Night Weaning

[LadyRamkin1]

I have a 10 month year old baby who still wakes a few times a night (1-3). I currently feed him once a night (he's a breastfed baby), normally around 1am-ish.

He normally goes down at 7.15 and wakes anytime between 5.20 (sob) and 6.45. Naps are fine, he does 2 x 1 hour naps that I cap.

I know it could be worse, but I'm quite keen to stop feeding him in the night, and also for him to sleep through! Does anyone have any night weaning recommendations? If you went cold turkey - was that effective?

Thanks!

It's not recommended to night wean until 12 months as up to then a lot of babies still need feeds in the night.
I know it's tough, I've done it with 2 and between 9 and 11 months wake ups were awful.
DD night weaned at 12 months and started sleeping through, DS is 12 months and is taking a bit longer to night wean but he'll get there.

With the sleeping through, they all get there in their own time and your DS may not be ready just yet.

The early wakes can be shifted but takes time and usually means a later bedtime. Most under 2 don't sleep 12 hours overnight, it's a myth.
Both mine and majority of babies seem to be about 10 hours overnight while they still have day naps.
DD has dropped her naps now at 2.5 and she's only just starting to do 12 hours overnight.

Forgot to say, obviously if a child naturally sleeps through and doesn't want milk before 12 months then that's fine as they don't need them but if a child wakes for feeds then they obviously need them

This is really helpful, thank you. I can probably survive another 2 months! Glad it helped with your DD

@kernowpicklepie what's the evidence you shouldn't night wean before 12 months, can you link something? (Just genuinely curious as I have been told night feeds aren't needed past 3 months - but have evidence for that either) Thanks

Probably not what you want to hear but my daughter has woken up at night whilst breastfeed, whilst formula fed, whilst having oat milk and whilst having nothing!

We swapped to formula at 10 months at this point she had 3-5 wake ups a night and it made no difference to the amount she woke up.

She has reflux is which is a big part of why she wakes up but generally we find that if all her needs are met she sleeps but she has a lot of needs and can wake up for a whole variety of reasons. At least she is now 3 and can articulate some of them

At about the same age, we started giving DD something to eat before bed - some porridge or similar - to make sure she was full.
Then a couple of weeks of DH going in to settle her instead of me, offering water if needed, seemed to do the trick.
She soon became a brilliant sleeper. Good luck!

@Writerz34 I can't seem to find the information I read but tbh it was when DD was younger and she's now 2.5. I used to research so much cause I was always panicking I was doing something wrong as a FTM.

I have seen various IBCLC's quote this aswell.
I don't think 3 months really is old enough to not need night feeds unless they choose not to wake anymore. Their primary food source at 3 months is milk by 12 months they're usually getting a lot more intake from actual food so the night feeds can be reduced or stopped.

The main thing I always think and have been told by IBCLC's with night feeds is if a baby is waking for a breastfeed then they usually need it, whether it's just for comfort or an actual drink. The difference with breastfeeding and formula is that breastfeeding is more than just milk, a baby uses it for comfort quite a lot especially if they aren't using a dummy.
It was like magic for DD, any time she was ill, sad, hungry, basically any reason she'd always feed. DS is slightly different but he has a dummy (was given it in NICU) so he doesn't use it for comfort as much as DD did.

My 13 month old still wakes up at night for milk even though he has enough solids during the day. I’m trying so hard to restrict the milk at night but he screams so loud.

My daughter is 10 months too and we did try space feeds about a month ago and I got down to 1 feed but then she was teething and I was ill and it all came back and we're now back to 2-3 feeds a night and co-sleep to get enough sleep. I don't really mind at the moment as I'm finding I am getting enough sleep but part of me knows that once I night wean her she will probably sleep better (I feel like she'll learn I'm not going to give her boob and she'll stop waking for it and instead just roll over and go back to sleep). BUUUUT I have no clue how to night wean, just stop giving her boob at night I guess and don't get her out her cot but my partner has a chronic health condition that gets set off when he has little sleep so I can't send him in instead and I know my bub will go nuts if I go in to try settle her but don't feed her..

Hi! I've always kind of meant to do an update on this post, although it's a year ago now, as obviously here you often hear the problem but not what the solution was in the long term. So this was a good prompt

I think I ended up fully nightweaning around 11/12 months in the end - I know there's differing opinions on whether the baby still needs milk then but honestly most things I read suggested he didn't. From memory I got it down to one feed (with my husband going into soothe at other times - I'm sorry that's not an option for you Hrodge) and then we went cold turkey. Every baby is different, but for mine, after a tough few days, it made a huge positive difference to his sleep as I think he'd largely been waking out of habit until then (although it's always two steps forward, one step back with sleep I find)

He largely sleeps through these days (21 months), although we have got a bit reliant on the dummy as a 'quick fix' if he does wake in the night (he doesn't use it in the day). Need to cut that out at some point, which will be another bad week!

@LadyRamkin1 came across your post as my 10 month old is still feeding 2-3 times a night, the first only about 2 hours after his last feed, usually, and despite being a wonderful eater in the day. I’m sure he can’t be hungry, so must be habit/comfort.
I really want to night wean him but he’s screaming so loudly I give in every time 🤦🏼‍♀️
do you remember, when you went cold turkey, were you leaving baby to cry? Or comforting without milk and just not giving in? Maybe offering water? I’m not sure how best to tackle! X

At that age my DD woke up only 2 hours after bedtime, I sent my DH in. Baby would cry a bit but settle eventually. If baby didn't settle within 10-15 minutes and / or was properly sobbing, I would go in and breastfeed. DD suddenly night weaned herself at 11 months. Out of the blue, entirely. It was magic.

Then hit 12 months and second molar started coming through, add a cold and an ear infection, I haven't slept since (it's been 2 months). Toddler sleep is wild.

@LivingOnCoffee567 he actually slept through last night, I’d also gone to bed ridiculously early pre-empting another awful night, so felt great today!! DH has a few days off after tomorrow so will be roping him in if he doesn’t keep it up.
Agh that sounds so frustrating for you! Can totally see why sleep deprivation is used as torture, it’s horrid. Hope it improves soon