Signs Your Baby Is Ready To Drop Their Last Night Feed

You've made it through the 4 month sleep regression (which can happen anytime between 3-6 months) wooooo. Now you are just wondering, when can this last overnight feed go away so we can start sleeping through?

Sometimes babies tend to drop their night feeds on their own but quite often parents need to take the lead. And there are a few things to look out for before starting to wean that bottle.

First of all, is your baby hungry for their morning bottle?

If the answer is NO, then this is a sure sign that they are filling up on that overnight bottle. In this case, why not swap that overnight bottle for the morning one? Still getting the same amount of milk, just at a different (more reasonable) time, clever eh?

Best way to know for sure is to track your babies feeds for 1-2 weeks, if they are disinterested in that morning bottle the majority of the time, then start to reduce it gradually and offer milk at 7/7:30am every morning.

Secondly, we like to ensure baby is gaining a nice amount of weight each week before reducing any milk intake, as this will still be their main source of calories/nutrients until 12 months old. We would also usually suggest waiting until babies are quite well established on solids, but hey, each baby is different, there is no one size fits all.

Overnight milk feeds usually (not always) go a little like this:

• 0-6 weeks old - 2-4 milk feeds overnight

• 6-12 weeks old - 1-2 milk feeds overnight

• 3-6 months old - 1-2 milk feeds overnight

• 6-12 months old - 0-1 milk feeds overnight

Of course you can always choose to feed your baby for longer overnight, I encourage each parent to do what is right for their family.