Night feeds at 18weeks

Our wee boy is 18 weeks old now and our nights are a little all over the show. He has always been a really good settled baby, put him to bed and self settles, has good days sleeps generally. We have always put him to bed awake, never feed or rocked etc to sleep, we have been very lucky he is so settled. But he is very hungry! At 8 weeks he started getting a botttle of formula before bed. Anyway we have got to 18weeks, he goes to bed between 7.30 and 7.45 in evening, and sleeps till anywhere between 2 and 5.45! About 3weeks ago he slept till 5.45, then he seemed to have a major growth spurt for about a week and I was getting up twice a night. Then this week he did till 5.45 again but has not repeated it. So I just wanted to know how long it took till everyones babies slept thru, should I be starting to try other settling methods or is it normal to still be waking for feeds at this age? He is now having 2 bottles of formula, one about 5pm (250ml) and one at 7pm (200-250ml). Tried a dream feed for a week but it just made him wake more, and he is very spilly so usually woke and throws up! Just starting to feel a bit tired and wanted to start getting into a wee bit of a routine so I can start to work out the best time to get out of the house with both of the kids! Sorry for the novel!

Have you tried waking him to give him that last feed a bit later? My boy is fully FF and sleeps thru the night, but he gets his last feed between 9 & 10. He goes down to sleep at around 7.30/8, and then usually wakes up for that last feed. If he doesn't wake, I get him up for a feed anyway, otherwise he'd wake up at like 4 in the morning hungry. Dream feeds don't work for him (he just sits there and doesn't suck and the milk is dribbling all down his front) so I make sure he's fully awake for the last feed, and then give him a good 20 mins to make sure all the wind is up. His usual wake time is around 7 now... sometimes 6.30 and yesterday he slept in till 8!!!

Agree with Kellyfer re moving the last feed to later at night.
Also how long does he sleep during the day?

My girls have been sleeping through from 10 wks. They go down between 7-8pm and I give them a late feed about 10.30/11pm (sometime a dream feed works but more often than not I wake them up properly, do a nappy change etc). I also limit their day sleeps, no more than 4 hours in total.

(I've read that you should keep the late feed going until they are established on solids)

Edited by Danda08

Haha I agree pillow fight! I remember when my DS went through till after 4am. Now he wakes anywhere for once to three times a night and he is 10 months!!!

Well frustrating as it may be, you might be getting up for a lot longer. My girl starting sleeping through, but then stopped at around 5 months. Dream fed her on and off past 1 year, and even after I stopped feeding her at night my husband would sometimes have to get up and give her a bottle of milk in the middle of the night if she was hungry. I can't really remember but it has only been in the last month or two that she has been really consistently sleeping through from 8pm until 7am (and she is now 22 months). So there you go! We tried various things, as you do, and I am sure you will too, but I reckon sometimes it is the luck of the draw. when you think about it, having such a little tummy, can you really expect them to NOT get a little hungry in the night? My 2 cents....

I would consider yourself lucky with what you get - imo it's luck of the draw so to speak, DD wakes anywhere from twice to five times a night. For a feed (and is hungry/thirsty).

Some babies do sleep through, but then with development stages etc that can screw it up.

Getting up once a night at 4 months is totally normal. DS slept through from 3-5 months but went through 3 weeks of waking once for a feed around 5 months. There is lots going on in terms of development and growth at that age, and bubs will start sleeping through again when they are ready. I'd suggest being patient and riding it out. (as frustrating as it is).

Thanks everyone for your replys, glad to here that there really is no 'normal'! Just wanted to see where we were at really as DD slept through from 8 weeks but she had reflux and did not sleep much during the day but slept thru at night out of exhaustion. So not really a good example. Will just keep feeding him on demand at night, it is no trouble really as I can be back in bed within 30min and he goes straight back to sleep, it is actully more tiring to try and resettle with out feeding! Sounds silly but I would rather get up in the middle of the night for a quick feed than have to wait up till around 10 at night to do a feed, I like that once he is in bed at 7.30 I have the evening to myself!