Bfing at 18 mo - should I give up?

[EffiePerine]

DS is down to 2 feeds a day, bedtime and first thing in the morning. He used to be an appalling sleeper, waking (and feeding) all night, but a bit of sleep training at 15mo meant he was sleeping in his cot 7pm - 6am or thereabouts.

The problem is he's now taken to waking earlier and earlier for a feed - he's been awake at about 4:30 am for the past week or so. If I cuddle him and put him back down he will go to sleep, but only if I'm not in the room (he's still in our room from necessity), hence me MNing at 6am!

Sooo, should I conside stopping BF altogether or just ride this one out?

Bugger, he's just woken up again!

See if you can ride it out - my ds did precisely this and it felt unbearable. But she did go back to 6am wakeup after a month or so. NO idea why. Now 2.7 and still going strong..

Hi EP

We are having earlier and earlier wakings too -- 6am this morning, getting a bit earlier every day. I'm not sure it's BF-related though, I assumed it was a phase / the lighter mornings! The worst part is that he then falls asleep in the buggy in the morning, and even if it's only for five minutes, he won't take a long nap after lunch.

We are going to try putting DS to bed later, see if that helps. If we can get him down for 8pm hopefully he'll go through til more like 7.

Is it time to cut out an afternoon nap, do you think?

Hi Meg . I thought it might be mornings as well - we've tried the later bedtime but he still wakes up early. OBM: I thought it might be another growth spurt, which is why I'm a bit reluctant to do anything drastic now...

Popsy: he's a variable napper anyway, sometimes he'll do 1-2 hours after lunch, other days he won't go to sleep until about 4 or skip the nap altogether.

Was also thinking about just cutting back the morning feeds, but could I keep bfing on one feed a day?

ds2 was VERY much like you describe during the night and with naps.

I cut out his nap altogether expect perhaps once or twice a week and never let him nap after around 3pm.

That said, he continued to be a hideous sleeper, but it did reduce early waking.

I don't want to complain too much, as a few months ago he was still waking every couple of hours and refusing to go to bed at all - I never thought I'd be worryng about a 7pm - 4:30 am stretch of sleep!

Effie - my DS is 20 months and we are currently on one feed a day, supply seems to be holding up ok. I cut out the bedtime feed about 3-4 weeks ago and DS drinks a bit of cowsmilk from a cup instead.

He is not a great sleeper and tends to come in with us at some point in the night (usually around 1am), however we have got used to this and all tend to sleep well. Sometimes he will go through to 5ish in his own bed on a good night. I tend to bf him back to sleep and usually get another hr or so of sleep out of him.

I can't quite face denying the boob at that time in the morning when I can just lie there and let him help himself while I doze.

He had a few days last week when he didn't have an afternoon nap, but it made little difference to waking in the night. It did mean that he went back to sleep for 3 hrs after waking at 5 at the weekend tho, which was a nice lie-in.

Hope you find a way thro

Does he insist on bf when he wakes up? My ds has just been through a phase of waking at 4:30 - 5:30am (thankfully seems to be over - touch wood) but I never fed him before 6am. Didn't really help with the waking, but at least I was sure it wasn't for bf!

I'm doing exactly the same as MaeWest, one feed in the morning (ds also 20 months) for 5 months now and no ill effects on supply.

Do bear in mind that giving up bf might not solve the sleep problem.

I think the appalling sleep pattern have more to do with having to share your room than with his feeding preferences. I don't think the milk is the reason he wakes up.

Our ds bfed for eons and used to toddle into our room, climb into our bed and latch himself on! Not very often, but it was sometime a surprise and occasionally rather inconvenient . Oh, nostalgia! It takes you back.