Can you night wean breastfed baby?

[Tree6543]

My first DD didn’t sleep through the night until 1 when I stopped breastfeeding (not for this reason) then immediately began sleeping through.

My second DD is one this week. She naps well in her cot, self settles completely for naps and bedtime (isn’t fed to sleep, no rocking etc) we just change her nappy, quick story, sleeping bag, cot, lullaby, leave the room. She goes to sleep herself fine. She is still waking twice overnight for feeds which she surely can’t need. She eats 3 huge meals a day, and is breastfed on waking, mid morning, mid afternoon and before bed.

I really need to reduce the night waking for the safety of my job, but I’d actually like to continue breastfeeding her a bit longer due to starting nursery in winter and all the bugs etc.

Do you think it’s possible to night wean but keep going?!

Yes I think so - my first night weaned himself more or less around 13/14 months and we carried on with a morning and evening feed for quite a bit after that. I think you just have to be prepared for a few rough nights when she wakes but isn’t fed - it’s probably just habit and although she self settles at bedtime is in the habit of needing boob to settle at night. The usual advice is to send partner in for night wakes for a few weeks until she gets the idea that milk not on offer…

Yes, we night weaned ds2. It actually only took 3 nights, of dh going in. The first night involved a lot of crying. I felt awful but dh offered him a sip of water then stayed with him. He was safe, but very cross. If course, he slept The next morning then was fine, whereas we felt like death!

The next night he yelled for about 20 minutes, then settled. The third night was a whimper.

I carried on daytime feeds for ages afterwards.

Hth

Thank you so much - I’ll give it a go! I would only be stopping breastfeeding for that reason and I’d really like to carry on so it’s worth trying. Good to know it can work!

Yep we did similar to @Justmadesourkrautwhen DD1 was about 11 months maybe. DH went in with water and it took a couple of nights.

I continued to breastfeed her until she was over 2, when she self weaned when I got pregnant with DD2.

Exactly my experience too.
Nightwearned between 10 and 14 m all of mine, fed til 3ish.

Dad essential for first 3n!

Good Luck!

Great thank you everyone. My partner is more than happy to help in the night, I just wanted to wait until I was confident she didn’t need the feeds but with her meal sizes etc I’m fully confident now - she eats really well.

We’re going away this weekend but I’ll pencil in next weekend as the weekend to do it with his help and let you all know 😂

Definitely worth a try, but do keep in mind that it might not necessarily stop the wakes; and then you won’t have BF as a tool to resettle. Night wakes are normal for toddlers. My friend tried to night wean 12 month recently and now he wakes much mor. Just to go in with an open mind. Mine is 13 months and she doesn’t eat enough yet for me to stop night feeds.