Weaning off night feeds.

[Scattymum101]

Have posted in feeding too but not much traffic.

My dd is formula fed and 9 months this week.
She's not a great feeder due to silent reflux when she was younger and she still isn't keen on milk.

We started properly weaning at 7 months as she wasn't interested before this. She still doesn't take a lot of solids but she's getting better.

Before we started weaning she would take a bottle at 8am, 11am, 3pm and 7pm and then one night feed around 3am.

Since we started weaning she wants less milk during the day so has bottles at
9am, 2pm and 7pm. She then was waking at 1am starving and downing 8oz and then again at 5am and was very restless in between times.
We introduced a dream feed at 11pm and now she will go to 4am again without a feed but she's taking 7oz each feed so she's obviously hungry.

I've tried to get her to take more during the day but she point blank refused any milk unless it's been at least five hours between feeds during the day.

She's still in our room with us as we have a two bed flat just now and don't want her disturbing our three year old by putting them in together.

She's still very restless between times due to her learning to crawl and cruise for the past few weeks which I know will pass but I'm exhausted. She's not keen on co sleeping as she likes her own space.

I'm going back to work after Christmas and would really ideally like her weaned off the 4am feed before then as I'm going to struggle with working and the lack of sleep.

This is uncharted territory for me as dd1 stopped taking a night feed at 3 months.

Anyone any ideas how to gently wean her off?

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

Could you try giving her milk an hour before the solids? That way she'll should get the calories she needs in the day

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

Sorry posted too soon. Try her with a bottle at 7am , breakfast an hour later, a bottle around 11 am lunch at 12, a bottle at 3pm, tea at 4 and another bottle at 7 pm.

[Scattymum101]

She won't take a bottle at 7am. She refuses milk during the day unless it's been at least five hours between them :-(
That's the schedule we were on before starting solids but since then she's refused the milk at 7 so it ended up getting pushed back til 9ish and then that threw her next one back etc.

She's a very strange baby with her milk lol. She never falls asleep taking a bottle, I'm not sure she ever has.

Thanks for your reply though x

[jennifer86]

DS is nearly 8 months and from the sound of it has a similar pattern to your LO in terms of milk feeds. How does the timing of her solids fit in to her routine? We were having difficulty as he would drink 7 or 8 oz at 3-4am then not want any milk or breakfast first thing. We now only offer 6oz each time he wakes at night, and that has worked so far as it is plenty to settle him but also means he still wants breakfast! We plan to gradually reduce how much he has at the night feed. You can also give water instead, or dilute the milk more (so eg only 3 scoops in 6oz of water) if you think that might work for you, but we decided to start gradually!

[Scattymum101]

She usually has breakfast around 8am, lunch around 12.30 and dinner around 6pm. Just tried to give her 9am bottle and she won't even take it grrrrr. And she's only had 3oz since 11pm last night!!

Think she's going through a regression just now due to a leap (she's standing in cot every time she wakes so she's harder to get back over) so think will wait til she's through this phase and then maybe offer water from 12-6 if she wakes.

I remember dd1 having poor sleep around this phase too but she never wanted fed.

Hope things improve for you x

[Rach000]

Hi, we are having similar problems with my 8 month old dd. she is having too much milk at night are not always that bothered during the day and doesn't have her morning bottle till about 10 sometimes. She isn't eating a lot either.
She goes to bed about 7 then wakes about half 10 so we give her a bottle. She then usually goes till about 4 but if I give her another bottle at 4 it messes up the day feeds so I am starting to only give her a smaller amount watered down. Which is what the health visitor told me to do. I have done it for a few nights and she goes back to sleep after about 15 mins in her cot without crying just chatting or a bit of wingeing.
I think for us she is in a habit of waking and thinking she has to be fed as that's what we have been doing every time she wakes, I was breastfeeding till recently so was easy just to give her a quick feed and put her back to bed.
I would say you need to cut down or water down night feeds so she has more during the day which should then help at night. That's what I am hoping will happen.

[Scattymum101]

I think it's a bit of a vicious circle really isn't it! She probably doesn't want more during the day coz she's having too much at night but it's trying to break that! Think I'll start tonight by offering her only 4oz st the 4am feed then 3 the next night then only offer her 2oz for a few nights and then move to water? Will still give her the dream feed at 11 as I don't mind that so much.
Up until last week I felt like she needed the feeds as she was taking almost s full bottle each time but for the past week she's not been taking as much.

Good luck with it too x

[Scattymum101]

So I tried a bottle at 7 this morning. Still refusing it ugh.