Weaning Baby from Night Time Feeding

I went through the same thing with my twin boys. I tried giving them water like someone suggested but then they just wanted to get up and drink an ounce of water before going back to sleep. They just wanted to be soothed back to sleep whenever they woke up. I know it's hard but it works... you are going to have to let them cry it out. It's really hard the first time but it gets easier and you will only have to do it for a few nights, if you don't give in. Just go in and check on them and let them know you are there but that they have to go back to sleep and leave the room. Do this every 10 or 15 minutes. It took 45 minutes the first night and then got to be less and less each night. Now they sleep through. I know some people don't like this method, I had a hard time with it also. But, when you are tired and desperate....

All I have to say is that it worked and my boys sleep much better now. Good luck!!

I guess it depends on whether or not you cosleep. My kids were in their crib, so when they woke in the middle of the night I would send my husband in to calm them and get them back to sleep. If I went in, they would want to nurse-and scream until I gave in, but if I sent my husband in, they would calm right down and go back to sleep. Also, if you are still putting him down asleep at night, you want him to learn to self soothe, so you need to start putting him down awake. For my son we ended up doing a modified cry it out at 7 months since I had been back to work since he was 6 weeks old and the waking 3 times a night to nurse was taking its toll on me. It only took 3 nights for him to get the idea and after 1 week we had no more night waking. My daughter was much easier. She weaned herself of the night wakings at 3 months old, and we never had to cry it out. She was always a better sleeper than my son (still is). We waited for a weekend to start with my son's sleep training so if it didn't go well at least we could try to nap during the day. Since he is only snacking when he wakes it sounds like he is using you as a pacifier. If he already takes a pacifier, the night wakings may be as easy as your husband going in and putting a pacifier in his mouth. When we did it with my son we tried not to pick him up when we went in there in the middle of the night, so we soothed from the side of the crib, put in a paci, rubbed his back, turned his music on, etc. Like I said, it went way better than we expected. Keep in mind though that you will still have setbacks, especially during teething outbreaks, illnesses and growth spurts etc. My two year old still occasionally wakes up when she is sick, and I never leave her if I know she doesn't feel well. Once you do this you may have to break the habit when they are feeling better, which at two, can take a couple of days since they are much more stubborn at this age, but they get back on schedule pretty quick. Good luck. There is nothing better than getting a full nights sleep after going without for so long. Once my son finally started sleeping through the night it took me over a month to do so myself since I was so used to getting up several times a night. When I finally got that full night's rest I felt like superwoman the next day. It's amazing how good sleep can make you feel.

sounds exactly like my life....used to be! they are waking up out of routine and habit..that is it! they do not NEED to nurse in the night at this age. they just don't. we don't eat in the middle of the night. and if your fav restuarant was open ALL night you might wake up too...point is, the habit needs to be broken. period. how you go about doing that is up to you. i chose to do some cry it out and it worked. my son sleeps from 7/8-6 and i nurse him and he sleeps another hour or two after that. he just turned one. when he was 9months i stopped feeding him in the night. if he went to bed a 7 or 8 and woke up i would go in and soothe him and leave...that dance went on for a bit and he eventually fell back asleep. this could happen a few times a night. he soon realized in a matter of DAYS that there was nothing worth waking up for anymore. then he began sleeping straight until 330 and i would feed him then. after a few days of that i stopped feedng him at 330 and he started sleeping till 6 or so. there are tons of people who do not believe in letting their child cry, i personally think a little CIO is okay and my son is happy all thru the day and sleeps well. so there ya go. each child is different. just remember to be consistent. don't do 2 days of CIO and then cave on day 3. good luck!

Hi A.,
By 9 months old he doesn't NEED to eat at night but he WANTS to. It sounds like he is using nursing as a way to fall back to sleep when he naturally wakes during the night. Dr. Weissbluth, who wrote "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child", gives a few different ways to handle night waking. They are the cry it out, modified cry it out (like Ferberizing), and check and console. It really depends on how you want to handle it. The cry it out works the quickest but many moms can't handle it. I used a modified cry it out with my daughter at that age. Email me if you want more info. Always here to help fellow moms and it's a great way to meet new people.
Sincerely,
L.

Hi A.,
I am in almost the exact situation. I have a son who will be 9 months old on Monday who is still waking at least once during the night. Like you, he will go right back to sleep after 5 minutes or so if I nurse him. He'll cry until I give in, though. It's hard not to cave when it's the middle of the night and I'm tired! I also have 3 other children (3 girls) ranging from 5 1/2 to 2 1/2. I'll be very interested to read what kind of answers you get. I think it may just be a habit that we'll have to break. Good luck with your situation!

It took about a week but this is what I did: 1 minute less of nursing until about 2 minutes. Then after that I gave water. I thought that could go on a few nights (the doc said a little water and reduce it nightly)but after a night of this she didn't wake up anymore. That was the 3 a.m. feed. She still woke at 5 but I got up then too.

Another thing we did along side this was that we waited a little longer each night to feed. 3 the first time, 3:10 the next, 3:25 the next...you get the point. Yes, she cried but she was still happy to see me. No harm done.

There will be setbacks at times when something is bothering her but perhaps you have discovered that if you don't rush in right when your baby cries s/he will go back to sleep.

Good luck, A.

I have the same situation with my 10 1/2 month old and after reading Dr Sears baby book about night weaning your toddler and not getting enough sleep the last few nights I am ready to try it- Dr Sears says it make take a few nights to "train " your little one- get your husband on board to help and tell your baby that boobie goes night night, and baby goes night night. Nurse him down to sleep and when he wakes up have dad go and try to soothe him- he will protest, but wear him in a sling or rock him, anything but nurse- you can go soothe him also but that may be hard b/c he will associate you with nursing- I know I would give in. Hopefully he puts himself to sleep after realizing that there is no milk. Also I would nurse him more during the day and give lots of affection too. so this sounds easy and I know it won't be, but I think and hope it will be worth it, -I will be thinking about you when I am struggling with it tonight- you are not alone

Does your son drink from a bottle or sippy cup at all? If so, trying giving him water instead of breast feeding when he wakes up. A night or two of getting water instead, he'll get that it's not worth waking up for. You might also have to try the cry it out method. Good luck

Good job A. for nursing all your children. Your children are lucky to have a mama that was able to nurse them (not everyone is so lucky).

At 9 months, I still nursed my dd right before bedtime and at least once in the middle of the night. That was in addition to 4 or 5 feedings during the day. It was challenging but we managed.

If you are committed to nursing for at least a year (or 2 years as the World Health Org. guidelines suggest), you may try increasing the daytime feeds and making sure that when you nurse him to sleep he is getting the hind milk. Getting enough hind milk may in itself lessen or stop his need to night nurse. Also, if it is just a drink that he needs you could try having your husband give him a sippy cup of water. (My almost 3 yr old needs a drink during the night at least 2-3 times even though we night weened at about a year.) With your gentle guidance, he is sure to understand soon that at night, he can only have water. Good luck,

Give him cereal before bed and then just a pacifier when he wakes at night. When you go in to give him the pacifier dont turn on any lights or talk to him muchas that will make him want to stay awake.

Well there has been some great advice already. I have 2 older kids and my daughter did this too. what we did was we really tired her out before bed. We ran and ran around the house playing hide and go seek, etc until she was exhausted and wanted to go to bed. I then put a pacifier in her crib and she was able to find it in the night, take it and go back to sleep. (All this above was after a pretty good snack of cereal and a soothing bath...) Just keep your normal night time routine and maybe try the tire him out scenerio and see if that works? Right now it seems he is waking up out of habit, and that is a tiring habit for Mommy :) Good Luck!!!

I completely understand. I nursed my son until he was 1. and in the middle of the night until he was 9 mo. Even though his doctor told me to stop when he was 14 lbs., which was before he was even 3mo. old. But he was my first and I felt that he was hungry. My daughter on the other hand. sleeps 6-8 hrs. and instead of nursing her every 2 hrs in the night at 2 mo. I switched to formula bottles. one at bed time and one in the middle of the night. It's worked wonders.

good luck!

A nine-month old should definitely be sleeping through the night. You are right. If he is only nursing for 5 minutes, he is not hungry. It is a habit. It is up to you to break the habit. Children learn what we teach them.

