Night weaning or not

[Blackflyingpanther]

My DD I still 8.5 months she was EBF up until 2 months ago when we started introducing solids. She's eating really well during the day and has 4 breastmilk feeds too. She almost consistently has 3 naps for a total of 3.5h every day. My issue is at night. She's never slept more than 3-4 h in a row since birth and still wakes every 3-4h every night and won't go back to sleep unless I feed her. She has proper feeds as well not just quick "snacks"and lets go of the breast without me having to remove myself, is awake when I put her back to bed right after. I know she is awake as she rolls over, picks up her dummy and sticks it back in her mouth. She is NOT fed nor rocked to sleep and never has been, has a dummy which she knows how to replace when lost and has been falling asleep without my help for several months now. She is put to bed awake after a bed time routine of bath, solids, milk feed story and lullaby. Anyone has any idea why she still wakes so often at her age? Should I night wean or will she eventually wean herself? I'm going back to work in 3 months and sometimes have to be away 2 nights a week?Really starting to worry she'll still be feeding at night when I return and don't want daddy to have a rough time at night in my absence.
Thank you in advance for any suggestions and tips

I would try reducing night feeds with a plan to stop soon. My baby is 8.5months now and until 2 weeks ago was feeding 2-5 times in the night, although I do think a lot of that was for comfort. I started to stretch the time between feeds which resulted in reduced night feeds and he then stopped waking for them. He now feeds when he wakes up in the morning, 13 hours after his last bottle, and he drinks it but certainly doesnt seem desperate for it and will lie happily in his cot for a bit before I get him up and is certainly not crying with hunger. I've read that if they are used to night feeds they probably are waking hungry due to habit but this can be gently changed and they will quickly adjust to a long period without food overnight just like adults do. This is presuming she is a good weight and has no other health issues though.

At 9 months due to extreme sleep deprivation I sent dh in to ds with a bottle. He had 2 ounces instead of 4/5 bfs (through the night). Second night dh took bottle of water. Ds had none. Third night he slept 7-7 and has done every night since.
What a happier baby he was indeed!! And me also!!

Thank you ladies. Glad you successfully night weaned your little ones. @Cdl84 how did you manage to stretch feeds? Did it involve any crying?
@Windyatthebeach my baby has never had a bottle. Were you mix feeding at the time or was it the first time your LO was offered a bottle?

That’s a lot of day sleep for a 8.5 month old. I have a 9 month old and his naps have been reduced to 2 hours. 30 min morning and 1.5 hour lunch. He sleeps 10/11 hours at night without waking. Give it a go! Good luck x

Honestly I’ve had one formula feed and one breast feed both - cosleep time with both and neither feed to sleep
so I knew they were waking as they were hungry and it sounds completely normal to me.

I was very worried that stretching out the time between feeds would result in crying but it didnt in the end. When he woke up I left him to see if he would go back to sleep but went to him if he started crying. He did go back to sleep without crying the first few times he woke. He started crying when he woke about 6 hours after his last feed (this was already way longer than he had gone in the recent past between feeds) so I went in and fed him until he decided he was full and put him back in his cot awake. He grumbled for a few minutes and then rolled around for a while just chatting, then fell asleep and hasnt woken up during the night since! I was planning on trying to reassure him without feeding if he woke crying before 4 hours had gone since his last feed but didnt have to do this in the end.