I wasn't sure where to put this... sleep training or weaning... but... my 9.5 month old was kinda sleep trained at 6 months. He learned to be put down and fall asleep on his own. But he still woke 3-4x a night and I'd nurse back to sleep. He worked his way down to mostly 2x a night now, occasionally 3. The first I dont mind cause I get that in before I get to sleep. I've tried to not nurse and give him a few minutes to settle, which he doesnt do... or if he does, he'll settle for a few minutes, wakeup and cry, settle a few minutes, repeat for like an hour and then sleep another 45 minutes before he's up again.. so it's been easier to just nurse him for 5 minutes and he down for 3.5-5 hours.
Is there anyone that didn't sleep train/night wean and have it eventually just stop? Or do I really need to force it?
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I didn’t night wean DS2, but he was only waking one time a night. His wake up gradually moved later and later until eventually it disappeared and he was sleeping through the night at 6 months.
DS1 was night weaned. DH started going in and settling him back down instead of me nursing him back to sleep. After a couple of nights when he realized the boobs weren’t coming back fe started sleeping through the night.
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Yes, a little different because I wasn't breast feeding after 6mos, but we have always offered DD bottles if she wakes up at night bc she has historically been very small and not that excited about eating so we want to feed her whenever she's hungry. But she has basically stopped waking up overnight anyway. She is 12 mos now and really hasn't been waking up much overnight for at least 2 months.
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I never did with either of my kids. We tried CIO with our first, but the night wakings still happened and I figured that he really was hungry. I don't think you can say that EVERY child doesn't need to eat in the middle of the night, I truly think that some do. Plus it was much easier to get up for 10mins, nurse, and get everyone back to bed 1-2x a night. My Son dropped his night feedings and started sleeping through the night just before he turned one, my daughter was closer to 15months.
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@PurplePumps: I didn’t and it eventually just stopped. I always fed on demand and that included overnight too. Whether they needed it or it was just for comfort, I knew the nursing wouldn’t last forever so just went with it.
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After my son was sleep trained at 7months he was waking up about 1x a night to eat. Once at 2/3am and once at 5/6am (morning, so not really an overnight feed). I weaned him off the 2/3am feeding by pushing it every night by 15 minutes or so, I think he was 9 months old? I can't remember. Eventually it became a 4am "snooze feed". Then I worked on pushing that 4am feed to 5am I think he was about 10 months at that point. Then I dropped the 5am feed and started giving him a pacifier instead, eventually he started waking at 6am. At that point he was a year old so I was weaning him all together off breastfeeding. That 6am feed was the last to go overall. I had kind of waited until he was showing signs that he was ready to drop those overnight feeds before I really pushed the issue. Like if he was sleeping through that 2/3am feed till 4am on any semi regular basis I felt like it was a sign that I just needed to give him a nudge to drop it.
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DS1 I did not. He stopped around 11 months but then started daycare at 12 months and started nursing overnight again. I just went with it an he nursed usually one time per night until 20 months when he self weaned.
DS2 is 10 months and usually nurses 1-2 times over night. I will probably do the same thing and just let it naturally happen. He eats lots in the day but he seems to be drinking lots when he wakes up.
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I never night weaned my now 3 year old thinking it would just eventually work itself out, and he continued nursing at least 1x a night until I weaned him entirely on his 3rd birthday. And he still wakes up at night now and comes into our bed more often than not. If I could go back I'd be intentional about night weaning but I also think he's just a poor sleeper and not sure how much I could do about that.
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I weaned completely at 16 mo (was just nursing at bedtime then) but weaned overnight about 15 mo. At that point DD STTN 50% of the time and DS woke up maybe 2x a night.i think if it was for sharing their room...I think DD would have self weaned the overnights while DS wouldn't....every kid is different!!!!
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Not until around one. And then it was a fairly painless process. I'm sure we could have pushed the issue earlier, but knowing my son there would have been a lot of crying involved and I didn't mind it much. We co-slept until around the time that we night-weaned, and I barely even woke up to feed him.
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I never night weaned or did cio for either of my kids. They just grow out of it. I'm not sure when it stopped; I nursed both kids until about 2 so def before then. But lo2 definitely didn't wake up motn regularly expecting it for a long time before then (when we weaned she was mostly just nursing first thing in am and before bed)
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My first son was a great sleeper and weaned on his own at 6m. Nursed well during the day. DS2 we just sleep trained and he doesn't wake up at all to eat (or at all usually)
. HOWEVER one trick I learned is to tank him up with a pumped 4oz bottle 45 mins before bed then nurse a while a bedtime. That seems to hold him over!!
