weaning off night feeds?

[LightUpLightUp]

Hi

My DS2 is soon to be 12 weeks old and is breastfed. During the night he wakes approximately 11pm, 1:30am,4:30am,6:30am.
He takes a a dummy so I have tried to give him this in the past to see if he will go back to sleep but he doesn't until I feed him. On occasions I have given him a bottle of nannycare formula however i decided to have a drink on new years and made up some formula bottles and some breastmilk bottles for the night.
He usually takes the bottle fine but he didn't take any milk this night, just messed about so I put him back in his cot after trying at each waking and he went back to sleep fine with not actually taking any milk from 9:30am - 6:30am. He fed very well at his 6:30am feed and very well new years day whereas he would usually fuss at day time feeds.

I feel this night showed me that 1) DS doesn't need milk in the night as he didn't cry after not taking any. and 2) Maybe he is getting a bit too much in the night hence not taking much in the day.

So last night i tried again to not feed him and just gave the dummy. He did not cry but after 45 minutes of him being wide awake and chatty I fed him and he went straight back down.

How do i wean him off night feeds and waking in the night now i'm pretty sure he doesn't need it? My DS1 never slept through until 4 years old! I do not want this to happen again.

Any advice/experience?

[LightUpLightUp]

That was meant to say he didn't take any milk from 9:30pm-6:30am!

[AnythingNotEverything]

I don't think one night of not needing milk means he's ready to be night weaned. Sorry. I'd keep feeding on demand, using expressed milk or formula is you want someone else to do a night feed to give you a break.

[LightUpLightUp]

Would he not cry when I give him the dummy if he was hungry though?

[AnythingNotEverything]

Well, yes, but one or two nights does not a pattern make with such a small baby. He's waking for something so whether he wants milk or just comfort, I'm not sure you're better off either way. You're still up, and I wouldn't do any sleep training at this age.

[NickyEds]

My DS did something similar at this age. He was so pooped after his jabs that he didn't wake for a night feed (at that age he fed once in the night), just a feed at 10ish then went through 'till 6/6.30. This continued for 3 (glorious!!) months before all going to shit and he just didn't seem to need it. When he started needing feeding in the night again we knew about it. His dummy wouldn't have helped at all.