How long did you breastfeed for?

[PerfectPeony]

I have a 7 month old and have been lucky to be able to EBF so far. I love it and ideally would like to continue.

The problem I have is that I think we have a sleep association where she keeps waking up at night and constantly wants to be latched on. Sometimes I don’t mind and it’s quite nice to co sleep occasionally. However the last few weeks she’s been up every 2 hours or so and it’s very draining.

Could night weaning help this? Or will I have to stop altogether? I will need to go back to work soon but was hoping to BF morning/ night.

Just interested to see how long others BF for and if it affected sleep? I don’t want to lose my supply and still have her unable to sleep but with no way to comfort her.

Hi, following this with interest as my little boy is 8 months and we are in exactly the same boat.

I am still BF at 11 months. DD now usually feeds at 7am, 10.30am, 2.30pm and 6.30pm at bedtime. I moved towards a more scheduled approach to feeding once DD was on three meals a day, although she isn’t the best eater, and I do feed on demand when she asks (usually via signing for milk).

We have been working on a plan to night wean very slowly. DH settles DD to bed, and we have moved the last feed to before bath. As a result we have seen some improvements, for the last week, typically only feeding once at around 4-5am and then waking for the day around 7ish. Sometimes needed to be settled after waking at 11ish but now without a feed, only waking once or twice a night - before this we were on our knees after a period of really unsettled waking a few times a night!

I go back to work in 6 weeks or so, would like to feed morning and night (DD has a dairy allergy so easier if I can carry on feeding). No idea how it will work, and nervous of having leaky boobs at work the first few weeks!

3 years 3 months and counting. Night weaned at 13 months when I thought she would understand. Took 5 months or so using Jay Gordon method. Was pretty low stress. Now DD is down to just milk in the morning and I'm planning to do similar with No2 who is due in march.

We night weaned at 10.5 months. At that point she was having 2 feeds a night but would self settle at bedtime. I was back at work from 8.5 months but still did 2-3 day feeds. For us the night weaning was amazing - sleeping through 11 hours 50% of nights from night 3, gradually moving to every night over the next month. She did have other (less preferred ways!) to settle herself though, as I wasn't feeding to sleep at bedtime by that point.

She is now nearly 3 and most days still has one feed a day. Wasn't planning to go on this long but works for us. I wouldn't have carried on this long if I had to do night feeds that's for sure!

I bf for 14 months. Think I night weaned when she was about a year. DH did the night wakings for a few nights till she got out of the way of being fed. We never Co-slept but she was in our room till 9 months. Still not guaranteed to sleep through the night though at 22 months.

The problem I have is that I think we have a sleep association where she keeps waking up at night and constantly wants to be latched on.

8 month sleep regression can manifest that way.

Night weaning is the way to go!

13 years continuous (5 children). The shortest was 18 months and longest 4 years.

I accept there may not be a set in stone answer but how do you know a baby is ready to night wean?

BF for 3 years 3 months but night weaned at about 18months when I was just desperate. Tbh DD has never been great at sleeping but I definately got more sleep once I night weaned. She still (at 3.7) wakes up several times a night if she isn’t in bed with us but we are managing to sooth her back to sleep relatively quickly now and I bet we could have sooner but I was very very fucking tired and so always took the easy route of moving her in with me. With hindsight I do think your sleep is incredibly important but I don’t know at what age it’s best to night wean. By the way I still fed to sleep initially when I did it at the start of the night but later dropped the night feed but kept the morning one - I think I was trying to reverse the association between going to sleep and the breast. Not sure if it actually worked or contributed to DD waking up a lot hoping it was morning?

Around 13 months with DS but by then I was 4 months pregnant with DTs and totally exhausted! DTs were breastfed for about 8 weeks and then I needed some sleep!

DS1 11 mos (stopped because I was pregnant)
DS2 a year
DD1 8 mos (stopped because I had to have a hysterectomy)

I loved breast feeding. My HV told me 100 years ago I would have been a wet nurse. I tried to take as compliment but it did make me feel big and milky like a cow

I send DH in if I know she's not hungry. Feed at 11pm, 1-2 am and 5am roughly.

