
I do, personally, think that if a child that age is waking up frequently, it's psychological need and should be addressed as such. It's all a matter of how you choose to parent that would determine how you address it. I know when my first was that age and he would occasionally wake, I always went to him and nursed him back down. My sister, OTOH, let hers CIO at that age. Both of our kids are happy, healthy, and well adjusted. We just have very different parenting strategies.

[EmilyG]

I think it all depends on the child, just because most one-year olds can goi all night without needing to eat/nurse, doesn't mean they all can. My 4 month old has gone longer between feedings at night since her third day of life than my 1st dd did when she was 14 months! Older DD still eats lots of small frequent meals, thats just how she works, and I don't parent them any different. I think if they're waking wanting to eat, they probably need it.

[kriket]

I think at a year every hour or two may be a need for concern. But there is a lot of area between STTN and waking every hour! My almost 8m wakes between 2 and 5 times, 5 being major teething pain and a bad night sleep for everyone.

[babygirlsmama]

My guess is that it depends greatly on the child. By point of comparison, I think about how often I need something to eat or drink during nighttime hours. I keep a huge glass of water by my bed and sip on it several times, or at least a few times. It is rare I don't need at least a few sips during the nighttime hours.

When I think about that -- that nursing for my baby is everything...food, drink, comfort, etc., It goes a long way toward explaining why she wants to nurse so often when that happens. Perhaps this is different for an older baby who may be taking other food and liquids, but the other needs may still be there.

[Lilly Milly]

I think my question best fits here. My almost 5 month old has been STTN for almost a month on most nights. We moved her to a crib because she cried every couple hours when we coslept even if she wasn't hungry. In her crib she STTN with NO crying. In the family bed forum I read that a baby shouldn't be able to go more than 8 hours w/o bfing before a year old, but mine does. Is this okay? I don't think I should wake her if she doens't wake herself up hungry, right? I just want to make sure I'm not doing something wrong.

[Llyra]

I think that if we go looking for a hard-and-fast rule, we won't find one. My DD1 slept long hours at night starting from less than two months old, and grew fine. She was a 90th percentile baby. My DD2 by about six months only woke to nurse once or twice. DS on the other hand nursed every 45 to 90 minutes most nights, all night long, until I nightweaned him at a year old.

Some babies stop gaining weight or even lose, and when you ask questions, you find out the mama has recently cut back or eliminated night feedings. So clearly those babies needed to feed at night. Some kids are clearly waking for the comfort and warmth and togetherness of breastfeeding, or because they don't know any other way to fall asleep besides nursing, or because they are experiencing pain or discomfort from teething or ear infection or some other cause. Some kiddos sleep better alone in a crib, and others sleep better nestled next to mama. My DD1 slept lousy next to me, and lousy in a crib, but GREAT next to her father.

So who knows? Every so-called expert (and often everybody and their second cousin's dog) seems to have an opinion about when babies should sleep through, but I am guessing we won't ever find an answer.

I'm 34, and still can't get through the night without a snack. So what does THAT say?

[Llyra]

Originally Posted by Lilly Milly

I think my question best fits here. My almost 5 month old has been STTN for almost a month on most nights. We moved her to a crib because she cried every couple hours when we coslept even if she wasn't hungry. In her crib she STTN with NO crying. In the family bed forum I read that a baby shouldn't be able to go more than 8 hours w/o bfing before a year old, but mine does. Is this okay? I don't think I should wake her if she doens't wake herself up hungry, right? I just want to make sure I'm not doing something wrong.

I think that with a baby out of the newborn period, you can safely look to the baby for cues. If baby is sleeping, and happy, you can let baby sleep. Baby would wake if baby was hungry!

[Ruthla]

I think that most babies need to eat during the night. A select few are OK without eating at night, and some may naturally sleep longer stretches without eating, but IMO that's not "the norm" and even these kids may need to eat at night during growth spurts. Your 5mo may comfortably sleep 8 hours without waking to nurse- but in a month or two her pattern may change.

[sillysmile]

Thank you for all of the replies - this is really helpful. I was a little surprised that this message was moved to the breastfeeding forum since we're (unfortunately) not breastfeeding, but I finally found it After doing a lot of reflecting, I think that we may try partial nightweaning to see if we can get slightly longer stretches of sleep (2-3 hrs would be really nice). My LO still has problems with reflux and so we can't really give her too much at once (4 oz is about as much as she can handle before lying flat, or she will wake up screaming 45 min later), so I suspect that she is going to need a few night feedings for a while. Hopefully we can gradually cut it down to 2-3 from her current 6-7.

