Talk to me about night weaning.

By hilsy85 Sep 4, 2013

Lo is 10.5 months old and has consistently been waking up 1x per night for the last 2 months or so. I nurse him at this wake up but I don't think he really needs it--it doesn't seem like he eats a lot, and at this age, I feel like he should be able to go without it (which he does, maybe 1x a week he'll STTN completely).

How did you go about night weaning? I'm guessing some crying will be involved--did you do checks instead of feeding when LO woke up? How long did it take? OR should I just deal with it for another month or so and hope that he drops it on his own (which is what I was hoping for)?

You might also enjoy...

Tags: (no tags yet)

26 comments

aprk
pomegranate / 3452 posts

Sep 4, 2013

You could gently reduce the amount of time you nurse him until he drops it
hilsy85
squash / 13764 posts

Sep 4, 2013

@aprk: yeah I've been trying to do that...he only nurses for maaaybe 3-4 min on each side now, and if I try to put him on for just a minute, he gets upset and cries. In which case, I might as well not nurse him at all, you know?
aprk
pomegranate / 3452 posts

Sep 4, 2013

@hilsy85: A is the same way. We dropped a couple night feedings by having my husband deal with him (bouncing, rocking, etc). It's a process but he's down to 2 feedings instead of 5.
immabeetoo
honeydew / 7687 posts

Sep 4, 2013

@hilsy85: what happens if DH goes in? Does he wake to nurse at the same time each night?
mrsjyw
GOLD / wonderful apricot / 22646 posts

Sep 4, 2013

We night weaned pretty early on and used a pacifier at the motn waking for three days. I also wore DH's sweatshirt when I went into his room through the transition.
hilsy85
squash / 13764 posts

Sep 4, 2013

@scg00387: yup it's always between 3 and 4 (or has been for the last 3 weeks at least). DH has never gone in, lol...he has to wake up for work in the morning so I feel bad making him get up. We might try that this weekend though. Do you mean just going in and soothing until he falls asleep, or going in for a min, soothing, and then leaving?

@mrsjyw: we paci weaned at 5 months and I don't think he would even accept it back at this point! Wearing DH's shirt is a good idea though.
mrsjyw
GOLD / wonderful apricot / 22646 posts

Sep 4, 2013

@hilsy85: yea i thought so! a dropped the paci soon after nt weaning too... def helped wearing dh's clothes tho...
immabeetoo
honeydew / 7687 posts

Sep 4, 2013

@hilsy85: what we were planning to do was have DH go in and pick up and calm him down and then stay with him in his crib until he fell asleep. It ended up that he don't fight me doing it so DH lucked out. I had it in my head that I was just trying to bump the feeding back an hour, and planned to do that slowly but he ended up just sleeping through after one night of it if that makes sense.
purrpletulips
pomegranate / 3414 posts

Sep 4, 2013

DS turns 1 next Monday (gah) but we just night weaned two weeks ago. His wakings went from 1x/night to upwards of 3-4x/night and I couldn't handle it. The only way we found to work was for DH to go in when he starts to cry, soothe him and give him a pacifier. If I go in, then he has to nurse or is inconsolable.
hilsy85
squash / 13764 posts

Sep 4, 2013

@scg00387: my fear with delaying the feedings is that he'll start waking up at 5/530 and then be up for the day! I reallllly don't want that.

@purrpletulips: oy that would be tough on DH if he has to go in..did he stay with him til he fell asleep?
purrpletulips
pomegranate / 3414 posts

Sep 4, 2013

@hilsy85: no, he goes in lays DS back down returns his pacifier and walks out; he might leave a hand on him for a few minutes to help calm him but he does not stay till he falls back asleep.

I was actually surprised by how quickly this changed the number of night wakings.
NovBaby1112
grapefruit / 4066 posts

Sep 4, 2013

I'm interested in this as well- LO randomly STTN, but for the most part, has 1 night feeding between 4-5am. I am also worried about trying to get rid of the night waking and instead waking up for the day between 5-6am! I would honestly rather have 1 night waking than waking up early for the day. Sooo no advice, but following along! Interested to hear how it goes for you guys, hopefully it'll be easier than you think!
brownie
grapefruit / 4110 posts

Sep 4, 2013

My husband took over. We also replaced the feed with milk, juice and water.
immabeetoo
honeydew / 7687 posts

Sep 4, 2013

@hilsy85: we had that happen in the very beginning but after a few days it evened out and he wakes at normal time between 6&7. He has always been an early bird though so that wasn't as big of a fear for me.
hilsy85
squash / 13764 posts

Sep 4, 2013

@brownie: hm replacing with water is interesting!

