Average age for EBF to drop night feeds?

[Sleepybadger123]

Hello, just wondering if anyone can tell me the “average” age EBF babies drop night feeds?

Realise they are all individuals etc etc

My DS2 is 12 weeks and goes to sleep at 8pm, wakes around 2am and 5am feeds and then up for the day around 8.30am.

My DS1 was a unicorn for sleep I think - also EBF, but did 8 hours at 9 weeks (11pm - 7am) and then 12 hours (7am-7pm) at 13 weeks. Never had any sleep regressions either - he’s now almost 3 and still loves his sleep (gets crabby if we wake him up).

I realise my experience with DS1 isn’t typical, so I wondered what was in terms of EBF baby night sleep and dropping feeds?

Thanks in advance

We mix fed here but we stopped the bedtime feed about 2y3m. It wasn't sudden, we had a phase of about a month when we'd sometimes have the bedtime feed, sometimes not. Up till then there was often at least one feed in the middle of the night.

I don't think this is average though, I don't think anyone can tell you what the average is, just what we each did

By feed I mean breastfeed

For both of my ebf girls, the night feeds were the last to go, so 2 years for both, when I stopped feeding them.

Also don't think there's an average. Mine stopped about 13months. My friends ranged from 6 months to 2years.

You said it yourself - they’re all individuals. DD1 slept through from 8mo. DD2 woke every 4 hours from
birth but didn’t sleep through until 16mo and DD3 woke every 2 hours from birth to about 14 months but then slept through 3 months later. All bf - I stopped with DD1 at 13 months and the others when they slept through as it was my shortcut to getting them back to sleep again!

2yrs 3 months and 3.5 years here (they had 1 or 2 night feeds right up until they stopped feeding altogether).

About 13 or 14 months for all 3 of ours

Night feeding that is, there was definitely still some night waking happening from one of them, for about another 2 years!

All 3 of my DC stopped night feeds between 8 & 10 months.

Kathryn Stagg doesn't recommend parent led night weaning until two but mine weaned themselves off night feeds by about 16-18 months.

Mine were both 9 - 10 months old.

DC1 I can’t remember because she woke at such random times in the night that I couldn’t ever count on a rhythm and even as a toddler she rarely slept through.

DC2 also EBF, fell into a very predictable rhythm within weeks. By 5 weeks he slept from 11pm or midnight till it got lighter around 5.30am (spring baby). After DC1 this felt like sleeping through! Because last feed was around bedtime for me. He went back to sleep after first feed and I could choose whether to doze or get up.

DC1 I night-weaned him at 7 months. He’d just discovered food and was a big boy. I held out an extra 30 mins or an hour each time with the night feed (might have even had 2 night feeds still at that point), took a week or two.

DC2 was 13 months as he was skinny and often ill. I did the same thing but it was easier as he wasn’t really taking anything anyway it was just for comfort.

Still did a bedtime feed for some time after though.

Just before 11 months we dropped down to one night feed and now at just over 12 months I'm planning to night wean fully. Self-weaning I think is usually later, after 18 months.