DS is 7m. If I continue to bf on demand through the night, will he just grow out of it?

[waspandbee]

DS is doing really well on solids - three meals a day with a bf in between and maybe one or two more. He has never slept through (surprise, surprise!) and usually wakes around three times in the night for a bf.

We've just moved him into his own room and whereas I used to just roll over to feed him, now it's a knackering trek down the hall. I would like to keep him in his own room because we were starting to all disturb each other in the night and DS is a bit of a back clawer and a kicker.

So, will he just start going longer periods and eventually sleep through or do I somehow have to encourage him in some way to sleep longer without milk? I'm tired but he really gulps it when he's feeding in the night so he obviously needs it at the moment.

Both of mine did, they both just gradually managed longer and longer between feeds. It is nothing short of awful that trek down the hall, bleary eyed to feed them but whilst it felt like it lasted for ever, it didn't really.
Stupidly, I even miss it now!

my 3 did too :) between 8-14mths they have all slept through the night in their own bed (7pm-7am). And I have demand fed/co-slept (for first 6mths) with all of them.

But maybe I'm just very lucky

I would say it depends on the child. DD didn't stop breastfeeding in the night untill she was 18 months old but then she has never stoppped. Although I have to say that she still breastfeeds at 24 months but not every day although there are days she will have two or three feeds

My DS started to sleep for longer around this point ( as I was just going back to work!) We had also just moved him into his own room. It did add in extra work, but also seemed to mean he woke less due to us, coughing, shuffling about, etc. Basically it was at about 8 mos that he dropped down to waking once in the night from waking twice, which made a HUGE difference for me. He was just ready, I think. I would be inclined to give it a month or so and see what happens, and then think about whether you want to change tactics to try and encourage a drop down to 1-2 feeds in the night.

should add, I didn't stop bf on demand at 6mths, fed all three untill 14mths, 14mths and 21mths respectively, but all were sleeping through well before I stopped bf completely.

My Ds didn't. I night weaned at around one and a half in the end because I needed to sleep. Dd is 6 months now, hoping she will start to self wean at night.

i started cutting down the night feeds at this point with my older 2 as they weren't eating/drinking enough in the day as they were filling up on milk overnight. i also offered a small bowl of cereal just before bedtime to fill them up a bit more. i then slowly cut down on the night feeds till they weren't hungry overnight - they did have a dummy though.

my 3rd baby is 6months and gone from 1 or 2 night feeds to 3 so i'm desperate to cut back on them cause the difference is exhausting!

Apologies for not responding sooner - manic day! Thank you for your responses. I think I will just see how it goes for a bit longer - we're currently bringing him in with us when I get fed up (usually 2nd or 3rd) feed! Even if he dropped to two it would make a huge difference, so fingers crossed.