How to stop night feed at 14 months advice please!!!

[Macey78]

It has now been 14 months and our DD still get's up for a night feed and now that I am back at work I really need a decent night's sleep.
I have been reading up and speaking to the health visitor and I get the impression she does not need this anymore.

How do I stop!!

I did have a little try a couple of months ago, by:

Trying to just give her water, which she would drink and then look at me as if to say where's that bottle and I just gave it to her.
Then I tried a method by giving her
Night 1 - 3 - 6 oz - 2 of which was water
Night 4-6 - 6 oz - 3 of which water
Night 7-9 - 6 oz - 4 of which water

Then it was like she knew it was watered down and started to wake up twice, and after 3 nights of double waking I gave up and resumed with 4 to 5 full oz's.

Should I try the cold turkey method and let her cry it out!! DH can't handle DD crying longer than few minutes so if I'm going to go down this road I'm going to have to do it when he is away for a long weekend in November.

All advice much appreciated or are you yourself going through this.

Are they eating well duirng the day? If so, cold turkey it is!

How about trying to give her a bit more milk for dinner? Plus letting her cry just a wee bit longer. Eg 5 mins three times. So 15mins total?

I night weaned at 9 months so was less confident she didnt need milk as she wasnt eating much yet. I would make a note of how long she went before her first wake up at night. and then she'd not get milk before then again. Water but no milk.

Nowadays I know she doesnt need milk at night. Sometimes if we really mess up and she doesnt eat a good dinner (or even any dinner!) because she falls asleep earlier than usual then I will give her a cup of milk at night if she wants some. But often she doesnt and then catches up at breakfast.
I dont know much about how its done 'officially'. But for me the main thing is to do something I felt comfortable with and can stick to. Its no good getting intio a tug of war over these things. Just give her a clear sense that theres no milk at night and she'll forget about it...I hope

Thank you for your reply.

Most days she eats well, however I feel that she could eat better if she were not having her night feed.

If I were to go cold turkey anyone have any ideas how long this may take!!

3 days???
Go in and comfort, pick up put down etc.

Food not milk, milk ok as a bedtime drink but not as a food substitute.

Are her nappies overly wet? Do they smell? Any weight loss/excess thirst?

Thank you Firsttimer7259
Our DD has some stamina and when she cries she can go for some time!! She also rises at different times so it could be 1 - 3 - 4 -or 5, no set night waking times. I think when I am giving her the clear sense there is no milk she is ready to give me her vocal chorus.

tryingtobemarypoppins2
There's been no weight loss/excess thirst, I check her nappies no smell and mostly never need changing just when she rises.

In that case, she sounds well and should be hungry so go for it! :) Good luck x

should be - continue feeding?

tbh at 14 months I would just go cold turkey too. 3 nights of anger and wailing but after that you should be ok

I can only do it when DH is away as he just falls apart if she's crying for too long. So November it is and she'll be 16 months by then, also gives me time to prepare myself.

Thank you both

By all means go cold turkey, but when I dropped night feeds at 13 months I did cuddle her until she stopped crying - she wasn't impressed, but she didn't cry for more than a few minutes, but she did wake up a few times the first night - it probably took me a week in total, but I don't belive in leaving them to cry it out. If you are waiting for your OH to go away you can help yourself now by training your DD to go to sleep on her own in the first place (if she doesn't already). That should make it easier for her to put herself back to sleep when mean mummy stops feeding her.

With DD 1 I dropped night feeds at about 11 months and was very worried she wasn't eating enough, so I used to give her a rusk in milk in the middle of the night - she soon got fed up and started sleeping through!