Starting night weaning tonight

[Cbell]

We've decided that it is time to try and night wean my DD. She is 7.5mo and feeds between 2-6 times a night. I've noticed that she seems to be using the boob to get herself back to sleep during the night and while I would love to take everything at her pace, I am exhausted.

This is not a decision we have taken lightly. However, none of us are sleeping well and I feel the lack of sleep is certainly effecting my ability to be a good mummy during the day.

So with this intention set we plan to start tonight. We've cancelled our weekend away. DH is going to stay with her during the night (she and I usually co-sleep) while I sleep in the spare room.

Last night looked like this

Bed: 6.30pm
Feed: 9.30pm (she usually wakes on the dot, then I take her into bed with me as she wont settle back in her cot)
Feed: 12am
Feed: 2am
Feed: 4am
Feed: 6am

Tonight we are aiming for this
Bed: 6.30pm
Feed: 9.30pm (at which point DH will stay with her)
Feed: 1am
Feed: 4am
Feed: 7am - hopefully this is when our day will begin

What do you think? Experienced advice appreciated

My heart is in my throat. Wish us luck

If she is eating well during the day there is no need for all those feeds. How about a dream feed at 9 and then no feeds until 4? Otherwise she will just get confused. Good luck!

Have you tried moving DD out of your room? A number of people find that reduces the number of wakenings.

Cbell, I'd only do this if you're sure that your DD can fall asleep without BFing at the beginning of the night.

Good luck, I know how difficult this can be .

Thanks for the quick responses. It's all ready going badly. She usually sleeps from 6.30pm - 9.30pm but has woken 3 times. DH is up there soothing her right now.

Achtung yes she can fall asleep without BF, she has a dummy which she uses for daytime naps and bedtime. She also has the dummy at night but even with this she cries until I BF her to sleep. This is undoubtedly partially because we've been co-sleeping.

love she eats fairly well during the day. However on her last weigh-in she had gained weight as expected which means that she was getting exactly what she needs in terms of nourishment (with the excessive night feeds). This does worry me somewhat.

Do you think from 9 - 4am would be appropriate? We are planning on reducing the feeds/ extending the gap over the coming nights but I don't want her to be hungry which is why I was planning on feeding at 1am.

Oh so worried...

We had lots of problems with DS's sleep at ~6 months - he'd only nap in the car, or in his pram, and he'd wake up constantly throughout the night (we were reluctantly co-sleeping at the time), before BFing back to sleep. We finally got some help from a fab sleep specialist called Andrea Grace. Andrea helped us to transfer DS's naps and his nighttime sleep to his cot, and to stop nighttime BFs.

I can't remember all of the details about stopping nighttime BFs, but I think that this is what we did - after 12am, I fed DS for an unlimited amount of time for the 1st couple of days, then for decreasing amounts of time (eg 7.5min, 5min, 2.5min) for a couple of days.

Cbell, I just re-read your original post, and see that your DH is going to soothe your DD when it's not your scheduled feedtimes - the advice that we got was that I had to do all of the settling, not my DH, as otherwise DS would just be upset, and would think that he would be BF if I was there. DH was only allowed to help again once all of the sleep training was finished.

I forgot to mention in my previous post, that I BF DS as many times as he woke up after 12am, but only for the allowed # of minutes. And I didn't let him fall asleep as he BF.

I think that this strategy might be preferable to having scheduled feedtimes, as you're generally giving the same response each time the baby wakes up, rather than feeding them at times, and not feeding them at other times.

Hi All

Am going through the same tonite. DS is now 18m!!! I need my life back a full-time job and waking up 2-3 times a night for him to comfort BF is tiring. Perservere with it Cbell. Will keep you updated as well.

Love Banto