Night weaning.

[BCFirstTimeMum]

Hi all,

My LO is 9 months old and I was just wondering when others weaned their babies off night feeds and how you did it.

My DS eats 3 x solids (+ 1 or 2 snacks) as well as 3 x 7oz bottles during the day (roughly over a 12 hour period) AND he still wakes for 1 x 7oz bottle (sometimes 2 x 7oz) during the night!
I don’t see how he can still need the extra calories during the night when he eats so much during the day...

Do you think he is genuinely hungry or could it be habit?
I’m more than happy to carry on with the night feeds I just don’t want to be giving him too much.

Thanks!

Yes, I think he could very well be hungry

The current advice is not to night wean until 12 months as the first year is a time of such rapid growth. This Night Weaning method mentions BFing but it’s also more than doable when your ffing. Have a read of Get Your Baby to Sleep and Stay Asleep as this might help too

As for food and milk in the day, the Caroline Walker Trust have produced this excellent guide. You’ll probably need from page 39 onwards

Thank you for your reply!

I didn’t realise that it’s not recommended to night wean in the first year. So many people say to me that he shouldn’t be having that much (if any) milk during the night and I was starting to worry!

I’ll happily feed him during the night for as long as he needs :)

Thank you for the food and milk guide - it looks really helpful!

My first was bottle fed and dropped her night feeds at 9 months. It was just obvious she didn’t want it. We’d offer, she’d drink an oz maybe and push it away. After a week or two of this, I stopped offering and just rocked her back to sleep and she went back to sleep and slept fine.

If he’s having it, I’d assume he’s hungry.

DD stopped wanting milk on a night time at 13 months. I found she started to reduce night time feeds when she was on three meals and three snacks a day.

I wasnt given the advice not to night wean before 12 months by any doctor or health visitor? My LO is 18 months now so maybe it's changed recently.

We night weaned about 8/9 months. They were waking out of habit and we were comfortable that they were getting more than enough food and fluids in the day so just started offering water instead of milk in the night. Took a few days and then they stopped waking so we knew they were ready.