How can I tell if he is actually hungry?
Printed From: OHbaby!
Category: Have A Baby?
Forum Name: First baby? Second or more?
Forum Description: Want help? Need support? Want tips? Men and women share advice and tips in this supportive community
URL: https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=34118
Printed Date: 27 August 2025 at 5:22am
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 11.10 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: How can I tell if he is actually hungry?
Posted By: 1st_Time_Preggies
Subject: How can I tell if he is actually hungry?
Date Posted: 17 June 2010 at 3:57pm
|
My DS is 4 and a half months and has slept through the night on and off since he was about 3 months. Usually however, he wakes once in the night between 1 and 4am for a feed (and is hungry). The last few days he has been waking at 12am, and I have been feeding him, but he then wakes at 4 or 5am again. I don't know how to tell if he is hungry or just waking and needing settling?? He self settles during the day and goes to bed awake. Also once he is fed in the night he is more often than not awake so he is not using it to get to sleep. His feeds during the day have not changed.
At night he feeds both sides at 5.30pm, a bath, then 150ml of EBM before bed. Two nights ago in the middle of this he slept through the whole night. Then last night he woke at 12am but wasn't RAVENOUS. However when he woke at 4am he was. I'm not sure what to do as I have not needed to resettle him in the night before. I thought at first it was a mini growth spurt, but since he slept through one night in between now I have my doubts. I had pretty much decided in my head I would be okay with one wake up until he is six months old or on solids. I am reluctant to let him CIO, and the only other option I can think of is to give him a dummy but that seems like I would be giving him a prop (he has NONE at the moment). During the day if I go in and try to resettle it just makes him more upset. Any advice about what I should do next would be greatly appreciated! |
Replies:
Posted By: High9
Date Posted: 17 June 2010 at 4:09pm
|
I find the dummy makes Lily more awake and hungry imo, Lily wakes 1-2 times a night now, sometimes 3, she's only done 1-2 since sat, before it was 2-3. I feed her everytime she wakes as if I don't she doesn't take to kindly to me resettling her and will cry. I figure she is hungry so give her a feed and off she goes...
Hope you find a solution.  ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
|
Posted By: 1st_Time_Preggies
Date Posted: 17 June 2010 at 4:42pm
|
Oh and I have checked that he is warm, it is not his nappy etc etc. And the thing is he is still feeding during the day as normal (still hungry in the morning), that is why I am reluctant to NOT feed him. But I don't think a four and a half month old needs TWO feeds a night???
Also forgot to say last night I left him grizzling for about 20 minutes before it escalating into a full on cry, so I don't get up the minute he peeps. |
Posted By: kebakat
Date Posted: 17 June 2010 at 5:01pm
| If its a proper feed then I'd say hes hungry. its VERY normal for a bub of that age to need feeding through the night, sometimes more than once. We dream fed daniel so he got a feed at around 10-11 when DH went to bed and then he woke up for another ocassionally until at least 6 months. |
Posted By: MamaT
Date Posted: 17 June 2010 at 5:08pm
|
[QUOTE=1st_Time_Preggies] But I don't think a four and a half month old needs TWO feeds a night???
It is completely normal for a baby of this age to be needing to feed during the night. My boy is still waking approximately 4 or 5 times a night for a feed and he's 5 and a half months. If he was sleeping through and is now waking and you've eliminated everything else I would think it was definately due to hunger. -------------  
|
Posted By: High9
Date Posted: 17 June 2010 at 5:47pm
|
We eat when we are hungry right?
Could it be trapped wind? I know sometimes when I pick Lily up for the 2nd feed of the night she occasionally will burp so I often wonder if that is why she woke, although she still feeds. ------------- http://lilypie.com">
|
Posted By: Bizzy
Date Posted: 17 June 2010 at 6:27pm
|
they go through a growth spurt about now that affects night waking, i would just go with the flow and it should go back to how it was. ------------- http://www.myfitnesspal.com/weight-loss-ticker"> 
|
Posted By: tiptoes
Date Posted: 17 June 2010 at 7:12pm
|
What happens if you try to resettle him? I try patting his chest and shushing first (plus dummy) and often he'll quickly drop off. If he's hungry doing that seems to upset him and he launches into proper crying. Then I'd feed him. So I'd try something like that?
But if you're feeding twice and he still has a good feed in the morning then he probably is hungry and going through a growth spurt. Maybe worth trying a dreamfeed for a week or so and see if that makes a difference? ------------- http://alterna-tickers.com">  
|
Posted By: SpecialK
Date Posted: 17 June 2010 at 7:23pm
|
We started giving H the dreamfeed at 9 weeks and it worked really well for us - cut down his night feeds to one.
BUT having said that I used to feed him every time he woke in the night - it was the quickest way to settle him, and he was always happy to go back to bed and go straight to sleep. So - technically he shouldn't have been hungry etc etc but it did mean that I was up for 10-20 min max. ------------- http://lilypie.com">  http://lilypie.com">
|
Posted By: E&L+1
Date Posted: 18 June 2010 at 8:56am
|
Completely normal to have 2 feeds a night. My 7 month old frequently has 1 or 2 feeds and she is definitely hungry!
Dream feeds don't work for us but it's worth a try. ------------- http://lilypie.com">  http://lilypie.com">
|
Posted By: High9
Date Posted: 18 June 2010 at 9:29am
|
If you can work out a pattern to when they wake, I usually pop in an hour before she would normally wake and give her a dream feed and it works. If I go in earlier - it doesn't. Later - not so much as well!
He will sleep through when he is ready. ------------- http://lilypie.com">
|
Posted By: Nutella
Date Posted: 18 June 2010 at 10:16am
|
Hmm I can't help other than to say DS was waking lots (like every 3-4 hours) and I fed him every time, seemed easier than trying to resettle and not knowing if he was hungry/not hungry whatever. Now he sometimes sleeps through, sometimes he doesn't so we just go with whatever and he again gets fed when he wakes. I didn't pay much attention to whether or not a baby should or should not be fed, I just did what felt right for me and DS and it worked (tho I was pretty tired there for a bit). ------------- 
 Oct 11
|