Night weaning

[Lindah1]

Hi baby almost 7 months and ebf. Wakes every 90 mins for a quick feed. Not convinced she's hungry half the time. Can anyone suggest how I would go about getting the number of feeds down - send DH in to try settle every second awakening?

Yes exactly as you say, send DH in to settle her. Give it a few nights and fingers crossed it will work. It did with DD but not with DS

I set a time before which I wouldn't feed DD and then an interval after which she could have another feed, and gradually increased them. So, for example, no feed before 11, then 2 hours minimum before the next feed. Do that for 3 nights, then push it to 11.30 and 2.5 hours. You can do it at whatever pace you like, but I actually found it got her down to only a couple of feeds quite fast. Once she kind of got that there wouldn't always be food, she only looked for it when really hungry.

What makes you think your baby doesn’t need the feeds?

8month growth spurt and development leap coming, not to mention peak of separation anxiety.

I'm thinking she's doesn't need them all as some are a quick suck for a minute or 2 x

Milk production isn’t instant - frequent feeding is placing an order for a couple of days time. If she’s heading towards a growth spurt feeding will increase even though the milk isn’t actually there yet (if that makes sense).

Yes I get what you're saying. It's been going on for months though!

Your baby will never again in their life grow as much as they do in the first year. They pretty much double in size. That takes a lot of calories. And those billions of neural pathways don’t form under their own steam either.

Just follow your baby’s lead. This won’t last forever.

I hope Not, I'm at my wits end!!

I started reducing night feeds at 7 months much as one of the previous posters described- set limits on when I would do first feed (about 4 hours after bedtime) and intervals after that. Eventually we moved last feed to before bath/ books as part of the night weaning process. We gradually reduced night feeds until baby was going 7:30- 5:30ish without feeding at around 11 months.
I think it's very unlikely your baby is hungry/ thirsty every hour and a half through the night. There will always be some imminent growth spurt/ developmental leap you're supposed to sacrifice any hope of half decent sleep for. Your baby will be fine, and you matter too.