Was going to stop breast feeding at 1 yr old but I have a dilemma - WWYD!

[BiscuitStuffer]

DS is 1 in 3 weeks time and I had always planned to put him on to cows milk then and stop the breast feeding BUT.....

Until 2 weeks ago, he was waking between 4:30-5:30am for the day - bright and perky and nothing encouraged more sleep.

After much deliberation and alterations, we managed to put him in to a separate room and he now wakes at 4:30-5ish but if I feed him then, he will sleep until 7:30/8ish.

This is obviously VERY much more appealing than his previous pattern.

Now - if we were to go over to cows milk, the time that it would take to rustle up a warm bottle etc (we don't have a microwave), will more than likely wake him up beyond the point of going back to sleep, or should we be doing controlled crying anyway?

Help!!

could you keep that 1 feed?

You'll have to stop slowly anyway probably, dropping one feed at a time. Leave that one til last, it'll be weeks maybe months by then and things may have stabilised.

Well done on the extra sleep

If it makes your life easier keep bfeeding him at that time. There's no need to conform and stop at 1 if you don't want to.
My 1 year old wakes at 5.30 am so i bfeed him and i sometimes get another hours sleep. No way do I want to get up and sort a bottle out at that time.
Although i never warm the bottle he has at night, no need to warm at all.

We had an almost identical situation with our dd2. She regularly used to wake around 4.30ish. I just used to pop her in next to me and feed her, which only took a few minutes. This continued until around 18 months, when I realised that she was just as happy with her dummy (that she had solely for sleep times)

Why not try (on a night you aren't knackered, obviously) offering him cold milk or a beaker/bottle of room temp water? He may not actually be "hungry" for the milk.

fwiw I am not a great believer in cc, but each to their own. We had disturbed sleep (but we were ok with it as it was really just that one waking) until she sorted herself out on holiday a few weeks ago (around 21 months) and she regularly sleeps til 6 or even 7 now!

That's what my DS did/does at 15.5 months. He's on cows milk during the day but I still BF for bed/morning and if he wakes at night. I would imagine that if you let him cry, it won't get you that much more sleep - maybe an hour, but by then I'd be awake listening to him cry. Not a great solution for me, so I tend to feed DS to get as much extra sleep as possible. I'm a "by any means necessary" kind of gal.

Have you tried giving him milk from the fridge? DS will drink it cold at night. (But only from DH . If it's me, he only wants the boob.) Obviously, I'm still working on this myself!

Thank you all for your quick replies!

I would much rather go for the cold milk in a beaker and bypass the warm milk in a bottle thing but I have a hunch that it won't work, so am assuming worst case scenario...as is my nature anyway .

He is actually having a really good feed at that time, so he could just be thirsty with the extra heat that we've been having. He will go for 3 and sometimes 4 boobs (mad though that sounds) and won't tolerate goiing back in to his cot until he's had his fill.

I absolutely could continue that feed, though DH thinks he only wakes then because he knows I will go to him.

My 16mo DS2 will sometimes (often, at the moment - I am hoping it's the heat...) wake around 4ish for a feed. I just do it, because it's quick, sends him back off and isn't too disruptive. Whatever gets you through. I know he'll grow out of it. In fact, DH and I left him and older brother with my mum last night and spent a night away for our anniversary. I was worried about whether he'd take cold milk if he woke for a feed. And of course they both slept through like lambs, so I still don't know whether he'd take it!

I am impressed that you have 4 boobs and would quite like to see a photo!

Well all I can say is that at 17-18 months it looked like dd2 would be having that feed forever, but she decided at a later stage she was ready to give it up. Like you I was happy ish to continue with that feed.

Incidentally as Mog found, when my mother had her overnight (twice) she slept through no problem whatsoever without waking for me.

IMHO bf seems so much easier than faffing about sorting out cups and drinks, if you are happy to carry on then why not? In the grand scheme of things it'll only be a relatively short period of time. I also thought I would stop bf and switch to cow's milk when DS was 1 but still find bf DS gives us special time together (and has health benefits for both of us). I'm currently bf at bedtime and usually once during the night. I know it'll probably stop in the not too distant future so am enjoying it while it lasts. Hope I'm not referring back to this post and eating my words in 3 years when he's still shouting for bf

I agree that you should drop the other feeds gradually and leave that one until last if it suits you. My dd2 dropped her last feed of her own accord at 16 months and left me feeling a bit bereft, having been wondering up till then whether the stubborn affectionate little dear would still be bfing into her teens.

If you're lucky, he might just stop waking up for it.

same with both of mine - the early morning feed was the last one to go & they dropped it of their own accord
DD at 17months
DS at 15months

and I was the woman who was initially going to bf until 6months first time round (DD) & no more.

Soon realised bf is far easier than faffing around with bottles/cups/warming up etc

with DS decided to bf until he stopped or he was 2.

Just go with whatever gives you the easier life I'd say