Night wean at 5m?

[jennimoo]

DS (5m) is BF and slept well until 3m or so when the 4m thingamy began. We seemed to come out of that but sleep hasn't really recovered. I have mostly fed to sleep but have tried settling without milk but it doesn't last as long...

The last 3 nights (and days) he seems really hungry, so possibly in a growth spurt...

The children's centre worker has said he doesn't 'need' milk at night after 5m...

So would you fully night wean at this age? If not what? And how would you get from feeding every 2h?

No, I definitely wouldn't night wean at that age if baby is still waking up and wanting milk - a baby that small is usually genuinely in need of grub. BF is also a pretty useful tool for dealing with early teething, illness, and all the other developmental crap that wakes small babies up (despite rumours to the contrary, they don't magically stop waking up if you manage to somehow calculate how to "fill them up" so they "don't need milk", mine always had batshit awful sleep when they were, eg, learning to crawl), and there's usually a few doozies of growth spurts up to a year as well.

Not sure what the short answer is, but I wouldn't even think of it before a year or so unless things are getting truly atrocious. Up until then I've just rolled with the phases - usually just when you think it's never going to end it just stops.

I think I agree, but surely 2hrly wakes is too much for a baby who previously was having a couple of feeds a night. It's not a couple of rough nights, it's more than 6 weeks.

I think you just have to ride it out which isprobably not what you are wanting to hear. If you're baby is taking a feed then it's because theyneed a feed.

Oh and I've been at the two hourly stage for ten weeks now. I understand the pain!

But I'm not sure I can believe it will end naturally. DD did this until we forcibly night weaned her at about 14m.

Anyone had this end naturally via the 'wait it out' method?

Sadly the 4 month sleep regression can actually go on for that long for some (fiendish) babies and yes, waking every two hours is not all that unusual. It will probably calm down again before 6 months (and then, if mine are anything to go by, get horrible again around 8-10 months and 18 months).

You could try trying other settling techniques, but in my experience you just end up spending even longer trying to settle them. They're too little at that age to understand/be trained into "if I wake up I don't get milk", or even really to be waking up knowing they're "hungry". Though if you get really desperate for a longer stretch, could you sleep in the spare room and let your partner try settling for one of the wakeups?

And yes, waiting it out worked for us too, with both boys. Not fun at the time, but at least with the second one we knew it would stop. Actually night weaned DS1 at 19 months or so once he was through the last horrible sleep regression and it worked really well, he was obviously completely ready for it and has rarely woken up in the night since (he's now 4).

So you say 'wait it out worked', in what way? They started sleeping better around 6m?

That I could cope with, but currently can't believe it will happen if I do nothing.

Yes, slept much better around six months (before the next crappy sleep thing came along). I know the sleep deprivation is horrible and it feels like you ought to be able to do something or that you should do something, but I really don't think there's much you can usefully do at that age.

Def wait it out a bit longer, no way would I night wean a baby that young.

DS night weaned himself by 7/8months, DD never did and is a nightmare sleeper still at 2yo but we started night weaning her at 14months. If she'd been pfb I probably would have done it sooner but def not til real food was fully established

Some babies nightwean themselves, some don't, but the 4month sleep regression is hell on earth and lasted over 6weeks both times with ours! I think realistically most babies don't sleep through til gone 6months tbh

You have my sympathies though!!

I wouldn't say we night weaned but I did what I could to reduce the number of night feeds at about 5/6 months. The main thing was trying to 'tank up' DD in the afternoon and early evening with milk - so feeding her earlier than when she would indicate she was hungry and try to get her to stay on boob for longer - tickles on cheek to encourage more sucking. It hasn't stopped the night feeds but there are less and she has been known to sleep through sometimes now. If she wakes I do try to settle without food first - so some shushing, patting, replace dummy, lullaby and then if they don't work I'll feed her.

Yes I waited it out, started at 12.5 weeks and went on till a few days ago (19 weeks) - I did nothing differently just hoped every night it would get better and eventually it did. We are back to 2 feeds during the night now.

Thanks for all the helpful words yesterday. Everything seems so impossible when you're sleep deprived!
Last night was a little better and I even ended the feeds before he got too milk drunk and helped him settle in the cot, which can only be a good thing I reckon.