Stopping night breastfeeding

[harribeau100]

Looking for some advice. DD2 is now 6 months. Has been ebf. I've just started (last week)introducing a formula feed at bedtime and some solids. She has not been a great sleeper since birth and wakes every 3 hours for a feed. She still sleeps in our room. She wakes when we go to bed.
I was hoping the formula feed at bedtime would reduce her night time waking but hasn't.
Last night when she woke when me and partner were going to bed we tried letting her cry it out but she just keeps on crying and getting more upsets ( this went on for 15 mins) until I eventually gave her to feed her. I don't want her waking DD1 up.
I'm at the end of my tether with the broken sleep and feel she doesn't need any feeds at night. She won't take a dummy. How should we approach this without waking my other daughter up?
I'm considering moving her into her own room very soon to help her sleep better.
My plan is to stop breastfeeding during the day too over the next month and replace with formula.

I stopped night feeds at 9 Months, he was eating really well in the day and I could tell he wasn’t getting much milk at night and it was just habit. I stopped one night feed at a time so instead of feeding just comforted with some water, cuddling, rocking. There was no crying and after a few nights stopped waking at that time. He did continue to need a feed at 4/5am for a while longer. Hope that helps

I’ve knly justo stopped night feeds at 11 months. I don’t think just because they start solids that they can suddenly sleep better at night. Maybe she should be doing one longer stretch...maybe not...but I think letting her cry it out is cruel at 6 months. Just go with the flow. Things improve over time. If you want to stop breastfeeding then do it by personally I felt trapped in breastfeeding as DS wojdltn take a bottle until 10 months.

@corrianderisthedevil it’s comments like yours that make me want to boast and I’m very pro feed however you like.

My 2.8 year old still doesn’t sleep through. She was ebf I didn’t start weaning on night feeds till she was well over one and she didn’t stop bf still she was 2.4 years.
By comparison her younger brother wakes twice and he’s only 5m, that’s only happened in the last week before that it was every two hours. I’ve no doubt it will change again and not necessarily for the better.

They are all different, all you can do is try different things and see what works for you.

My kid woke up to breastfeed every 90 minutes for 4 years, every child is different but I would say the waking up you describe is pretty normal for that age range. Sounds like you lucked out with your first born and that your second born is making up for it. Mostly it is hunger but often it is comfort too. They do slowly go for longer sleeps but that for 6 months is NORMAL

*corrianderisthedevil

Also, is this thread suddenly an opportunity for people to boast about how long they breastfed for?? Bore off. Not helpful*

Sick of this attitude! We are allowed to be proud of Breastfeeding and how long we have kept it up. It isn't easy !

I breastfed all three of mine for 12 months each. I too am proud. Not relevant for this thread though.

I know every baby is different however I don't think your expectations are too high. My DD is 6 months, EBF and has been sleeping for 10 hour stretches for 2 months. I do have a routine in the day with lots of feeds which I think helps and use all the usual sleep aids, white noise, blackout blinds etc. I think maybe try and gradually up your feeds in the day and see if that makes any difference. Whatever you do, good luck, sleep deprivation is the worst.

As a counter-message to lots of the replies here: it is completely fine and normal for a 6 month old to be sleeping for longer stretches or not, depending on the baby. My DD (now 7 months, EBF until 6 months) has been doing 11.30pm-7.30am since 4 months. She has last day feed at 6, bed at 6.30, then the 10.30 feed when we go to bed - so two stretches, one 4 hour one 8 hour. (Between 3 and 4 months she had an extra 2am feed.) Not saying this to brag, just that you are not cruel or neglectful for wanting a similar routine.

Introducing solids threw her off for a couple of weeks, she started waking up every two hours. To start with I assumed it was hunger so was feeding her constantly, which then meant she wasn't feeding so well during the day, and it all started to fall apart. But I figured out that she isn't hungry at all, it's actually wind, which she finds really painful. Feeding helps to shift it around but is only a temporary fix and makes it worse later in night. Now when she wakes up screaming I spend ten minutes bouncing her instead (highly recommend a big yoga ball if you don't have one, SO much better on the knees) and a massive burp will emerge and she'll settle. And I made sure to burp her properly after her final feed and keep her sitting up for a bit afterwards. Gradually as she got more used to solids she stopped waking up and went back to normal.

As an aside, we do controlled crying (though I prefer to call it "wait and see") for daytime naps, which works really well. DD is one of those babies who needs a bit of a shout to relieve tension before settling. I rarely have to wait more than five minutes. But it doesn't work for us during the night wakings, as the problem is wind which she can't get rid of by herself. As always, the annoying golden rule is that all babies are different!

You’ll probably find she won’t wake up your elder child, my two sleep in the same room and I was terrified they’d disturb each other. At 6 months both my bf children both woke frequently, however once they reached 8 months then their solid intake was such that they quickly reduced nightfeeds to none. I suppose that the formula could be causing more wind etc and be contributing to the waking. Things change so quickly at that age, and yes every baby is different however I do think 3 hr wakenings are normal at this age and it’s too soon to address, different if they were hourly. Once they are a little older then I would breastfeed on first wake up then once I knew they were properly fed and empty tummy wasn’t an issue then I would move on to some controlled crying techniques but not cry it out. Hang on in there op, things will change pretty quickly soon.

Maybe you want to carry on BFing and fair play if you do-it's hard work and I could only manage it till my DD was six months! She sleeps through the night now at 11 months and started to do so in the last two. But by 7.5 months we were down to two wake ups. The way we did this was:

-over the course of a week or so gradually dilute formula feeds until she no longer wanted them. She then took in more calories/feeds in the day time and didn't need the night feeds.

-let her grumble a little when she woke. If the cry escalated go in and rub her back or stroke her hair.

-move her into her own room (didn't manage that till 7mos)

I know this won't be a popular view but I do think that it isn't unreasonable to expect a longer stretch at 6 mos. Not necessarily through the night but longer than 3hrs.

I should also comment that waking up more often at night means that she is miserable and tired in the day. Since she started sleeping better she is an absolute joy and people comment on how cheerful and sunny she is. I am also less knackered!

Good luck whatever you decide! You are doing a great job