so i managed to night wean, but still waking, now what?

[missytequila]

after a week of protesting, my 8 month old has finally been weaned off the 3.30am and 5.30 am breastfeed. I basically let her cry in my arms for 2 minutes and she gives up and goes back to sleep on me.

now... how do I get her to not wake up at these times? she seems stuck on them, and waking at least 2 times between 7pm and midnight? she slept through from 8 weeks but when we hit the 6 month mark it all went bad and have been stuck in a sleep regression for 2 months now..

anyone else in this or have suggestions...

Okay, so to be clear, you are not breastfeeding at night from 7pm till ? 7am?

Do you provide a sippy cup of water instead? If not, try that. We put ice in ours so it's nice and cool in the morning.

The first six months btw is random, and means nothing IME. DS was lovely for the first six, then a sod for the next 12!

I would try 'wake to sleep'. This is a technique which sounds bonkers but really works. Ten minutes before the time she usually wakes, go in and gently wake them resettle her. She will go back to sleep but it breaks the cycle of waking and she will then 'forget' to wake up at that time.

I know it sounds nuts, but try it - it worked for us :)

How long ago did you wean her off those feeds? It takes a little while for the waking to fall away after they stop the feeds. I think you need to move to the next step of letting her resettle without being picked up and cuddled, so just pat her or stand next to her and talk gently (night night, sleep well etc), you need to be gently encouraging her to learn to put herself back to sleep after she rises into a lighter sleep or wakes.

When I decided to drop the feeds with my DS I had 2 nights of him crying in my arms for more than an hour before going back to sleep, then a couple of nights of crying in my arms for 5 mins or so before dropping off again, then a couple of nights of pickup, pat and put down, then a couple of nights of just go in and pat gently and then finally for a week or so after that I'd hear him stir and give a couple of cries, but not go to him and he'd be back to sleep again in a minute or so. Then nothing.... ever again.... (it's been well over a year now except for wakes once or twice when ill)

Good luck.

Oh - and just to add that I also used 'wake to sleep' with DD2 when she started habit waking every night at 4am (she'd been sleeping through for about 9 months previous to that) and it worked amazingly.

When I stopped breeding in night at 12 months it took a whole month for him not to wake up several times a night and cry for just a few minutes or seconds before falling back asleep. He was probably not fully awake but just used to partial awakening at certain times. After a month it stopped.

I meant b feeding - of course!

lol at breeding in the night
"wake to sleep" hmmm

DD usually wakes between 12 and 1 for a feed (and I do feed her) - am thinking maybe I should be waking her to feed at 11ish, as I go to bed