Feeding FAQ: 4-6 months – Other

I am not sure if my 5 mth old son is waking from hunger or habit at night

My son is now 5 months old and has been a good sleeper up until now since he has started solids. He was sleeping through the night at 2 months thanks to you. I am confused as to whether he is waking in the night out of habit or because he is genuinely hungry. I am still breastfeeding my son so it is difficult to know how much milk he is getting but he has cut back so much on the time that he feeds especially with the 7am feed. He is not taking a lot. I have also tried letting him play for 30 minutes before feeding him. He is a very large baby but seems to be only interested in his solids – I have been weaning him for a month now. He wakes at 2.30, 3 or 4am but just the once in the night and I offer him cool boiled water which he usually takes. But then he wants to feed after, sometimes a lot and other times just for five minutes. I either nurse him to sleep or else he is awake when I put him down and he settles himself back to sleep. I do not know if I should do controlled crying – at the moment I wait between 10 and 20 minutes until going in. He still feeds at 11pm but only for about 15 or 20 minutes. Should I introduce a bottle of formula either at 11am or at 11pm? Would this help? I know that he only wakes once in the night but it does get very frustrating when it happens for 10 days in a row. He also has a dry cough and is teething – I give him teething powder and sometimes infant paracetamol.
You will also notice that he is hungry at 5pm rather than at 5.40pm.
Most breast feeds are around 10-20mins in length. He takes feeds at 7.30am, 11am, 5mins at 11.55am before his nap, 2.30pm, 5pm, 6.30pm and 11pm.
At 7.30am he takes 2tsp oatmeal cereal with 2ozs formula, 11.30am 4 cubes of vegetable puree, 5.45pm 2 cubes apple or pear mixed with 4-5 tsp baby rice and 3-4ozs formula. He weighs 9.5kl.
He naps at 9-9.45am, 12-2pm and 4.45-5pm.

A baby who is showing less interest in his 7am feed is more likely to be waking from habit than hunger in the night. If you begin to offer him formula at 11pm you will know that he has had a good feed. By this time of night you yourself may well be tired and your supply beginning to get low.

Once he is onto a formula feed you can begin to implement the “core night” to get him back to sleep when he wakes, without resorting to feeding him.

Take a look in The Contented Baby Book, page 148, which explains this method. It is further explained in The Complete Sleep Guide, page 42. Using cool, boiled water to settle him is better than thinking of using controlled crying. This should be used as a last resort when all other methods have been tried.

Look in The Contented Baby Book, page 164, to help you bring forward and eventually drop the 11pm feed now that your son is onto solids.