Ah crap, just gave in after two weeks of trying to night wean

[nativityneepsntinseltatties]

Bloody disaster. She still wakes up as often and just now was so hysterical I gave in. I feel so despondent. I want to night wean. I so badly want her to sleep through. I really thought that after 2 weeks of not feeding before 5 we would be sorted. Now I feel like I have thrown away all the work I have done :(

how old is she?

its not a disaster - you can try again in a few weeks.

Two weeks is a very long time. is she teething? How did you approach night weaning?

Ten months. I had been trying to knock out a feed at a time. For the last couple of weeks I had not been feeding her before five but rocking her until she stops crying and is sleepy and then putting her in her cot and rubbing her back or tummy until she sleeps.

DS didn't drop his night feed until he was 18 months. Then it took 3 nights and he was fine. Are you maybe trying to drop it too early?

I dropped EBF DS's night feeds at 9 months using the same approach as you, OP. It only took 3 days. I suspect there may be some other underlying problem...which means you'll have to don your Sherlock Holmes deerstalker and investigate!

Hi OP - just wanted to share my story which is a bit similar to the other posters. I tried to nightwean DS at 9 months, which was an unmitigated disaster...he screamed for over an hour each night for a week. I just ended up abandonning the attempt like you. I had been trying to soothe him in the cot instead of feeding.

I tried again at 11.5 months and it worked with very little trauma. I gave him water in a beaker when he woke instead.

My point is just that if it takes ages and is very painful for you both, they are probably not ready. Stopping and trying again a bit later is not failing at all.

10 months can be a tricky time for sleep too - google sleep regression.

Does your DD take a bottle? Do you have someone who could help with one of the feeds so you can get a longer block of sleep? Or get someone else to resettle as some babies find it easier to settle for someone who does not have boobs!

Don't despair. We tried night weaning at 12 months and while it went ok - he slept till 5ish after a couple of nights, he then got sick and I fed him to soothe him. We tried again a few weeks later and it was a disaster so we left it. A couple of months later we tried again, almost without planning - it was clear he'd woken because of a noise and so we started from there as we KNEW he wasn't hungry - and it's worked really well and with little pain. He sleeps through till 7 about 40% of the time now, so not perfect, but a lot better and it's usually not to difficult to resettle him. I'd leave it a few weeks or a month and try again. You'll get there!

Thanks. My Sil has a baby around the same age and she sleeps no problem as did her first dd. Both my kids have been a bloody nightmare and I always end up feeling like I am doing something wrong.

DH does help to settle her sometimes. She is responding to being settled in a different way but I think I have just swapped one sleep prop for another!

I am very pro night weaning but I think that if it was going to work it would've by now. Is your DD still on the same room as you? How much does she eat I'm the day? I found that after about 6 months she was a nightmare to feed in the day but luckily she took to weaning really well

She eats really well in the day but is still in our room as we are getting an extension built. She does settle being rocked but she is still waking up as often for as long. Once she is out of our room it will hopefully be better.

I have just spent 3 weeks trying to night wean DTS who is 15 months but he was still waking 2/3 times in the night, then up for the day at 05:00am. It was exhausting! It was taking him ages to settle, up to 1 hour or more.

I have come to the conclusion he isn't ready to give up feeding in the night so started giving him milk again. I do feel like it's a step backwards but think it is the right decision for the moment.