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26 years
My 3.5 months daughter takes milk novalac digest ar 180ml every 2 hours can i start from now not to feed her at night and what steps should i follow?
Feb 5, 2015

Dr. Zakia Dimassi Pediatrics
It is still early to start night weaning as your baby still requires to be fed during the night. From birth to the age of 2 months, most babies wake up twice every night to feed. Between the ages of 2 and 4 months, most babies need one feeding in the middle of the night. By the age of 4 months, most (but not all) bottle-fed babies sleep throughout the night for more than 7 hours without feeding.
Starting the age of six months, babies who are developing well (i.e. they are not small in size on the growth curve) no longer need midnight meals for their health or growth. This means it’s acceptable to entertain the process phasing out your baby’s night feeds.
So how can you tell if your baby is ready for this step? If your baby is having 60 ml of milk or less during a night feed, you can discontinue the feed altogether. But if your baby feeds more than 60 ml each night, you will need to gradually decrease on the amount of milk your baby drinks over a 5-7 nights period.

The steps to follow are:

  1. Reduce the volume of milk by 20-30 ml every second night. For example, if your baby usually drinks 180 ml, go down to 150 ml for two nights, then 120 ml for the next two nights, and so on.
  2. Re-settle your baby after each smaller feed.
  3. Once you get down to 60 ml or less in the bottle, stop the feed altogether.

You might notice that your baby will be feeding more during the day after you stop the night feeds, which could take another week to appear.

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