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Dropping last feed.

4 replies

KitKat1985 · 11/08/2015 03:13

Hi all. I have an 11 month old DD. She has been a difficult sleeper since birth (at worst waking hourly and / or being awake an hour or two at each wake up) and took a long time to convince her to sleep away from me in her cot. Anyway, after A LOT of work we are nearly there. She has even occasionally slept through but 95% of time is still waking for one last feed each night at about 3am (hence why posting at this time!) and usually takes a while to settle afterwards but then sleeps until 6.30ish. In the grand scheme of things this is bliss for me after the previous months but was wondering how to go about persuading her to drop this last feed before I go back to work next month. I'm sure it's more habit than hunger as she's eating well in the day. We've made it 50/50 milk/water (she's bottle fed now) in the hope of making it less attractive but she's still waking for it. Should I just go cold turkey and just offer water or is there an easier way? Thanks. x

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pretend · 11/08/2015 05:20

Does she have a dummy? If not could you offer her it to suck at 3am instead of a feed?

Tbh I'm no expert but your sleep is important. If she doesn't need the nutrition from milk then I'd just give her water so she's not getting a pay off from waking you up.

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redcaryellowcar · 11/08/2015 06:41

Have you tried giving her a weetabix or banana just before he bath/ bedtime? I used to give ds1 a couple of oatcakes which he still has now?

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cabbageleaf · 11/08/2015 08:43

I'd make sure you fill her up with weetabix or porridge before bedtime and then just offer water. You might be surprised, she might not mind - that's what happened with DS and his midnight feed, he just drank the water and went back to sleep, and after a few nights no longer woke at that time.

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KitKat1985 · 11/08/2015 09:11

No pretend she's never taken to a dummy - she just used to spit it out when we tried. She was bf when younger and nothing but boob would do. Lol! x

Thank you redcaryellowcar / cabbageleaf for the idea of giving her something extra to eat before bed. So obvious - I should have thought of it! She has quite a big milk feed pre-bed (7-10oz) but I'll try and see if I can get her to accept some food first too. Thank you. x