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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

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Original poster

need help with weaning of breast

18 replies

Racheyg · 09/03/2016 09:31

morning all mumsnetters,

ds2 is 9.5 months and has started to go to nursery 3 days a week as I am back to work. I need advice on how to wean ds2 off breast at night, do I replace with a bottle? at present he is teething and waking frequently. Before hand he would wake once/twice a night of a feed then fell back to sleep.

This situation was fine before I went back to work, but I think I will struggle with wake ups and (very) early mornings.

I am still bf on the days I am with dc's although I may start to slowly wean (which is a shame as have really enjoyed bf)

Thanks in advance x

OP posts:

Original poster

Racheyg · 09/03/2016 22:04

Bump

OP posts:

happytocomply · 09/03/2016 23:11

I've just returned to work 4 days a week, my DS is just 10 months too. I don't use bottles, formula or express, just BF when I'm with him and he eats/has water from a sippy cup when I'm not. Sounds like your doing something similar? What is it that's not working? I sympathise with the frequent wakings/teething etc, same here, but wouldn't think stoping BF would be the answer?

Original poster

Racheyg · 10/03/2016 10:22

I think part of me is worried that he has become to attached and can't self settle.

OP posts:

OhShutUpThomas · 10/03/2016 10:24

Replace with bottle and get DH to do night wakings until he's settled :)

happytocomply · 10/03/2016 11:11

DS doesn't feed to sleep though and sleep is still poo at the moment. He sleeps in the buggy/car/is cuddled/uses a dummy depending on the situation. Would adding a bottle help a baby self-settle? You would just be adding another sleep-prop. Sharing night wakings with your DH now your both back at work seems fair.

Original poster

Racheyg · 10/03/2016 21:29

Dh does do his fair share, ds2 isnt awake for long and feeds very well then goes back to sleep. I was just wondering whether I should stop offering him the breast every time he wakes. Is it worth me carrying on until he can have cows milk?

OP posts:

forevertied · 10/03/2016 21:34

If you can handle it, I would carry on bf on demand when you're with him. He may be needing the extra reassure/ closeness as well as the milk, now you're back at work. It's also perfectly normal for older babies and toddlers to wake during the night to BF, it's just our society that seems to have a problem with it.
You're doing great, just do what feels right for you and DS, it's no one else's business (if you have people sticking my their oar in saying it's time to wean/ get them 'self settling' etc etc)

Original poster

Racheyg · 10/03/2016 21:45

I think I can handle it. this is quite unknown for me as ds1 went straight onto bottles at 5/6 months as he only latched to the right breast and I found it extremely hard. (he also slept through the night at 3 months).

I guess there is a little pressure to give up, even My HV said he is putting too much weight on. (He weighs 20lb 7oz)

OP posts:

Quodlibet · 11/03/2016 00:20

If he has been used to BF in the day he might be trying to make up the nutrients/fluids at night instead (as well as the closeness as pp said). What are nursery giving him to drink?

forevertied · 11/03/2016 19:50

Well the HV certainly can't blame BF for him putting on too much weight!! Never heard such a load of tripe.
If you're on Facebook () look for a lady/ page called the Milk Meg.. Lots of great BF support, especially for those with toddlers.

Original poster

Racheyg · 11/03/2016 20:48

He has expressed but my supply is very low and now I cant express much anymore :( He only has 10 weeks till he is 1 so I hope I have enough to keep him going at nursery, if not he can have some formula.

Im not on facebook :(. HV always make me feel bad, when ds2 was born they wanted me to give up BF as he dropped 12% after birth.

I guess I will follow his lead. (im just hoping for one wake up a night, through the night would be awesome)

OP posts:

forevertied · 11/03/2016 20:57

Try this site

Original poster

Racheyg · 11/03/2016 21:46

Thanks forevertied Its a really interesting site/blog. Oh has said he would not let me bf ds2 to toddler age. :)

OP posts:

Writerwannabe83 · 11/03/2016 23:04

I went back to work when my BF son was 10 months old. Due to the nature of my shifts it meant that for three bedtimes a week I wouldn't be at home so DH would have to give the bedtime milk. Thankfully DS took a bottle (which he only started doing at 9 months) so he would have formula on the occasions I wasn't there.

On the days I worked I would be out for just over 14 hours so I would BF DS before I left in the morning and then for the next 24 hours he'd just have formula (usually one bottle in the afternoon and then his bedtime one).

I was expressing at work and did occasionally bring some home but I was more doing it for comfort as opposed to wanting to provide EBM for DS to have in my absence.

DS is two next week and on the days I'm at home he will BF but sometimes, depending on my shift, he has to go without for 48 hours.

Writerwannabe83 · 11/03/2016 23:07

I meant to say that in preparation for returning to work I sleep trained because DS was an awful sleeper and I knew I wouldn't be able to function at work on so little sleep (4 hours broken sleep a night) and part of the training consisted of night weaning: no feeding to sleep and no feeding in the middle of night if DS wakes up, which I had previously been doing because it was the only thing that would make him go back to sleep.

Original poster

Racheyg · 12/03/2016 06:41

Hi writer thanks for sharing, how did you night wean? Just refuse? And comfort with other ways?

OP posts:

icklekid · 12/03/2016 06:47

racheyg I'm not sure it's up to your oh how long you breastfeed for? Surely your ds needs come first? At that age he's unlikely to be feeding when out and about in the day just morning/night? If you don't want to bf at 2 that's fine but not oh choice!

Writerwannabe83 · 12/03/2016 07:34

Rachey - it started off with breaking the association of breast feeding with sleep. I would still BF DS before bed but I would have the nursery curtains open, the lights on, he'd be in his pyjamas but not in his sleeping bag, and I would wake him up if I saw him drifting off. Once the feed was finished I would then close the curtains, put him in his sleeping bag, turn off the main light and switch to a little lamp and then read him two stories before putting him in his cot. It was so that breast feeding wasn't done in a sleep conducing environment and also that a breast fee wasn't the last thing we did before bed, the stories in between further broke the association. For the first few nights it was difficult to not let him fully fall asleep at the breast and he didn't appreciate being woken but he soon changed his behaviour himself and stayed awake for the duration of the feed and then just unlatched when he was done. After 2 weeks of this I then broke the cycle further by feeding before bed but doing it in the living room so he wasn't even associating it to being in his bedtime environment.

Along side with this I simply stopped feeding him if he woke up. We did CC and he was left for intervals of 2, 4 and 8 minutes. It included going into him and gently lying him back down (he was always standing up in his cot) whilst saying to him, nicely but firmly, "It's bedtime sweetheart, time for sleep" and then walk out again. The first few nights were hard but within a week he was self settling and sleeping through.

Breaking the association of breast feeding and sleep played a huge role in improving his sleep patterns.

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