EBF night weaning

[gingy]

When do you EBF mommas plan to night wean? LO has been sleeping better, except she makes it to about 3:30-4 for her MOTN feeding. She goes back down pretty quickly, except I have the hardest time going back to sleep. Then LO is up for the day by 6. I don't know how to move the feeding (dream feeds don't seem to make any difference) and wonder if night weaning will make a difference. I don't want to do it too early though and tank my supply.

[mrsnorris]

Honestly, this may be totally naive but I'm assuming that when she stops needing to eat MOTN she'll stop doing so. Right now (we mostly bed share) if she wakes up and isn't hungry (this is very rare) she'll quickly settle with just a hand resting on her stomach for a minute. So I'm assuming that when she's not legit hungry anymore MOTN she'll either stop waking or go right back to sleep upon waking and mostly STTN. But if there's one thing A14 has taught me it's that they're all their own people and this just my best guess about my LO. Also, I may very well be insane to think that anything could ever be that simple with a baby.

[sosayweall]

My DS does the same thing and I am just going to go with it for now. One thing I have heard of is kind of dream feeding them an hour before they normally wake and gradually doing it less and less. I am too lazy to try it right now but it might be worth a try.

[booksandlace]

No plans to wean here. My goal is to sustain my milk supply until she's a year old and if I have to wake up to feed her I will

[weeklyplanner]

I think with only one night waking, she might really need to eat. At this age, if a LO is waking say 3+ times a night, I'd guess that some of it is for comfort and not just nutrition (but what do I know?!). If I was in your situation, I'd probably just wake up and feed for at least a few more months.

My DS used to go 12 hours at night and wake around 6:30 am to eat. The past week or so he's been waking at 5 to eat and then naps in bed with me until about 6:30. I figure if he's suddenly waking he must be hungrier. But, we have to give him his reflux meds at 5:00 and then wait with a crying baby until 5:30 for him to eat. So, I totally get that it's hard to settle back to sleep after all the commotion of waking to feed!

[puffandstuff]

I'm going to let her wean on her own. DD1 stopped around 8 months and even then it wasn't every night.

[gingy]

I agree that if she's waking she needs to eat, I just wish she'd do it a little earlier. I was more wondering the time frame for night weaning so I could tell myself "OK, just x more months of this". She's like an hour away from sttn. This is more tiring than the multiple wake ups.

Also, I realized what a twat I sound like to everyone still dealing with multiple wake ups. I'm aware and I'm sorry.

[briarrose]

I also have been thinking about this, but I am dealing with like 3 wake ups. DH works nights so I am alone, and the best way I can get him to settle is milk. I know I should probably try other techniques but I am just so damn tired. If I had help more then 1 night a week I would be more likely to try. I guess I am hoping he starts sleeping better on his own (although that is looking less and less likely). I feel like I will really evaluate what's going on a couple months from now, especially once he is getting solids. Oh would I love to be down to just one feeding a night.

[minervamae]

The only night weaning I've ever done is to eliminate comfort nursing sessions. My first was very bad about wanting to pacify back to sleep every 2-3 hours. So at about 9 months I started ending the session if she wasn't eating. It was hard for a few nights, but resulted in fewer wake ups after she got used to it...as she only woke up when she really needed to eat...which was still every 4-5 hours. She was a high needs baby, if you can't tell. If they're actually eating, I figure they need the nutrients and I want them to continue to listen to their body. JMHO.

[gingy]

Feb 9, 2015 11:48:55 GMT -5 minervamae said:

The only night weaning I've ever done is to eliminate comfort nursing sessions. My first was very bad about wanting to pacify back to sleep every 2-3 hours. So at about 9 months I started ending the session if she wasn't eating. It was hard for a few nights, but resulted in fewer wake ups after she got used to it...as she only woke up when she really needed to eat...which was still every 4-5 hours. She was a high needs baby, if you can't tell. If they're actually eating, I figure they need the nutrients and I want them to continue to listen to their body. JMHO.

This is my DD exactly. I need to suck it up and go to bed sooner. I've eliminated most of the comfort sessions so I should just be happy with what I've got. I just don't get how more sleep=more tired!

[gingy]

Has anyone had any success changing the time of a feeding? I'm cool with waking up, but in a perfect world it would be more in the true middle of the night, not an hour before wake up.