[lifeguard]

I personally think it is probably good for their metabolism in the long run to continue to eat during the night. Many people who are really into fitness nutrition will set an alarm to eat in the middle of the night to keep their metabolisms firing.

Ds is 14 months. I would love for him to go a little longer at night but I can't see him cutting out the 5:00am feeding anytime soon - he is HUNGRY at that time. If I didn't bf'd I'm sure we'd just end up being up for the day & doing breakfast anyway.

[Lilly Milly]

Thanks! Sometimes my experience seems so unusual that it makes me worry. I know it may not last, so I will count my blessings for now.

[LadyCatherine185]

What is all of this about something being "wrong" with a baby who is a year or a little older waking every 1-2 hours? I realize it isn't super common, but I don't think it is completely out of the realm of normal.. or am I wrong? Someone please tell me what could possibly be wrong with my child that he is waking so frequently?

[kriket]

Originally Posted by LadyCatherine185

What is all of this about something being "wrong" with a baby who is a year or a little older waking every 1-2 hours? I realize it isn't super common, but I don't think it is completely out of the realm of normal.. or am I wrong? Someone please tell me what could possibly be wrong with my child that he is waking so frequently?

I mentioned something along those lines. It's not wrong, but it may be something that you mention to your pedi. Like my DS is little and has a big head, there is nothing wrong with him, but I did ask the pedi if everything is OK. KWIM? I have heard of kids with big heads having serious problems, luckily it's just the Scot in him!

A baby that wakes a lot maybe has silent reflux?I have sleep apnea and when I was a kid it made me wake up a lot (I would go to sleep, stop breathing, wake up o2 deprived, start breathing again) Not saying there is anything wrong with *yours* it's totally a long shot, but it never hurts to voice your concerns to a medical professional.

[sillysmile]

My DD DOES have reflux (diagnosed at ~6-8 wks), and I often worry that her night wakings are due to reflux-related discomfort. She can only tolerate small meals before lying down.. so it seems like our only good options are (1) frequent small meals (i.e. waking every 1-2 hrs to eat) (2) nightweaning (3) a few biger nighttime feedings + medication to minimize the reflux pain. I hate to put her on medication, so it's a tricky issue. I'm still hoping that I can partial nightwean so that she has just a few small meals and learns to take in more food during the day. We'll see.. then again maybe I should just accept the frequent night wakings and assume that she'll outgrow them at some point.

[LadyCatherine185]

Originally Posted by kriket

I mentioned something along those lines. It's not wrong, but it may be something that you mention to your pedi. Like my DS is little and has a big head, there is nothing wrong with him, but I did ask the pedi if everything is OK. KWIM? I have heard of kids with big heads having serious problems, luckily it's just the Scot in him!

A baby that wakes a lot maybe has silent reflux?I have sleep apnea and when I was a kid it made me wake up a lot (I would go to sleep, stop breathing, wake up o2 deprived, start breathing again) Not saying there is anything wrong with *yours* it's totally a long shot, but it never hurts to voice your concerns to a medical professional.

We've talked with our ped, and the suggested CIO. A lot of other threads floating around here have said that their ped's suggest the same thing. If there IS something *wrong* with him, there isn't the research, etc out there to find out what it is. He is just a high needs baby/toddler. And even according to Dr. Sears, they usually don't start sleeping well until they are closer to 3 years old.

FWIW, we have been down the reflux/allergies road. He did have silent reflux as a baby, and had to be on medication. Around 6 months we took him off of it, and the screaming stayed away so we assumed the reflux was gone. We put him back on it around 8 months to see if it would help sleeping, and it didn't. I also went on several elimination diets. I've read NCSS and Sleepless in America. We have done all we can, and nothing has made him sleep longer stretches.

For some babies, it is totally normal to wake frequently, and nurse back to sleep. Maybe not the *most* common, but if you take a look at the FBNP forum, you will see many Mamas in my boat.

Also, DS is a healthy 28 lbs, is ahead on all motor skills/milestones, extremely social, independant, active, and for the most part is a happy toddler. Nothing is wrong with him. He just has a hard time sleeping. Please try not to make blanket statements like that.. as they can be extremely disheartening to those of us who have been told our children are not normal and must CIO and that they are manipulating us and that is the only reason they aren't sleeping.