When and how did you stop night feeding?

[spekulatius]

DD is 14 months and drinks frequently day and night. It would be nice if she would drink a bit less often during the night but my plan was for her to wean herself whenever she's ready. In the last week 2 people including hv have told me that she's no longer a baby and should only have morning and bedtime feeds. I don't really agree with them but was wondering what others have done. Especially, how did you stop and how many nights did it take?

I've just fed om demand at night, at 2 month's he dropped to one night feed and around 4.5 months stopped night feeds but still takes a supper feed about 3 day's a week. He is 5 months now so I'll just see how it goes when he is on more solids.

There's no set age for night weaning - your dd will stop when she's ready. It is incorrect for your HV to say a 14 month old "should" only be bfing twice a day. There is no should. The bfing relationship is negotiated between mother and baby.

That said, there are ways to gently encourage your lo to drop the night feeds if you're fed up. Kellymom has a range of strategies. Sorry that I can't say from personal experience what works best - my ds is too young - but good luck

My ds is 12m and has recently had a couple of nights where he hasn't woken up for his bottle (bottle fed bm). He has been a terrible eater until these last few days. I'm really seeing the correlation between days when he eats well and not wanting milk at night. Perhaps more to eat before bed?

I stopped feeding DS at night at around 14 months. DH would go in to him when he woke. We still had a double bed in DS's room at the time so DH would take DS into that bed to settle him. ( I had been feeding there previously)

After a week or two I started to go in and settle him, and told him 'no milk at night'. He adjusted well, I was back at work by then so feeding morning bedtime and when I got home.

It was the right time for us to night wean but if you're happy feeding at night there's no reasonto stop.

I stopped night feeds when my DD was about 8 months(now 14months) - she was not waking at the same time every night (3 or 4 times) and often would only have a small bit, so it seemed that it was habit and not hunger. That said she was eating three good meals a day and having 3 or 4 day feeds, so I really felt that she was having enough. Within a week she was no longer waking and wanting a feed, waking and wanting a cuddle is ongoing, but is at least only once or twice.

I stopped night feeding ds after Christmas, boxing day I think. He was 17 months and wanting to sleep latched on and it was just getting ridiculous.

For almost two weeks I slept on the sofa and dp settled him in the night. A couple of times I could hear him screaming and ut was so hard not to go to him.

after two weeks I went back into the bed but slept on the side away from him and put my head under he blanket when he woke.

Now when he wakes I tell him no milk, night time is cor sleep. He doesn't like it but will settle. Some nights easier than others.

Just waiting for him to sleep through now!

I have noticed his appetite for solids has increased a lot. We feed anytime after 5am in bed usually on and off until we get up at 7. Then after work he has one big feed and pops on and off until bed time and he has a last feed around ten when I go to bed.

I'm breastfeeding a 14mo too. At 9 months i night weaned and just substituted cuddles in the rocking chair for feeds. The first few nights the cuddles took the same length of time as the feeds (20 minutes) but by the end of a week ds only needed his nappy changed and sometimes calpol and would settle himself back to sleep. I haven't fed at night since September.

In preparation, i offered him milk every hour and a half during the day. He's always been a good eater of solids. I now leave a non-spill cup of water in the cot with him.

They don't need the milk nutritionally at this age, but breastfeeding is about comfort and love as well so your dd may well need that reassurance. She may also not know how to get back to sleep on her own when she wakes so needs your help - there are gentle ways to teach her those, no need to let her howl in her cot - so if you're sure she's ready it might be time to help her learn :)

I've just night weaned DD and she is 1 tomorrow. She was eating like a horse so I was quite sure that she didn't need anymore calories - but I had to wait to be mentally ready iyswim.
It's still work in progress but it's improving.
I had similar misguided advice from HV. It seems to be that bf is routinely compared to what ff babies 'should' have. Having ff DS and bf DD it is a different ball game altogether.
Good luck OP

I didn't do anything special btw - just kissed her and said "it's night nights now, no more milk" and put her back into cot. She whinged a bit - not cried, just whinged but soon got the message.
I did offer water but she looked offended and pushed it away!

I had forgotten about Kellymom. Always liked that site. I just feel a bit down as I've had so many stupid comments from people when they realise that im still bf DD. She's only a year, it's not like she's 4. And then when they ask 'Do you go straight to her room when she cries at night? ' and I say 'No she sleeps in bed with me.' well, I can see the horror in their faces. People seem to think that you are either inexperienced or lazy when you let the baby lead. Anyway, that wad my plan. I wanted to let DD decide when she was ready to wean and sleep in her own bed. But the last few nights have been very difficult. She wakes up complaining, has a quick drink and then starts crying, has a quick drink again, just goes on like that. The same at bedtime. She's on and off the breast as if she isn't really hungry (which she's probably not) but she doesn't know what else to do. I've tried rocking her to sleep, she just screams. Maybe cosleeping isn't the right thing anymore. If she woke up 2-3 times in the night I wouldn't mind so much but it's 8-20 times most nights.

dd sleeps in bed with us,.too.
she's 25 months.
she does still wake 2-3 times innthe night and I feed her backnto sleep.

sometimes she goes back to sleep without a feed, but normally if I try not to feed her she screams.

most amount of sleep for the most people.

yes it gets annoying that she can't self-settle, but as I say, she can sometimes, so I'm just going with her development :)

I just read the last part of your post.
yes, we get that too sometimes
sje bobs on and off, won't settle, won't sleep, won't calm.down and won't stop feeding (and we swap sides every time, so it's constantly "side!")
then the next day she does something incredible and new, so it's always seemed to coincide with a growth spirt (developmental)
you'll probably find it's the same with yours. I bet it won't last more than a week.

(and I lied when i said 2-3 times. definitely more times than I want to count.... but usually 5 or 6 maybe?)

Ds2 was still waking to feed 2-3 times a night at almost 20mo, he's been in his own room since he was 8 mths. I tried night weaning him at 16mo but he was having none of it and just screamed and screamed and I ended up giving in after having tried settling him without bfing every 10mins from midnight until 4am with him clawing at my top

My DM went on at me all the time to stop it as he was too old . I didn't want to stop bf altogether until he was ready which he clearly wasn't.

Suddenly at about 20mo he just stopped waking in the night and the odd time he did I offered bf and he didn't want it. I didn't do anything it just happened naturally and although the night feeds went on longer than I would have liked I'm glad that he just stopped of his own accord. He'd stopped bfing in the day (again of his own accord) at about 19mths.

Perhaps if you want to stop though moving your dc to a separate bed/room might be a start before you think about night weaning and see if that reduces the frequency of the wakings.