Giving up night-time feeds

There is no reason why you should give up feeding your baby at night if you both enjoy it. But while you are feeding him during the night he won’t be able to establish a good sleeping pattern. Small babies need to feed at night but by the time they are six months old, most healthy babies can manage without a night feed.

To break the feeding habit you will need to be firm. You could try:

• Offering your baby gradually less and less milk until you stop altogether, at which point he may feel that there is no point waking up for more
• Substituting a breast or bottle feed with a drink of water
• If your baby associates you with a feed, your partner could go in and offer the water