@scg00387: L also wakes between 6 and 7, but I reeeally don't want it to get earlier! Anything before 6 is just inhumane IMO lol.
MamaMoose
GOLD / squash / 13464 posts

Sep 4, 2013

I think your hubs has to do it. If I go into M there is NO chance she goes back down without nursing. At least with hubs there's a shot because milk is not an option. Maybe if your hubs can take like a Friday or a Monday off and do a three day weekend where he handles the transition so he won't have to wake up and go to work the next morning.
hilsy85
squash / 13764 posts

Sep 4, 2013

@MamaMoose: ha I don't know how his boss would react to "I'm taking a day off to sleep train my son"! I think we will give it a shot this wknd so at least he can do Friday and Saturday nights, and hopefully at that point things will be better. NOw, to try to convince him he's the one that needs to get up!
mediagirl
hostess / wonderful persimmon / 25556 posts

Sep 4, 2013

@hilsy85: I have a 15 month old who wakes one time a night. No dropping on her own in sight...

If my husband goes in, she screams until she gets me. We haven't tried letting her continue to scream in his arms...
MamaMoose
GOLD / squash / 13464 posts

Sep 4, 2013

@hilsy85: Haha..I guess I don't really tell my bosses why I'm taking my vacation days off, I just use them at my descretion. But hopefully you can make some decent progress over a weekend.
hilsy85
squash / 13764 posts

Sep 4, 2013

@mediagirl: sigh...I feel like DH would not handle that well if that was our situation and would end up calling me in.

@MamaMoose: oh yeah, I was just kidding. I don't think he would agree to take a day off though, he'd rather use it for something fun instead of recovering from sleep training lol.
brownie
grapefruit / 4110 posts

Sep 4, 2013

@hilsy85: yeah we did milk, then juice, then watered down juice and then just water. Now all he needs is water. He is teeny so the extra calories were good for him and this all happened in one month so not too long to rot teeth.
Mrsbells
squash / 13199 posts

Sep 4, 2013

@hilsy85: I night weaned at 14 months, I would offer her a sippy cup of water instead
Kemma
grapefruit / 4291 posts

Sep 4, 2013

Have you checked out Dr Jay Gordon's gentle night weaning technique? I've heard good things about for babies who are over a year old, it basically involves feeding less for a week, cuddling for a week, then just resettling in the cot.

I hope night weaning is a smooth process for you, I'm happy that Miss A has dropped back to just one feeding in the early morning!!
hellobeeboston
honeydew / 7235 posts

Sep 4, 2013

@hilsy85: I think I have told you this but at our 8 or 9 month appt our ped told us to stop the night feeding, that he didn't need it - J got up 1x a night to nurse for like 10-15 min max around 2am, then went back to sleep... I was freaked to drop it but honestly, he woke the first night and whimpered for 5 min or so and went back to sleep, same the next 2 or 3 nights, then he just slept through! We also started feeding him more leading up to bed time and during the day.... Hope your transition goes well, I bet it will!
immabeetoo
honeydew / 7687 posts

Sep 4, 2013

@hilsy85: I agree to pre-6 being brutal!! Like I said, it was just 2 days of early early and then he went back to normal. But, like I said on another thread, I was trying to push back from an 11 PM feeding and then he apparently just decided it wasn't worth it and slept through till 5. I bet if you think he's ready, he is though
hilsy85
squash / 13764 posts

Sep 5, 2013

@hellobeeboston: I hope it goes as easily as it did for you!

@Kemma: hmm will have to look into it. Thanks!

	Today	Monthly Record
Topics	0	0
Posts	1	0

Hellobee Boards

Talk to me about night weaning.

You might also enjoy...

Reply

most popular tags

most recent archives

Recent Blog Posts

Recent Board Posts

Classifieds

Deals

Today's Leaders

Sleep (Baby)

Today's Posts

Site Basics

Features

Series

The Team

More