To think if I stop bf my dd will wake earlier

[Bigmango]

I am ready to stop bf my 16 month old for a variety of reasons - mastitis, biting, going away etc. She has been a terrible sleeper but night weaning really helped. However I always fed from 4.30am onwards as otherwise she would wake for the day at 5ish. Currently she sleeps till 7ish with a 4.30 feed. If I stop completely, will she wake early or sleep better??? I know no one can answer this but people’s experiences would be lovely. Planning on stopping cold turkey as dropping feeds is not working, so once I do, there is no going back!!

I maintained a 430/5am feed with both my kids for this very reason - long after the others had all stopped. Can’t advise you either way but I loved the extra 2 hours of sleep we all got!

Once I knocked it off my younger DC was easy to persuade back to sleep but my eldest did indeed begin the day at 5am for several months. It hurt.

@RhodaDendron bugger... so maybe I just work to cut out all the others then. She’s just so bloody into the boob!

@bigmango that’s what I did - but I couldn’t cope with 5am starts! A lot of my friends have just got on with it and adjusted their days around it.
I did BF both until 2 as a result, which you might not want to do!
Can you arrange with your DP to take it in turns to get up?

I think it depends on so many factors. Mine used to wake at 4:30 for quite a few months between about 12-15 months. I would say for the past month or two, he's been a lot better (he's 17 months). I stopped bf at 15 months. I didn't necessarily feed him during the night (sometimes, not always though) from 12 months. I think it did help if he had a big cup of milk before bed and co-sleeping helps. I bring him in to bed with me if he wakes about 3-4am and most of the time now he'll go back to sleep until about 6/6:30, which is amazing when you've spent months getting up at 4:30am (and then having to put in a 12 hour work day after that!). I'm not sure bf (or not) really made much difference though. It has been more about just waiting it out, his daytime sleep changing a bit, more food, better temperatures (not to hot or cold), etc. If you are ready to be done though, then I think you have to take the plunge and see what happens.

Are you giving whole milk. I got my little boy off breastfeeding to sleep by giving a bottle at 5am. He was waking from hunger.

When I breast fed ds2 he was always up to start the day 4:30-5:00am. So that’s what we did- daddy got cuddles and play before
work so we didn’t mind. I gave up breastfeeding at at about 3/4 months because he was constantly on my boob and I was in agony. He continued his/our early
Mornings until he was one, and on full fat milk. Then he slept through until 7am, and sometimes I had to wake him.