Night weaning when ebf

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What age does this usually happen? Ds1 was going 8 hours by 12 weeks, when not ill. Ds2 is 21 weeks and wakes at least twice. I feed him because it seems the quickest and easier way to get him back to sleep, but not sure if he is hungry or if a cuddle would suffice. I don't mind, I know he is still very young etc, but don't want to be making the night wakings go on longer by feeding if he could/should be night weaned by now.

Quite common to feed in the night until 12 months or more, some will stop earlier but plenty don't. DS nightweaned around 18months and that was with encouragement.

DD was FF and still needed milk in the night til 12months too.

Mine both night weaned at around 15 months, with a lot of encouragement!

my ds is 15mnths, how do you encourage?

My hv, I know they get bashed on her but she is good, recommends shortening the feed by a minute per night.

I started with 'no feed times' - basically from midnight to 5 am I would cuddle rather than feed. Then stretched it to 6 am, then 7, then no feed in the night after my bedtime nor until after breakfast.

Some grumbling, but nothing major. I always explained very clearly before bedtime what was going to happen and during the night wakings too.

Sorry for highjack!

I just started to try to settle him with a cuddle instead of a feed, sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't, then after a while it did work. Discrete's mthod sounds like the Dr Jay Gordon method - some info from him here it is gentle and BF friendly. Dr Sears Night time parenting is another good book to try.

So basically you just soothe and don't give in to the dc trying to pull your top down?

I cut down to 2 night feeds at 5 months (set times, 11pm and 3am, and DP went in to settle DS if he woke between those times). Then once DS was had been on solids for about a month I pushed the 3am feed later until it got to about 5am. Then I started doing the 11pm feed earlier and earlier until it got to about 9pm, then I dropped it. So at around 9 months DS was going around 7.30pm-5am without a feed. He was a very enthusiatic eater during the though.

ds1&ds2 7months, ds3 a couple of weeks ago at 9months. he is very mobile and just wouldn't settle at night without a feed but eventually i reckoned he's eating/drinking so much in the day he can't still be that hungry at night so i just didn't feed him one night to see what happened.
until they were having plenty of solids during the day, including supper just before bed as well as a big bf then i fed at night when they woke.

gradual withdrawal worked with my older 2 but not my 9month old.

There's no "should" about when a baby is night weaned. Some babies are able to go longer at night much faster than others. Sometimes it's food they need, sometimes it's as much about comfort as anything else and those are two very important differences.

Because some babies sleep through from a really early age (eg my DS1 7-7 from 3 months, EBF, which is really rare) and some are still taking a lot of milk as toddlers at night time, there's no age when they "could" go through, from a health perspective either. It's a judgement call that you're probably best able to make.

When it comes to comfort it's your choice really. Some babies just settle faster with a quick feed and this can be far easier than trying to "fight" it with settling in other ways. On the other hand if you are finding this tough (and let's face it, it's not a walk in the park), and you feel it's safe to limit the night feeds (if he's feeding well during the day, no weight probs etc) then you can choose to do something different. For instance, if you have a partner who can try to settle him - worth a try and it works well for some.

My ds is 18 months and feeds lots at night. We have been trying to night wean by sending dh in to cuddle and now he sleeps 7-11pm which is a big improvement and I went out for dinner last night for the first time since Jan 2010! But he does still wake 3-5 times s might and I need to get dh to help more by going in at the 11 pm waking. Trouble is ds is v determined and will scream for me for over an hour so it is easier to just bf. It's exhausting but that's parenting!

Thank you. I am finding it a little tough as ds1 is a v early riser. However, I can and will continue To feed until at least 6 mths then perhaps look at trying to reduce night feeds. Does this sound ok?

It sounds fine - as long as you can be flexible if it doesn't work :)

Thanks, will give it a go anyway!

my ds was only going till 5:30 but after nearly a week of no night feeds i can just about get him back to sleep till 7:30. he's still waking/getting up a few times a night but i'm hoping now he's not waking for a feed he'll stop waking soon!

At 9 months? 5.30 would be great, it's currently any time between 12-3 and again before 5.30. Ds1 up after that, and I have to put up with dh snoring, grr.

Pleased it is so much better for you, hope it continues.

he was having a dream feed as well. after weeks of stuffing him full of solids during the day i just reckoned he couldn't really be that hungry and he has a dummy so i just lay him back down with the dummy (over and over and over and over again!) it's like he couldn't sleep properly without a full tummy, i tried gradually cutting down but it wasn't working so i just stopped one night to see how long we could go before i had to feed him. just hoping and waiting his body clock will get used to it and he'll stop waking/getting up every few hrs.

Hi I'm going thru similar thing with my 21week old baby. She goes to bed normally between 7-7.30 after a bath and feed. Good eve she would go for 5hours bad eve 2hours max. If she does 5hours she would wake about 12.30 feed then go back down at about 1-1.30 but then starts waking every half hour to hour till 6am where I have to get up anyway to get ready to take older girl to school. I feel drained and want to stop night feeds or at least just do two max. I think its comfort but also she use to suffer with reflux and still sometimes gets windy and acid spit up.
I hope u find away to get more sleep OP.
Sorry I can't give advice but thought id share so u know ur not alone.
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Thanks, sorry you are having problems too. I am going to try dh comforting him after Xmas, so he will not be offered a feed. I am clinging to that! It isso hard when you have another one isn't it?'

I kind of took the view that once on solids I was less inclined to put up with getting up at night. Might have helped that DS2 was the kind of feeder where he'd wake, I'd feed him and then he'd go to sleep immediately. So around 8 months or so I stopped feeding at night and only picked up, cuddled and put down again. Don't recall it being traumatic or long-running. He's slept through from around then. Goes to bed like a dream (although I've probably just jinxed myself!).

Yes it really is hard when u have another one. My eldest is 9 and has begun to feel jealous but she doesn't talk about it she just acts up and takes it out on me. She is so good with the baby though and adores her but reality has kicked in I think.
I know I need to just cuddle her rather then feed her each time she wakes but its so hard, easy to feed cos she goes straight back to sleep. But making it hard in the long run.
So will u cuddle even if babes has gone for say 5 hours will u refuse feed completely through the night or will u have a like a Target?
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