7 months and still bf every 2 hrs

[ZoeRuth]

Having enjoyed demand led bf and not minding too much waking every 2-3 hours through night, am now a bit concerned that he's never going to stop! Weaning has def cut down some of the day feeds but has had no impact at night, despite giving him a snack about 9/10pm or whenever he wakes up for evening feed. I'm going back to work when he's 11 months and as it'll be full time, I'd rather he was fully weaned off me by then and sleeping through, and in his own room. Not sure how so any tips welcome. Not keen to resort to controlled crying, after having put so much effort into feeding on demand.

If he's eating well, at that age I think it's possibly due to comfort/habit feeding, and nothing to do with actually being hungry/thirsty or needing nutrition. Ours stopped night feeds at 6 weeks-ish but still wanted a breastfeed every 2-3 hours during the day till about 8 months old. By that stage I knew it couldn't be because she needed masses of milk as she was eating well and also breastfed for literally only a few minutes at a time so can't have been getting very much each time. I offered food every 2 hours to try to fill her up, and also tried to distract her for as long as possible with songs, toys, books etc between breastfeeds. Eventually they got less frequent and at 9 months she quite suddenly went a whole day -well, about 6 hours without a breastfeed - so i knew it was more out of habit or for comfort that because she needed it. Not sure about how to go about dropping nightfeeds as we didn't have to do that, but I think it's even more likely that they are down to not being able to self settle or derive comfort in other ways than the breast, rather than being down to real hunger. Dos he have toys/teddy in his cot? Ours always has and I'm sure this helped her self settle from an early age - she started "sleeping through" from 6 weeks in her own room - she didn't really sleep through of course, but woke and played with her toys for a minute or two then went back to sleep and always has (she's 13 months now) barring a few colds and a few nights where separation anxiety kicked in. If you think it's that, you need to find a routine that reassures him that you are close by even when he can't see you, but choose one that is easy/not too tiring for you to repeat - as you may have to do it for a while! Don't worry too much though - a lot can and will happen between now and 11 months! I was panicking at 8 months as I was going back to work at 10 months but she stopped breastfeeding completely except one morning and one evening feed at exactly 9 months old, so I had 4 weeks of blissful time not worrying at all about how on earth I was going to express enough - as I didn't need to!

Babies can change so much in 3 months. Have you been training him with a cup? At 11mo he should have no trouble drinking from it. So you shouldn't have to worry about him starving while at work.

Can't help with the sleep bit. Mine used to self settle but since 6mo have been hellish with nights. If only it's milk she wants! She just wakes up and wouldn't settle .