Feeding FAQ: 4-6 months – Weaning

Should I re-introduce the 10pm feed to prevent my 4.5 month baby waking in the night?

My 4.5mth baby has started waking in the night, a week ago. Putting this down to size and readiness for food, we decided to wean, but he has, so far continued to wake in the night, around 3-4am. On one occasion he put himself back to sleep, but has not found it possible again, despite leaving him for 20mins. We are unsure whether to reintroduce the 10 pm feed at this stage and then drop it over a period of weeks, or continue with the night feed until the bulk of the rice/fruit puree kicks in after a while. Additionally he is finding it harder and harder to resettle himself on waking during lunch sleep, some days being perfect, other days sometimes an hour and a half.
He is fully breast fed at 7am, 11am, 2.15pm and 6pm. My son is having 1 tsp of rice after his 11am feed.
He presently naps at 9-9.45am and 12-2.15pm.

Until a baby is having solids twice a day it is better to keep the 10pm feed in place. The first solids given are tastes and fillers rather than replacements for the milk he still needs to receive. With a fully breast fed baby you may need to keep this feed in place until your son has been receiving solids for at least a month. If you look in the Weaning Guide you will notice that the amounts given for this feed reduce slowly over the first four weeks of weaning. There is also a case study in The Complete Sleep Guide, p92, which shows what can go wrong if this feed is dropped too soon. It may become much smaller as his intake of solids increases but is well worth keeping in until he really shows signs of not needing it. The most obvious sign would be less inclination to feed at 7am.

By offering your son a top up feed before settling at 12pm you may find he is more able to settle himself if he should stir in his light sleep. Hunger is one of the most common causes of this sleep being disturbed.