Do you feed your baby every time he wakes up?

My baby is 7 and a half months and EBF. I used to feed him every time he woke up, which could be every 1-2 hours, but during the past few weeks I’ve been trying to push for at least 3 hours between feeds.

If he wakes up before 3 hours have passed, my husband goes in to comfort once some time has passed (using a modified Ferber), and sometimes he goes back to sleep but more often than not he perseveres until we’ve reached the 3 hour mark. I then can’t help but think that if I’d have fed him right away, we’d all be asleep by now…

But on the other hand, overall he’s been sleeping longer stretches and it doesn’t happen that often that he wakes before 3 hours are over. At his age he should apparently be able to go much longer without feeding at night, so I think he needs comfort, not food, and I want to encourage him to self soothe at night.

Am I expecting too much too soon? I thought feeding every 3 hours is reasonable? Should I just feed him every time he wakes up? Or will that encourage him to go back to wake ups every 1-2 hours?

Thanks for any advice ☺️

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So we do similar to you, if she wakes before 12 my partner settles as he does the first few hours then we swap rooms so after 12 I feed every time she wakes recently she’s been going 3 hours right now it’s been 2 hours and I’m feeding and she is having a proper feed but I also think a lot of it is for comfort I think if they’re putting on weight they don’t need as many feeds in the night at this age but I’m not an expert lol I am finding she’s distracted again during the day so a few sucks springs up to look about few sucks but tbh she’s been up often since the 4 month regression

Ps I feed each time bcos it’s the quickest way but when she was waking every 1-2 hours I was trying not to usually now she has 3 feeds a night instead of like 8 🤣

Sorry to message again I’ve heard that reducing the feeding time by a minute each time gradually reduces the feeds at night I personally haven’t tried as I wait until she’s unconscious before transferring 🤣

We had this and I gradually increased the time between feeds at night like you. Wouldn't feed unless it had been 3 hours, then 3.5, then 4 etc. I also reduced the amount of minutes he was feeding. He used to feed for 15-20 mins at night (less during the day). So I wouldnt feed him more than 10 minutes, whenever he unlatched i would put his dummy in and put him down. It worked and now my baby sleeps 7 hour stretches consistenly. He does wake 1st at around 11pm though and I do feed him at this 1st wake up. He then settles himself anytime he wakes after that xx

I feed every time. Quickest and easiest way and gets us all back to sleep faster xx

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