Night weaning at 7.5 months?

[SundayGirlB]

Hello,

Just looking for thoughts/experiences really. My 7.5mo is on 3 meals a day now and pretty good at regulating what he eats. Despite this, he rarely wants boob in the day unless at naptime and instead does all his feeding at night! He is so unsettled waking up to 8 times a night. He feeds at bedtime at 6.30 then wakes within the hour, then takes full feeds at 10, 1, 3 and 5! The other times he wakes we sing/rock him to sleep. I don't always feed to sleep but will if he needs it. He isn't that interested in feeding on waking. I'm bloody shattered and thought if I cut night feeds he might be more settled and feed more in the day instead. He has jumped from 50th centile and birth to 91st so isn't going short!

Anyone done this? Is it too soon?

[SundayGirlB]

Bump

[F10029]

I don't have any magic advice but lots of sympathy - we have had phases of waking 8+ times a night and it makes you feel like death!
What are his naptimes like? How long has he been waking this regularly? Can he self settle or does he need you to get back to sleep each time?

[Harrysmummy246]

If you night wean, you're just going to lose the easiest way to get him back to sleep!

It is very normal to need BF several times in the night for a lot longer than 7.5 mo and it is not necessarily that he's waking to feed but feeds to go back to sleep!

What saved me at this age was bedsharing then it didn't need to really be a conscious wake up to feed, just waggle a boob in the right direction then doze.

Kept night feeds until gentle nightweaning at 21 mo (3 nights and he stopped asking, virtually no tears FYI)

[Kokeshi123]

If you night wean, you're just going to lose the easiest way to get him back to sleep!

Bollocks, seriously.

Point 1: It's really misleading to imply that "if you night-wean, you baby will just continue to wake up as much as before but it will just be harder to get them back to sleep." The vast majority of babies wake up much less or stop waking up altogether once they know the milk bar is closed, assuming that there is no underlying neurological or medical reason for wakings.

Point 2: In the highly unlikely event that the OP does find that after night-weaning the baby continues to wake up as much as before but it's just harder to get them back to sleep, well, all she needs to do is just start breastfeeding at night again! It's not like breasts have a permanent "off" switch at night.

If a baby is at least six months old (and was born at term), is on three full meals a day, can drink water from a cup or bottle, and is growing well with no medical issues, it is fine to NW (which does not mean that you have to, only that it is fine to do so).

OP, make sure you have covered all the basics first, like soothing bedtime routine, white noise, some sort of daytime routine and so on. Then start to NW. I waited till between 8-9mo with mine. I reduced the number of minutes on the breast when she fed at night, over the course of about a week, so that by the end of the week, each "feed" was pretty much a token nip on the breast. This helped me to feel confident that she did not need the milk nutritionally and that it was just a habit thing. She got a sip of water from a bottle afterwards (you can use a cup if yours does not take a bottle). Then at the end of the week, in the evening after putting her to bed I took a decongestant medication that is not completely compatible with BFing , so that the decision was made for me and I knew I couldn't BF for the next several hours no matter what, and I just refused to breastfeed that night when she woke up----she was offered the bottle with water only. There was a lot of crying the first night, but from the second night she was fine, and night wakings became much less frequent. She also fed and ate better in the daytime.

[BertieBotts]

Decongestants don't make your milk dangerous, they just have the potential to dry up your supply. Useful psychological trick to get through that sleepy "Oh fuck itlet me go back to sleep" though :o

[DustOffYourHighestHopes]

What the last poster said.

As soon as they are eating food properly, the constant feeding is for comfort not for nutrition.

We gave up and applied the annoying advice from various older relatives - which is getting a non-boob-feeding partner to offer them water from a bottle when they wake up. After a few difficult nights they slept through (not worth their effort to wake up and make a fuss!).

[mousemousse]

Try jay Gordon technique

[Kokeshi123]

BertieBotts, I agree. It was more of a psychological thing for me--I wanted to have that feeling of my milk being a bit temporarily "contaminated," if that makes sense.

NW is quite hard though usually quick. I think it's important to be really really sure before you do it, otherwise you will just cave and breastfeed, and then all you have done is upset yourself and the baby for no reason. I waited till 8.5 months for that reason.

Be prepared that you will need to spend a little bit longer giving a big BF in the morning upon waking. You will be quite full and your baby will also be genuinely peckish. But of course, you will probably find that they start actually eating breakfast with enthusiasm as well!

[SundayGirlB]

Ok so I've done it, partially and it's really really helped. I used to offer the boob too soon I think but now when he wakes I've left him for 10 mins to settle himself (only if he is whining not if he is crying) and if that fails I'll try and settle him with rocking/singing etc and only feed if that doesn't work. We are now down to one feeda night! He only woke twice last night and he has gone from 35min naps to 1hr15. Feeding much better in the day.

This has changed my life. I feel human again with all this sleep! Might be a phase but I'm here for it and will try not to be crushed when he returns to his old ways!