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Both my kids nightweaned themselves by 6 months. Though I did feed my first kid at 5 am and she’s fall back asleep for another 1-1.5 hours for a good 6 months, but that was sleeping 8-5 with nothing. I’d give it a little while before forcing it especially since he just goes back to bed easily after and sleeps for a few hours. That would make me think it’s actual hunger/thirst. I mean, adults wake up at night and are sometimes hungry or thirsty and then go right back to sleep, but if you were hungry or thirsty and couldn’t resolve that it might make you quite restless.
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My 9 month old stopped feeding overnight by 6 months, but I have always had to supplement with formula, so not sure if that has anything to do with it.
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Mine was fully sleep-trained (could fall asleep on his own, would have random wake ups and then fall back asleep on his own), but did not STTN until 1 year. He woke every night around 4am and ate. Attempts at stopping that failed and would just result in him crying for 2+hours. I eventually just let it go and he stopped eating overnight right around 1 year without me doing anything.
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I haven't night weaned my two girls and it did eventually stop. I do pause and give a little time to self-soothe. But I will go in and nurse if baby can't soothe. And then once I know the baby has learned to self-soothe, the wake up goes down to once a night. My first baby actually started sleeping through the night fairly early and then would only occasionally wake up. My current baby is 14 months and she does usually wake up once, but more recently has been sleeping through the night once we adjusted her naps. She clearly just wakes up for comfort and not hunger. But I don't feel like punishing her for waking up so, when she does, I still go in. She is likely my last baby. This won't last forever. Best of luck to you. Some moms can't stand it and let their babies cry it out. Do what is best for you.
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I do not sleep train or night wean (not opposed, just not what works for us). My first started sleeping through the night at 18 months, but still wakes for food during growth spurts. He's the kind of kid who has a 300 calorie bedtime snack on top of dinner and will still be hungry at 6am.
My 14 month old wakes once or twice. He's hungry and also has high calorie needs. I am up to go to the bathroom, so it really is no big deal
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I didn’t sleep train or night wean. My daughter always started the night in her crib and then we coslept from her first waking until morning. Around 13 months she just started sleeping through the night by herself. I’m not sure if we just got lucky but we’re trying the same approach with DD2.
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@LadyDi: Yea, if I did wean, that is what I would want to try. I just feel like it'd be cruel to him to just stop the boob and ignore him completely.
Thank you everyone for sharing your experience! It gives me hope that it will eventually stop, and he will do it on his own. I'll give him until 1 yr and reevaluate at that point if he's still waking up 2-3x a night consistently.
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I guess I tried but was unsuccessful to nightwean LO1 but like you described as she got older it went down to once a night or so (around 12-18 months). And then at 2 I guess I did successfully nightwean her and then fully weaned her a few months later. I just felt like once a night really wasn’t hard for me.
For LO2 she is 16 months old and she gets up usually once before I go to bed and another time between 4:30-5:30. So I get a solid sleep in. Like others have said, i know it wont last forever and even if I let her cry it either seemingly goes on indefinitely or she is just awake again a little while later. For what it’s worth, my first is now an amazing sleeper.
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The overnight nursing session and the before bed nursing sessions were the two that took the longest to stop. My kids didn't stop night nursing until right before they weaned, which was around 20 months.
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I didn’t night wean either of my kids and they both started sleeping through the night at 12 months. I think developmentally they needed a feed until then. It was tiring but I have no regrets about it.
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My older two naturally night weaned themselves and STTN at somewhere around 15-18 months and we didn’t do any sleep training. My third baby is fifteen months old and showing zero signs of night weaning but can occasionally STTN although she usually ends up in our bed. I really do think that sleeping is just another developmental milestone, night waking is biologically normal and many, many babies will wake in the night despite what the “experts” assert.
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I did the same as you. Just couldn’t be bothered to do all that night training work when 5 min of nursing would do the job. With LO1, if she got ridiculous, like waking within an hour of me nursing, I wouldn’t go in, but otherwise, I did. She stopped waking overnight at 18 months when all her teeth were in. LO2 is almost 25 months and wakes 1-2x a week, so I think we’re getting close (although he still has 5 teeth to go, so maybe it’ll still be awhile).
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