19 months with ds1. He was down to one morning feed when he stopped a week before his brother was born.

Ds2 is still feeding overnight. He'll be 2 next month. We co sleep from.whenever he appears in my bed saying "want some milk" it's just me so I don't find it a problem.

A couple of friends night weaned thinking it would make sleep better and actually it got worse, as they had no reliable method to settle the baby with. That was enough to put me off the idea!

You can night wean without day weaning. 7 months is quite young but plenty can sleep through, especially if they feed and eat well during the day.
As it's quite young, personally I'd read the No Cry Sleep Solution first and try a few weeks of being really consistent with the gentle approach and trying to push for change that way first, before taking a harder line.
With my sleepless dc2, I gradually pushed the first feed later, by about 30 mins every 2/3 nights from about 7/8 months. That helped me have a longer first stint (and in his own cot), though in the early hours he still woke more often and would be in my bed. At 10 months I night weaned him completely, using a sort of version of the Jay Gordon night weaning guide (meant to be for over 1s, but I was losing my sanity!), it did make a big difference, even though I kept feeding during the day - however he was still not a perfect sleeper.

Ds1 on the other hand bfed and slept through from 5 months and DS3 was fine to feed to sleep and then be managed easily from about 6 months. Ds4 is unfortunately showing signs of being the second coming of ds2, sleepwise... Some are born much better sleepers than others, so do be kind to yourself and take all our advice with a pinch of salt!

Meant to say that with all of them I breastfed until nearly 2, though once they were toddlers it was only in mornings and before bed.

This is going to sound silly, but how to you night wean exactly? Just go cold turkey? I can get DH to settle her at weekends but don’t think it would be fair to have him up all night during the week.

snowbambino I think that sounds like a good plan- for me to do 4 feeds a day. DD is doing well with solids and is on 3 meals a day. I do rely on BF for naps sometimes though if we don’t go out...

pouty I think it’s been this way since the 4 month regression. She was sleeping 9 hours from 7 weeks- 4 months, but after that it didn’t recover.

I have done the odd bottle of formula before bed, but DD has a problem with dairy so it’s perscription formula and such a faf. So I would prefer just to BF.

I send DH in if I know she's not hungry.

Is she some sort of hybrid whose digestive system is synced with an app?

@Nottalotta, that's what I'm afraid of

Thanks stuckforthefourthtime I am worried she is too young, is it worth waiting a few months? We wouldn’t do controlled crying and would only do a gentle approach. I can’t let her cry more than a few minutes tbh, it breaks my heart.

@Snuggybuggy ds2 does wake me between 2 and 4 times a night, and he's nearly 2. But, he's back to sleep in minutes with a quick feed. One of my friends has 2 children the same age, with both she's night weaned around the 8 month stage and gone through absolute hell with both of them being up for hours in the night. Twice, I got a bit fed up with ds2 and decided he "didn't need" feeding at 11pm. We were up til 3 am. Wide awake. Didn't do that again!!

BF DS for 19 months. Stopped for a different reason, but I hoped it would help with sleep as he woke constantly for boob. He's 2.5 now and still wakes constantly so I don't be too disheartened if it doesn't help! Night weaning does sound like the way to go :) though we day weaned before we night weaned as it was too difficult to say no when I was so tired through the night!

@PoutySprout

No. But she's seven months old and I've got a handle on how long it takes for her to be hungry again after a good feed. Good question though, points for originality.

reagan I’ve been doing the same tonight. We’ve had about 4 wake ups since 7.30pm already! DD definitely has a hungry cry and if it’s been less than 3/4 hours since her last feed I know she definitely can’t be hungry.

Is she in her own room? We got very lucky with DD - she was up every couple of hours right up until her last night in our room. We moved her at 7 months and she slept 11 hours straight that first night and tends to sleep through since.