| Dear Joyce,
My children went from breast to straw and then to sippy cup. I found that they were actually able to use a straw very early – much earlier than I excepted. But I have a friend whose babies when straight from breast to a normal cup. She would hold the cup to their lips until they were older and able to manage by themselves. As with most things in bringing children up – if it works you’re doing it right – and it doesn’t matter how others are doing it.
Babies wake up at night for lots of reasons – at seven months it is much more likely to be teething, too exciting a day, too boring a day, too cold or too hot than not enough milk. But having said that the easiest way to get a baby back to sleep is usually by feeding him – so why not?
It is estimated that for babies that are feed naturally – i.e. not scheduled or made to go without milk during the night – will take about 35% of their milk intake at night. This is one third of their food at night. This is normal and healthy and definitely not something to worry about.
The question to ask yourself is not is the baby right or wrong to wake up at night but are you managing to cope with the baby’s needs. If you can cope with the baby waking up then you have no problem.
If you can’t cope with the night waking then look at your lifestyle and see where improvements can be made. Would you cope better if you had an afternoon nap with your baby? Would you cope better if your baby was nearer you at night and so nighttime feeding wasn’t as disruptive?
Best wishes,
Barb  |