How do you encourage a 6 month old to eat more during the day so he doesn't need to eat during the night?

Answer 1

It's totally normal for a 6 month old baby to still need to wake at night to feed. They are growing so fast at this age.

Answer 2

NO six month old needs to eat during the night. That's silly. If he/she is eating three meals a day, with dinner at about 5:30 or 6pm, and then a bottle before bed, there should be no trouble going all night. If the baby is waking up to feed, it's because it is a HABIT that needs to be broken. Guess what? He's not going to break it himself, you need to do it for him. Ignore him when he cries in the night, let him cry it out, and he will stop in a week or less.

Answer 3

Whatever you do, do NOT do what the first person is suggesting. That's the most callous parenting advice I've ever heard. You should never just ignore your baby if they're hungry.

That said...

My 5½ month old is phasing out his 2:30am feeding (on his own, ahem, to the first answerer) but still wakes around 4:30am to nurse. He nurses again around 7:30am, then 10:30am he gets his whole grain rice cereal, nurses at 12:30pm, 2:30pm he gets whatever pureed fruit or veggie I have ready, 4:30pm he'll nurse again, 7:30 rice cereal, 9:30pm nurse and 11:00pm bedtime.

If your little one is waking during the night to eat, it's because he needs to. You can't fill them up during the day so they won't want to eat at night. And I've tried ;) Just go with what you're doing. He'll grow out of it on his own. But at 6 months, it's not that unusual. Most babies will want to nurse/have a bottle at least once during the night up to around a year old.

Maddog makes a good point in everything they said. Especially that over-fed babies DO throw up.

**Adding on**

As for "crying it out"... I've done it once when my and my husband's nerves were frazzled. We left our son cry in his crib for no more than 10 minutes and all he did was end up screaming the most pitiful and blood-chilling cry that wasn't letting up. It was agonizing to listen to -- babies cry for a reason: they need us and have no other way to tell us -- and I felt terrible when I thought about how he must have felt crying and not understanding where Mama and Daddy were and why they weren't cuddling him...

Anyways, he got so worked up he ended up throwing up all over himself and his crib. It wasn't just a little erp-up either. It was an eruption that had a projectile effect. Then he was *very* hungry since his tummy was empty.

It took my husband and I another 20 minutes to calm him enough that he'd nurse without gagging from crying and then almost another hour before the hiccuping from crying subsided and he slept soundly.

My point? Just getting up and feeding them is an easier solution and sometimes quicker than the alternative... Thought I'd share that.

It's not the baby's "habit" that needs to be broken, but our habit of sleeping the way we did before baby's arrival.

Good luck!

Answer 4

I don't agree with the "let him cry it out" thing... Part of it is probably a habit forming, but if they're hungry, feed them. I'd try to give him a big meal before bed and first thing in the morning, and if he's still waking up, try a bottle of water instead. If it's just a habit, he'll drink the water. If he still cries, he's probably genuinely hungry. My son did it until he was about 8 months old. We tried the "cry it out" thing, and 3 hours later he still wasn't asleep, he just cried himself sweaty, so I can't really agree with that - I guess it just depends on the child. Good luck anyway - try to get some sleep somehow!

Answer 5

I would ask my pediatrician about the need for feedings in the middle of the night. He/She is aware of the diet your baby is on and how well your little one is thriving.
Our pediatrician laughed out loud when he heard we were still "warming" our first born's bottle for his 2 am feeding when he was 12 months old! Heck, no one told us to drop it and we just assumed he needed it. We were told to tell him to go back to sleep and let him cry. The first night he cried maybe 20 mins., the second night maybe 10 mins, and the third night we heard but a very short cry. That did it for him. Funny but once the nighttime feeding ended he broke himself of the bottle completely.
Good luck. Parenting is a very difficult job to say the least. I hope you find the best answer for you and your baby.

Answer 6

You don't ... it's still a fairly newborn infant! Feed your child a bottle of formula before putting it down for the night ... hopefully that will hold it. If it doesn't, feed it again! If your nursing ... forget it! Nursed babies need to eat every 2 to 4 hours around the clock for a good while.

Over-fed babies throw up! There's only so much a tiny stomach can hold. If you do train it to eat too much just so you can relax, when it's 2, you can get it on the Springer show ... ever see his 'Fat Babies' shows? Nice!

Answer 7

Best way is to slowly stop feeding him at night, so he is hungrier during the day. Try other methods to get the baby back to sleep at night, and wean off the bottle or breast dropping off the number of bottles and number of ounces per bottle. Baby will make up for the lost calories during the day, and eventually sleep through the night. Remember not all night awakening is hunger.

Answer 8

A child eats only when they are hungry . Tryhaving your child eat 6 small meals instead of 3 big meals . Also a little cereal in their bottle at night time helps too Good Luck !

Answer 9

Do something fun with his meals...make eating fun!