Replacing night feedings with water

[Anonymous]

Baby is 6 months and wakes up 2-3 times a night to feed. Does anyone have experience with replacing nursing with water in an effort to eliminate the night feedings?

[Anonymous]

Why do you want to replace the feeding with water? It's not advisable to give a baby this age water. Breastmilk or formula is age-appropriate.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't, it will just prolong the process and large amounts of water are not recommended for an infant. I would, first, make sure the baby is getting enough formula/BM and food during the day. Then, try to eliminate the feedings at night by just comforting the baby when he wakes but don't feed. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

I dont' see the harm in trying small amounts of water if the baby doesn't eat much milk now when she wakes up at night. Our 3 month old started eating smaller and smaller amounts (breastfeeding - so shorter times) when she woke up at night. So we decided to see if she was really hungry by trying to just rock her back to sleep instead. This caused some protesting but never for more than 5 minutes and then she was back out. (When she's really hungry, she will not go back to sleep - so giving it a few minutes helped us figure out what to do with her - sleep or feed.) She's been growing well and so is obviously getting enough to eat.

[Anonymous]

This is 10:24. 11:15, there actually is potential harm in giving babies water instead of breastmilk or formula. Read up on this a little bit and you'll understand why. OP, what is the purpose of replacing the night feeding with water? Do you seek to eliminate the waking that accompanies the feeding? Otherwise I don't understand the purpose.

[Anonymous]

Yes, that's the purpose -- eliminating night wakings. Although I don't think she's eating much during those feedings anymore, I want to make sure. I also don't want to cut them off drastically.

[Anonymous]

Also, we are talking about 2-3 oz of water in a 24 hour period for a six month old. The articles that I have seen regarding potential harm are for younger babies and many more ounces.

[Anonymous]

OP, I used this exact method to eliminate night feeding wake ups for my six month old. I followed the advice of the ped who wrote Baby 411--it's about 3 sentences so not worth buying the book only for that.

She suggests offering water in a bottle instead of feeding. If your kid is like mine, they want nothing to do with the water so they won't be drinking it anyway. Baby will protest. Mine did for about 40 minutes off and on the first night--with me there the entire time. He finally went back to sleep and I put him back to bed. On the second night, he protested for maybe 10 minutes. He has never woken up for a feeding since then (now 10 months old). He was waking for food totally out of habit (as the book said). I do think there are babies that are truly hungry/need to be fed still at 6 months but I could tell from the amount he was eating that mine wasn't one of them.

Of course he wakes for various other things, mostly teething these days, but the water worked perfectly for us. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, I used this exact method to eliminate night feeding wake ups for my six month old. I followed the advice of the ped who wrote Baby 411--it's about 3 sentences so not worth buying the book only for that.

She suggests offering water in a bottle instead of feeding. If your kid is like mine, they want nothing to do with the water so they won't be drinking it anyway. Baby will protest. Mine did for about 40 minutes off and on the first night--with me there the entire time. He finally went back to sleep and I put him back to bed. On the second night, he protested for maybe 10 minutes. He has never woken up for a feeding since then (now 10 months old). He was waking for food totally out of habit (as the book said). I do think there are babies that are truly hungry/need to be fed still at 6 months but I could tell from the amount he was eating that mine wasn't one of them.

Of course he wakes for various other things, mostly teething these days, but the water worked perfectly for us. Good luck!

This is very helpful, thanks. I'm not the OP, but have a 6 month old as well who is waking up for night feedings (2-3 times/night) purely out of habit/comfort. He was even sleeping through the night at 5 months but regressed when he got (another) ear infection. He is BF (with formula sup during day as I work), so I think he wakes up b/c he misses me. And while I love DS dearly, I need more sleep than I am getting.

We may try to water approach b/c my boy is large and really does not need the food. He is also eating solids 2-3 times/day and growing like a weed!

[Anonymous]

I was under the impression that it is appropriate to start giving water at the same as the baby starts eating solids. (really eating, as opposed to tasting and playing.) So of course it varies from kid to kid. The fear of potomania (water intoxication) is for younger babies, and in much larger amounts than a sleepy baby seeking comfort would likely drink.

[Anonymous]

Is your baby waking because of hunger - ie does he/she actually drink what is in the bottle or is it more for sucking and comfort? Is it crying/awake because of teething and used the bottle for teething?

Have you introduced solids during the daytime? Not sure I would start water this early - babies need the extra calories so I wouldn't try to "fill" him/her up on water, but more with solids during the day or BM or formula.

[Anonymous]

I agree with PP. It's not a good idea to replace the nutrition that the baby needs with nothing but a filler. I think they are looking for something to help soothe them. IMO, Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child is a great book to check regarding how to get the baby to sleep thru the night.

[Anonymous]

While I truly believe every baby is different and some truly need to eat over night past 6 months of age, the idea of using water to curb night wakings for feeding has nothing to do with providing filler nutrition. It has to do with training your baby that he/she does not need to eat at that time. Many, including mine, wake simply out of habit. If I started setting my alarm for 3am every night and had a snack, I would soon start to wake every night at 3am "hungry" for my snack. But we all know I certaintly can make it from bedtime to breakfast without a snack. Obviously young babies need to eat practically around the clock. But by 6 months, many doctors agree that many to most babies are more than capable of fasting overnight. Again, some aren't, so we all have to know our child. So for me, I wasn't offering water as some sort filler nutrition. I offered water because, like the book said, my baby would drink maybe an ounce, realize it's not BM or formula and gradually break the habit of needing to wake up in the night for that snack. As with everything else with babies, I certainly don't think my way or my doctor's way is the only way and I realize that I may have been lucky that this worked so quickly with my child, but it did certainly work.

[Anonymous]

I think it is unwise to replace with water. Baby probably needs some comforting and maybe a little nutrition. I know you are probably feeling extremely exhausted at this point, but you WILL make it through! I loved Elizabeth Pantley's The No Cry Sleep Solution. It had a lot of tools that you could use to customize a sleep plan for you child. We did a lot of back rubbing and singing to get the baby to sleep through the night. We did not do CIO - too hard for me, but baby is sleeping through the night no problem since 10 months.

[Anonymous]

Op here: Thanks for all of the perspectives. It's pretty difficult to distinguish whether an infant who is used to feeding at night *needs* to eat through the night. Because when she has spent the last 6 months doing so, her body expects it. Glad to hear the water tricked worked for PP. Also thanks for the recs for Weisbluth and Pantley -- though I can assure you that (unfortunately) I have read most of the sleep books out there!