Weaning 7 month old off night feed

[Ouchdownthere]

Would appreciate thoughts on weaning a 7 month old off his final night feed. My DS is a bottle refuser so is still only myself that can offer him his milk and his late feed. He is currently a good sleeper but wakes once for a late feed then sleeps thigh until early rising anytime between 5-6. I don't feed him breakfast until 6 and he is not obviously starving for it at this time.

I know it makes me a bad mother but I'd really like a night out and am thinking of just dropping the feed, encouraging him to break this habit and take in the additional calories during the day if needed.

Is this a terrible idea?

We didn't manage ti night wean until 19 months, even now DD wakes for water many times.

IMHO it's too young to night wean.

Hmm, that's my concern I guess, how can I tell he's not thirsty, I know he won't starve but I would worry about thirst.

If only I could get him to take a bottle, we've tried pretty much every type, he'll take sips during the day but just bats any bottle away at night.

I might go mad if I have to stay in for months, I am missing a really close friends special night on Saturday and it really brings it home that I just can't go anywhere far from home for more than two hours!

And I do feel guilty even thinking this, I know he's only little, and he really is deeply precious, am just being honest about my own little and occasional wants.

I did it at 7 months - DS is a champion eater and eats solids like there's no tomorrow, especially high-calorie stuff like cheese and eggs, so I wasn't worried about how much he was taking in. I strongly suspected he was waking out of habit so we just went cold turkey - I went in and comforted him without feeding for a while on the first night, he woke and self-settled on the second night, and from then on he's slept through until 5am except for illness, hot weather etc. I wouldn't have done it if I'd been concerned about how he ate in the day but we do BLW and he packs the food away so I thought we all could do with some decent sleep.

Have you tried milk out of a cup? A friend of mine had a bottle refusing DS and managed to avoid a bottle altogether by giving him milk from a cup from about 7 months. Might be worth a go? Of course it won't help with the night weaning but might give you a bit of a break. HTH

He is packing in the food in the day but not sure it's the right kind yet, still to wean onto protein.

His feeing is currently

0600 breastfeed
0700 cereal with formula plus a yoghurt
1100 sweet potato and cauliflower plus a fruit purée
1430 breast feed
1730 baby rice plus butternut squash plus a fruit purée
1800 breastfeed
Late night breastfeed

These times are approximate and I also give him whatever other breastfeed he looks for, today he looked for one around 1530 as well.

I might see tonight if I can comfort him rather than automatically feed and see how well he settles.

Thanks hodgie. We are trying a cup, and he will take sips, but not interested when it's offered as a feed IYSWIM. Did your friend manage to get baby to use a cup for full feeds?

We started night weening ds around that age. He was getting plenty and in fact I think it was more that he would wake up, be a little hungry and so take gap to complain.

He was bottle fed but we started by offering less. Then as he went through phases of awaking at different times we would always comfort him first. If he was still frantic after a while we would feed him.

It took a whole but I didn't want to just leave him to scream. Now he sleeps through.

Hi ouch! Just spoken to her. She said that initially it was just a few sips but over a few weeks built up to 4/5oz. So perhaps not a FULL full feed, but certainly enough to keep hunger at bay for a bit. She tried one of those expensive nubi cups with a valve and didn't get on with it at all as baby has to suck (like through a straw) but the 89p tommee tippee cup worked far better as it just drips in their mouth. My DS also far prefers these cups and drinks quite a lot of water that way so might be worth a go. Good luck!

Oh thanks hodgie. Am going to try one of those cups. DS not interested on using his hands for anything other than sucking or holding his feet at the moment but worth a go seeing if he can get the hang of sucking from it at least.

On a very encouraging note I tried dropping the feed, expected an awful night, he didn't bat an eyelid. Needed a wee cuddle to settle him back down at the waking where he'd normally be fed, but didn't look for food at all and only took a minute to settle back down to sleep. Three nights in and he is still needing a little cuddle but not looking for the food, and still not roaring hungry first thing, so quite happy he just needs some comfort rather than food.

Thanks again for asking your friend hodgie.

once they are having 3 good meals plus snacks or bottles during the day, they can go through the night IMO. I did this with my little one. Reading your schedule i think you need to boost the intake at tea time, maybe pasta or similar, so it is more and that you can be sure he isnt hungry. Once i was sure of that we went cold turkey as I did think it was habit. Offer water in a cup, if he is thirsty he will take it.

Thanks pmgkt will start to do that. Am trying really hard with getting him a better variety of food but finding it hard, need to really sit down and work out a meal plan for him. Just need to find the extra day a week to plan / buy / make it all.

Am still finding it hard to relax and appreciate that DS needs food now rather than just milk to thrive, never realised I would find cutting back the breastfeeds akin to cutting the apron strings.

Ouch - it is a mindfield isnt it. I remember thinking it will be so easy when they are eating food, but it involved so much planning to ensure they get all teh food groups. It does get easier.

Have you tried liqidising the protein as it never mashes well, then you could add it to the things he already has, and that will help fill him up. and add more lumps as he is happy, has teeth etc.

I did batch cooking and then froze it, so made family size feed 6 cottage pies, put in pots and def took the pressure off day to day. Also I did ice cube trays of single veg/ meat/ fruit cubes, so that the food groups were seperate, then you just grab a few cubes and they have something from each food group over the day. as well as being very quick to defrost. Kids like strange combinations so dont be put off by thinking you wouldnt each that combination.

Hope that helps and not teaching you to suck eggs as i do worry that people may think i am being to obvious.