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Original poster

Night weaning breastfed baby

17 replies

MaisieGreenYellow · 04/02/2022 09:38

Hello,

I’d love to hear peoples experiences of night weaning exclusively breastfed babies please. My DD is almost 10 months. I’m wasn’t planning to even think about weaning until after 12 months but honestly some nights I’m so desperate I just want to stop altogether! Don’t know if others find the same but breastfeeding has been so wonderful and so bloody hard all at once!

At the moment she is waking every couple of hours or less. Interested to know if weaning helped with wake ups or just made it more stressful because they still woke and you just had to find another way to get them back off?

Thanks

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coraka · 04/02/2022 11:18

Giving a bottle in the night is much more work and time than just giving them the breast, so it's only worth it if:
a) the bottle keeps them fuller for longer and stretches out their sleep or
b) you have a partner who will take turns with you

You could try giving a bottle instead of the last breastfeed at night and see if she will do a longer stretch of sleep for you? Then breastfeed after that.

Or you could give the last breastfeed at night and then the first time she wakes, get DH to give her a bottle (hopefully it will keep her asleep longer, but even if it doesn't, you'll have had a longer stretch.)

Another idea is to try shush-patting rather than offering a feed the first time she wakes. Definitely more short term pain, but can be worth it in the long run.

If you do switch to bottles, a Perfect Prep machine is wonderful!

drmartinee · 04/02/2022 12:27

You sound like me! I came on here to ask this exact question so I'll be watching this with interest. I have a little boob gremlin who will not stand being comforted any other way during the night. It's so hard but also so wonderful & convenient!

3WildOnes · 04/02/2022 12:31

All of mine have slept through within a week of being night weaned. I just sent my husband in at night to settle them and offer a bottle of water.

Thinking2041 · 04/02/2022 12:34

I was breastfeeding 3-5 times a night. I just stopped cold Turkey one night in desperation and just offered water. A month later she still wakes. I don’t think she was waking for food but for comfort. Most of the time now she takes some water and comes in for a cuddle.
I was praying it would be the solution!

MrsAvocet · 04/02/2022 12:39

I night weaned my middle child at about 14 or 15 months as I was pregnant with the third and suffering from yperemesis so I just couldn't manage. I used the method suggested by Dr Jay Gordon (found it online) and it worked fairly quickly. It's a long time ago (baby in question is an adult now) so I can't remember the details, but it was less traumatic than I'd feared and night weaning did reduce wakings significantly, but not completely.

MGee123 · 04/02/2022 13:11

They don't need feeding at night at 10 months, it's just habit. I'm sure you'll get more sleep once you've weaned!

Christmas21 · 04/02/2022 13:16

I night weaned when DD was 18 months. My DH would do all the night wakings and then I would feed in the morning.

becca3210 · 04/02/2022 13:17

Good luck. We did it gradually first did two feeds a night with three to four hours gaps so roughly 7/10/2/6 If woke between the gaps would use other ways to settle him. Some protest initially and wasn't always easy but he got used to it quicker than I thought he would and naturally dropped the 2/3am feed and then a few months later I stopped the remaining night one. Still doing two day feeds at 22months as we both enjoy it but glad to have a good night sleep now .

Poppy709 · 04/02/2022 19:24

It worked for me, but we did habit stacking for a few months prior so I wasn’t feeding DS to sleep, but he was being settled in his cot with cuddles, bum pats (took a lot of stages to get there). This in itself didn’t reduce night wakes at all, so when he was about 9 months my DH took over all wake ups, I didn’t want to night wean completely so young so I dream fed him at 10pm and 2am, I was really consistent with this being a dream feed, so if he woke up at 1.45, DH would settle to sleep and I would do a dream feed. It was life changing, went from 8 wake ups or more per night and him basically sleeping with my boob in his mouth to sleeping through in his own bed with the dream feeds, after a month I dropped the 10pm one and still did the 2am one until he was about 11 months (it was so easy just quick feed and plonk back in cot, I was awake for about 10 mins, I was scared to drop it in case he then woke up at 4am and wouldn’t go back to sleep!) we’ve had bad phases since (he’s 17 months) with teeth etc and we’re on a period of early waking at the moment but stopping feeding all night made me human again when I was very close to losing my mind. It was a thread on this forum and some very helpful ladies that gave me the courage to do it and I’ll always be grateful!!

Footnote · 04/02/2022 19:52

Send the non-breastfeeding-parent in with water every other waking, and stop feeding to sleep if you still are.

Original poster
MaisieGreenYellow · 04/02/2022 20:12

Thanks so much for all your responses. Much appreciated.

She’s never taken a bottle but does have some formula and water in a cup through the day so we could try that through the night with dad perhaps. Habit stacking sounds good, we do sing, rock on our knees and have occasionally been able to shush and pat in the cot but rarely. I guess it’s being consistent and making the change. But as I’m sure you all know, when you’re completely exhausted it’s hard to find the energy to make changes. But hey it’s the weekend and dads not at work so he can take some of the wake ups off me. She definitely does it for comfort mostly, which I completely understand but not always sustainable for mum.

Thanks again!

OP posts:
Eileen101 · 04/02/2022 20:14

Watching with interest for my almost 2 year old Blush
Solidarity op!

Wnikat · 04/02/2022 20:19

Like PP I recommend Dr Jay Gordon method.

RedRobin100 · 04/02/2022 20:21

We might weaned very easily. I was surprised how easy it was.
Did it as part of a sleep training.
You could try the weaning on its own as well.
We did it at 6 months. Maybe easier at that time when baby was waking at more regular / predictable times for feeds

RedRobin100 · 04/02/2022 20:24

To add to above, the method we followed was more about predicting when they were going to wake (roughly) ans getting int here first and waking them to feed, then phasing the duration of the feed down over a number of nights until it was phased out. Worked really well

RedRobin100 · 04/02/2022 20:26

Sorry - to add again! I weaned the 1am and 4am feeds together, leaving the 10/11pm feed in place for longer. Then eventually weaned that one. He has slept through then night since 6/7 months, now 20 months.
Exclusively breastfed

northstars · 04/02/2022 20:29

I night weaned my 3 around 18 months. The book “Nursies when the sun shines” helped a lot, it was very gentle and loving - a couple of nights were hard but then they slept through

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