advice on weaning night feeds 9.5 month old

[ikkin]

Does anyone have any tips on how to wean a 9.5 month old from night feeds when he is STILL waking up at 10, 2 and 4 to feed? :confused:

[bumMum]

Those times aren't too bad I don't personally think. He may be needing those feeds still. If you think its for comfort and you are over it you need to find other ways to comfort to sleep during the.night. this is what I have done withy 11 month old. Things like patting or getting dad to put baby back to sleep. There was a lot of protest about not getting a nipple every time she woke at first but we just persevered being gentle but not giving in with a breastfeed. My daughter woke every hour or less lol. She now usually wakes twice a night which I don't mind. Good luck. Pinky mccay has a lot of suggestions for comforts besides breastfeeding

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[drewid]

I don't mind doing one feed overnight as most nights she needs it (drinks a LOT at 2/3am) but if she wakes before midnight, I don't feed her, I persist with re-settling. Sometimes a dummy is enough and she will roll over and go back. Other times I need to pick her up and rock her gently with some shhhhing. Sometimes she wants a cuddle, so i sit in the armchair in her room in the dark and hold her close with a rhythmic pat on the bum. I just go for gentle and quiet and it usually works. Feeding before midnight is only if I've exhausted all other options! I find if I feed her before midnight, she will almost certainly wake again before morning, whereas if she doesn't have that midnight snack, she will settle into a deeper sleep. Weird I know, but true.

[Rose&Aurelia]

I was doing an 11pm and 4am feed for my DD at that age. honestly I am not a fan of night weaning before 1yo. But I can understand you wanting to drop that idiotic before midnight feed.

The only thing I can suggest is get your OH to resettle. I found that DD wouldnt resettle for me but would for DH cos he didnt smell like food.

Can you increase the amount your bub is feeding before bed? I was giving DD boob at 4, solids at 5 and boob again at 7. But once I started giving her both sides at 7 she lasted till 11vs getting up at 9.

the last thing is that generally babies have the worst sleep between 6-12mths. Separation anxiety kicks in and they just want you. It will pass. Good luck.

[missie_mack]

Do you do a dream feed before bed? My DD (who is 10.5 months) has a similar pattern still but she is in our room. I might feel differently if I had to get out of my warm bed and go to another room to feed her. Somedays I am lucky if I even stay awake for the whole feed :laughing:. I am hoping DD will wean herself like DS did, after 1.

[Kaybaby]

I had the same prob with my LO. He's now 10mths. I started by cutting the 2am feed..that way he (and I!) had a good 6hr block of sleep between 10pm and 4am. It took a few unsettled nights of resettling at 2am. Do you have a settling method other than boob? I or my DH would just go in, give a pat or a cuddle and walk out, sometimes he would settle other times we would have to go back in several times..keep it quiet and low-key. It did take a few nights and a little bit of crying, but it worked. Could try offering water.

Now, I usually give him a feed at bedtime 7pm (tho he sometimes refuses this and will wake at 9/10pm so I feed him then) and then again around 4am. I am happy with that as he only has one feed during the day these days (refuses any more). He generally sleeps until 6.30-7am.

Hope that helps :)

[ilovehats]

We had some success with reducing to 1 night feed at 4am by:
First 3 nights reducing the amount of feed to only a few minutes and then patting/rocking to sleep
Second 3 nights just patting/rocking to sleep
Third 3 nights in cot settling with patting/soothing words etc

Sometimes he still wakes earlier, so I try in cot settling first and then pick up if that doesn't work, also offer water instead of milk.

I found the key is consistency, he woke at 2am last week and I was tired so I fed him, now he is waking at 2am again every night so we have just started the same process on the 2am feed again.

[Bundleoflove]

My DS was sleeping through by then but he started eating really well, really soon. Is your bub eating much solids yet?
My DS eats so much now at 15 months that he doesn't even have a bottle or any milk before bed. He eats dinner about 5.30pm and has nothing till breakfast time about 7-7.30am. I'm not sure what we did, thinking back I don't think we actually did anything different. I remember a few nights waiting up for him to wake for a late bottle and he never did. I think they will wean themselves when they are ready. But food seems to last longer in their tummies, so once bub gets into food you may see a change then.

[ikkin]

the only method i use to settle is picking him up out of his cot and givi g him his dummy, patting him on his bum or back and just before he falls asleep i put him in his cot. he usually will fight with me for a minute or two obviously hoping ill remove the dummy and give him boob instead.
i also have now for 2 weeks been giving him 5 small meals a day instead of 3 regular ones, his last meal is at 7pm (straight after his shower) and ill nurse him just before bed at 8pm. getting my OH to get up at night is like asking the sun to shine blue! and im not keen on doing CIO yet as i feel he is still too young and im not a fan of it. we recently went overseas for a month and he sleot int he bed with us during that time and since we came back (which was only 3 weeks ago) i moved him into his own room. i guess im hoping for too much to happen at one time... ill try the feeding for shorter and comforing him in the rocking chair. ill give that a week and see how we go! thank you for replying! ill let you know how i get on! :)

[ikkin]

... ps. how do i add the extra bit at the bottom of posts like some of you have
i.e kids birth dates, quotes etc

[bumMum]

Yes the thing is that it takes a while for babies to get used to New routines. If your partner won't get up at night will he do the 9 pm settle before bed?

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[Bundleoflove]

It's called a ticker, and you can make one and set it to come up automatically. There is a link I think on the home page at the top of the page.

[pcosbaby]

i gave my son a dummy, when i knew he wasn't really feeding anymore - ie, he was just sucking for comfort and out of habit. so I gave him a dummy, then in about a week, took away the dummy. He's slept through the night since. Else, if you're willing to let your baby cry it out - that works really well!:hissy: