We sleep trained my lo (extinction) for falling asleep around 6 months. She goes to bed great but continued to have one feeding around 3. Lately she's been waking up even early 11/12/1 and so we're back to 2 feedings. I want to night wean and get her sttn. So do we do extinxtion all night? Other ideas? How do you comfort your lo in the motn w/o feeding? I always do that because it's fast and reliable but I seriously need a good nights sleep! Also, if she wakes up at 4 what do I do? I've been feeding so we all get more sleep but I've left her before and she just stays awake. 4am is not going to work for me!
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I wish I had advice. I'm that mom that still feeds my 15 month old if he wakes up. Hopefully you get good ideas!
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@ladybee: yup, me too!
I think it's pretty normal to still be having wake ups at this age.
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My LO didn't STTN til 13.5 months and then it just happened, BAM, overnight. When she wakes up does she cry? Or just fuss/talk to herself? YOu could try leaving her for 15-20 min or so and see what happens.
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I night weaned from bfing around 7 months (although DS was getting quite a bit of formula during the day at that point). He was only feeding for a few minutes at a time during the night, and waking up in the morning not at all hungry - so I felt confident he did not need the nutrition.
What I did was to set a time which I would not feed before, and if he woke before then I would comfort him in other ways. Shhing, stroking, patting, rocking etc. I would try not to pick him up if at all possible, and I would make sure my chest was VERY well covered.
I'm not gonna lie, it was 2 weeks of absolute sleep hell. He woke up hundreds of times a night, it was extremely difficult to get him back to sleep without bfing, and I wanted to give up many times. My plan was to gradually move the 'do not feed before' time up until it got to 6am, but after a couple of weeks DS just sttn one day out of the blue - and he has continued to do so ever since (fingers crossed it stays that way!)
We haven't done cio so I can't advise on that - but maybe a good idea to get rid of one feed at a time if you go that route? Good luck!
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@ladybee: @Ash: that's what I'm worried about
I see no end in sight and I kept thinking I'll stop at 9 mo at 10 etc and here we are 
I'm also worried it's only going to get harder as she gets older.@hilsy85: she cries, but not screaming miserable just mad it seems? She stands at the side of her crib like she's waiting for me. I've left her for 20 min and she just stands up/lays down but doesn't go back to sleep. It's like I've trained her that I'll come in there
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@Bubbles: that's what I'm wondering if I should go in and just say it's bedtime and rub her head and leave? But I'm weak at 1am lol! And Im picturing 2 weeks of hell so I guess I just have to man up
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@gotkimchi: if she's not completely hysterical then I would definitely leave her! Go in and rub her back if you want, but don't nurse...it's so tough in the MOTN, that's why I nursed as long as I did! i just wanted to go back to sleep
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@gotkimchi: It may not take so long with an older LO, maybe she will understand a bit better when you tell her? I know my LO now at 13mo understands most of what I say - but I guess that extra awareness could also make it harder! It was really tough but SO worth it for the consistent night time sleep we have now. Like a million times worth it. I did also get DH to help as much as possible with the wake ups!
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is there someone else who could go in and comfort her instead of you, so she won't expect nursing from them?
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I started sending my husband in for MOTN wakings right around 12 months. She was STTN at about 12.5 months and we night weaned.
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We did CIO for the last MOTN feed at 9 months. He only cried on the first two nights for maybe 20 minutes. The next several nights, he would wake up for awhile but go back to sleep without crying eventually (I wouldn't have even noticed but I have dropcam and looked at the history).
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@gotkimchi: In this case I would let her go, unless she goes hysterical I would let her whine/whimper/cry and maybe she will learn to soothe herself back to sleep. Does she have a lovey or stuffed animal in the crib with her? at 12 months you are safe to introduce something to help comfort her. And I would send DH in with a bottle instead of nursing or even a sippy of water (at 12 months she doesn't need that milk, she should be getting enough through the day) she might decide "this sucks and stop doing it.
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@LuLu Mom: she does have a lovey with her- actually 3 of them. I'm saying this with love, but dh is useless at night, he wants to ignore until 5am. I feel horrible doing that, but going in usually makes her pissed unless you feed her
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@gotkimchi: how much milk is she drinking during those night feedings? My LO took awhile to coordinate her solid and bm intake (dropping sessions but not eating enough solids to make up for the calories) so when she woke she would guzzle back the milk then go back to sleep. All of a sudden she worked it out at around 18 months and was sttn most of the time by 21 months or so.
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we had to ST to drop to night wean/STTN at 12.5 months and we committed to 1 week of ferber CIO. we had DH go in there for 3 nights and it was bad because crying in the middle of the night for 2+ hours sucked when i knew i could go in there, but because we committed, we stuck it out and she was STTN by night 4.
good luck!
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@Kemma: I'm nursing so I don't know for sure but she's definately not starving when I go in! She usually nurses for approx 5 min, mostly of it sleepily. She also doesn't care if I pull her off early
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@birdofafeather: tell me more! What did he do when he went it? I feel like it's so much harder now that she can stand and yell!
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This comment has been deleted by the original poster.
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@gotkimchi: it was a lot harder because of that and the fact that we were both exhausted at 2 am and wanted to give in!
we followed this protocol in terms of timing: http://noobmommy.com/2008/11/to-ferberize-or-not-to-ferberize.html
he would just go in and she would be PISSED and then lay her back down, rub her back for a minute or two, say it's time for night night, walk out. we set the timer and went with it. if she was just whining, we didn't go in. she would get really ramped up right when we left, but calmed down faster. the 1st and 3rd night, she cried/then whined off and on from 3-5 and it sucked. night 2 gave us hope, so we pushed through night 3. then night 4, she didn't wake up at all! she has regressions every now and then with illness and teeth and some separation anxiety, but otherwise, she's good to go.
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@birdofafeather: we tried this once, and I should have stuck with it but she cried from 3-5 just like you said for 2 nights, slept night 3, but woke up night 4 again so I caved!!!! I think I have to commit to at least a week
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We sleep trained with extinction to get DS to STTN at 9 months. I was nursing him to sleep previously and we moved nursing earlier in the bedtime routine to make sure he didn't have a sleep association. We had done extinction at 6 months previously but he regressed and brought that feeding back. It's now been 3 months and those feedings have not come back. However, he never was able to drop the last feeding and would wake at 5. I'd then feed him and he'd sleep some more. But 3 months of consistent 8-5am sleep (absent odd nights of sickness or night terror where I have nursed before 5) has been great.
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Let us know what you decide to do. We are in the same boat with our 13 month old. We did extinction at 8 months but always kept the feed between 4-6am to allow everyone some more sleep. It was easy to handle one wake up at that time when she would go back to sleep until 8 or 8:30am. We are now waking up 2-3 times a night and have only been giving her water in a bottle when she wakes but that hasn't stopped the wake-ups. I'm thinking it's a bottle association too because she doesn't get it during the day but is always asking for it. Good luck! We may be trying to get rid of the bottle and feeds cold turkey this weekend.
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@jbock: let me know if you go for it! She's been waking up more also when it used to be just 4am
I think we're going to have to go for it cold turkey. Our md recommended water in bottle but we tried that and she was pissed.
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Just went through this with my nearly seven month old. She got to the point of awakening so frequently that she was not getting any restorative sleep (neither was anyone else in the house!) After talking to & getting encouragement from my pediatrician & sister, who just went through this with her LO, I decided I was ready to try to let her CIO. It was really only 2 nights of 30-45 minute periods of crying & now she is sttn with an occasional 4 am wake-up, in which she can put herself back to sleep. It was hard mentally preparing myself for it but I am so glad I did it, not only for me & my sleep, but for her. She is such a happier baby now & naps have improved drastically too.
I see no end in sight and I kept thinking I'll stop at 9 mo at 10 etc and here we are 
I'm also worried it's only going to get harder as she gets older.
good luck!
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