22weeks old dd sleep, is it time to night wean?

[sharond101]

DD is 22 weeks and goes to bed at 8pm, wakes at 3am when I breastfeed her and then again around 6/7am. She is normally up for the day at 7.30am. I am tired. She will not take a bottle and I have a 3 year old to run around after too. I would like to try to take away the 3am feed but how when it is the guaranteed method of which to get her back over to sleep? She doesn't always wake crying or fussing but will lie awake making noises for ages if i don't feed her. Any suggestions?

I am sorry but she sounds perfectly normal. I fully expected to feed in the night until 6 months old and ds never slept through until 8 months old when he was established on solids

22 weeks is very little to night wean. I didn't night wean any of mine, they just stopped waking up.

My DD was the same as yours at that age. We had a good few months of waking for one feed a night between 7-7. Then at around 5.5-6 months she just stopped waking and slept through one night then we never looked back. I'm not sure why, it was before we introduced solids and her feeds during the day didn't noticeably increase.

My feeling is that 22 weeks is too young to actively night wean and if you leave it a few more weeks then it might happen naturally.

She sounds like a dream baby! That's one wake up really. Lucky you. FWIW I've just night weaned 10m ds and he still wakes.

Wow! Waking once a night is very good for such a young baby! Count yourself v lucky

My ds still woke for a feed at 20 months

I think that's pretty great TBH. I'd leave it a month or two before weaning but I know it's hard when you're tired. If she settles well BFing then that's a real positive!

My DD still wakes two or three times a night and she's 6.5 months. She seems hungry so I'm going with it for now. Might night wean if she's still waking by 8 or 9 months but I'm hopeful it'll stop on it's own. My path is the one of least resistance as I can't bear crying in the night or getting up and down loads in case my 3yo wakes up and I've got two to deal with.

Waking up only once for a 22week old is great. Seriously, count yourself lucky.

I like the advice at: sarahockwell-smith.com/2014/08/10/how-to-gently-night-wean-a-breastfed-baby-or-toddler/

In particular, she notes that exhaustion "isn't a great reason to night wean in my experience. Sometimes night weaning can cause a child to wake more. Sometimes you are left with a child you can no longer settle at night without the ease of breastfeeding."

Otherwise, congratulations on having such an amazing sleeper! Mine was waking 8-10 times a night at that stage, and for months afterwards.

Wow. I know you're tired but she sounds like a fantastic sleeper. And you have a perfect way to resettle right now.

Can you look at ways of making your life easier? It's always better to adjust what you're doing than fiddle with the normal, natural feeding patterns of a young baby, particularly one who sleeps so well.

Can you go to bed earlier? If she's sleeping till 3, then if you went to bed at 9pm, that's a solid 6 hours before a feed and then another couple of hours after that. Broken sleep is obviously not as good as a full night but I do think in the short term, you could possibly find ways round it.

Do you get the chance for a break during the day? Do you have a supportive family or friends around you to help out?

It's often harder at 5 months than with a newborn as they are so desperate to be up and carried and sitting and looking and wriggling about. Particularly with older dc to look after too. It's okay to say this bit's hard. It is!