It will be hard, but let him cry. The first few nights will be difficult but it will subside.

You can do it!!

Blessings,
+B+

Just a comment....when my daughter wakes up many times in the night to nurse it is on days when i don't nurse much in the day...like she is catching up. Perhaps you are trying to wean, but if not try nursing 3-4 times in the day and I bet the night waking will at least change to once a night. nursing 1-2 times in the day is not very much.

Sounds like you were pretty lucky with the first three. My youngest two daughters were still waking up to nurse (at least once) until about 1 1/2. When I was sure they didn't really need the middle of the night or 4 A.M. feeding I began to substitute water. Of course they balked, but if I consistently didn't give in eventually they quit waking up- took a couple of weeks though. The hardest was the first few days in getting them to accept water.

You're right, he doesn't NEED to nurse this many times at night & the fact at hat he's only eating for 5 minutes says it all....he just want a little snuggle or love. You've already been given all kindsa advice so the only comments I are: 1) if you want him to sleep thru the night, then it's up toi you & your hubby to make it happen & 2) be consistent. Whatever method you choose, stick w/it consistently. If you waiver at all, he'll pick up on that & go to town, even at 9 months. The first few might will be the hardest but, really, babies are pretty smart so it shouldn't take him that long to figure out he's not getting nursed & to start sleeping thru the night on his own. Good luck & stay strong!

When weaning my son, now 2, the night feedings were the last to go. As soon as he was weaned at about 14 months, he was sleeping through the night. He would wake up in the begining but because of the no nursing to bed he realized he wasn't getting anything in the middle of the night either.
I found weaning to be hard because I never gave him a bottle, he went straight from nursing to sleep to going to bed with nothing at all. Most people I know give their children bottles to bed or sippy cup which makes the transition easier, but I think there is always the chance your son will wake in the middle of the night wanting a bottle. Anyway...

I hope this is of some help, good look.

I went through the same thing with my little girl. I was really unsure as what to do, so I just dealt with getting no sleep for what seemed like a life time. I stopped nursing her during the day when she was just over 12-months old. You see I used to go see her on my lunch our every day to nurse her. She was one lucky little girl. I nursed her in the morning, at lunch and as soon as we got home and of course from the time we went to bed to the time we woke up in the morning. At 12-months I needed some lunch days times to myself, so I stopped going to see her, so of course stopped nursing her, however, I still nursed her every morning and every night and several times throughout the night. I even asked her dr. when I should wean her. I was told to cut day times out first, then mornings, then evenings, then nights. Well on May 1, 2008 (Emilia was 14 1/2 months old) I could take it no longer. At 6pm when I was nursing little Emilia, I told her “this is the last time you will have tee-tee,” that’s what she called it. Then came bed time, there was a lot of screaming, maybe an hour and a half, she went to sleep and slept for about an hour and a half. This little routine went on all night, but the next night was easier, and the next even easier. By the fourth night Emilia knew she was not getting any tee-tee, and did not even ask. Our little family sleeps wonderfully now that Emilia is weaned!!

Your baby may not be getting enough during the day, or has just gotten into the habbit. I still nurse my 1 year old during the night so I'm not much help there. Remember your baby is still little. He may need one feeding a night. Read The no cry sleep solution by Elizabeth Pantley.

Well, you don't "have" to do anything -- it really all depends on your philosophy and parenting approach. Don't believe in crying it out? Then don't do it. If you believe babies need to be "trained" to sleep, then do it.

We didn't want to leave our baby alone to cry himself to sleep when he was so young, so I continued night nursing (we also co-slept). Then when he was 13 months I slept separately, and my husband slept with him. When he woke up, my husband comforted him back to sleep, so he was crying, but he wasn't alone. Our thought was that if he didn't get nursing when he woke up he wouldn't think it was worth it and go back to sleep. After about a week he slept through the night soundly and has ever since (a few incidents here and there, to be expected, but typically he sleeps through).

The one thing to watch out for is that it might affect your milk supply, and if you want to make sure you are breastfeeding at least a year, you just might want to stay alert so you can measures if necessary. Good luck!