[minervamae]

Feb 9, 2015 11:54:17 GMT -5 gingy said:

Feb 9, 2015 11:48:55 GMT -5 minervamae said:

The only night weaning I've ever done is to eliminate comfort nursing sessions. My first was very bad about wanting to pacify back to sleep every 2-3 hours. So at about 9 months I started ending the session if she wasn't eating. It was hard for a few nights, but resulted in fewer wake ups after she got used to it...as she only woke up when she really needed to eat...which was still every 4-5 hours. She was a high needs baby, if you can't tell. If they're actually eating, I figure they need the nutrients and I want them to continue to listen to their body. JMHO.

This is my DD exactly. I need to suck it up and go to bed sooner. I've eliminated most of the comfort sessions so I should just be happy with what I've got. I just don't get how more sleep=more tired!

Yeah...some nights when the older girls sleep and the baby gets up only twice I'm more tired then when all of them get up multiple times. There are certain times in my sleep cycle that are just murder to get woken up during. For me two three hour sessions are much better than one five hour session of sleep.

[gingy]

Feb 9, 2015 11:58:12 GMT -5 minervamae said:

Feb 9, 2015 11:54:17 GMT -5 gingy said:

This is my DD exactly. I need to suck it up and go to bed sooner. I've eliminated most of the comfort sessions so I should just be happy with what I've got. I just don't get how more sleep=more tired!

Yeah...some nights when the older girls sleep and the baby gets up only twice I'm more tired then when all of them get up multiple times. There are certain times in my sleep cycle that are just murder to get woken up during. For me two three hour sessions are much better than one five hour session of sleep.

Completely this! I have never been able to function on little sleep. I really should not even be allowed to converse with the human race when I don't get sleep, so you can imagine the gem I've been the last 5 months.

[daisylola11]

I'm waiting it out too, we've gotten down to eating twice only. But I've also noticed the few times I've gotten more than 4hrs of uninterrupted sleep I actually feel more tired. It sucks I wonder if our bodies have just gotten use to little sleep and adapted, now it's like having too long of a nap and feeling groggy.

[minervamae]

Feb 9, 2015 12:03:05 GMT -5 daisylola11 said:

I'm waiting it out too, we've gotten down to eating twice only. But I've also noticed the few times I've gotten more than 4hrs of uninterrupted sleep I actually feel more tired. It sucks I wonder if our bodies have just gotten use to little sleep and adapted, now it's like having too long of a nap and feeling groggy.

This is what it feels like!

[annapunkalunka]

Feb 9, 2015 11:33:06 GMT -5 briarrose said:

I also have been thinking about this, but I am dealing with like 3 wake ups. DH works nights so I am alone, and the best way I can get him to settle is milk. I know I should probably try other techniques but I am just so damn tired. If I had help more then 1 night a week I would be more likely to try. I guess I am hoping he starts sleeping better on his own (although that is looking less and less likely). I feel like I will really evaluate what's going on a couple months from now, especially once he is getting solids. Oh would I love to be down to just one feeding a night.

This is us. I'm sure she's doing it for comfort but I don't have the energy and patience MOTN to deal... Especially when it's so easy to pop a boob in her mouth. I just keep telling myself this won't be forever and I'll miss it some day.

[Courtniko]

So um, dumb question here. How do I know when she is comfort nursing vs. nursing for food?

[daisylola11]

Feb 9, 2015 13:49:58 GMT -5 Courtniko said:

So um, dumb question here. How do I know when she is comfort nursing vs. nursing for food?

I know he can go 4 hrs at night and 3 during the day so if he wants to nurse in between its comfort nursing. Also the way he eats is very different, you can hear him swallowing hard vs just feeling a little sucking and swallowing every so often. I guess it's hard to explain haha

[Courtniko]

Feb 9, 2015 14:04:16 GMT -5 daisylola11 said:

Feb 9, 2015 13:49:58 GMT -5 Courtniko said:

So um, dumb question here. How do I know when she is comfort nursing vs. nursing for food?

I know he can go 4 hrs at night and 3 during the day so if he wants to nurse in between its comfort nursing. Also the way he eats is very different, you can hear him swallowing hard vs just feeling a little sucking and swallowing every so often. I guess it's hard to explain haha

Thanks.  Yeah, she always initially acts ravenous when she first starts eating MOTN.  It often slows down to what you are talking about after a minute or two, but it always starts out like she is starving.

[daisylola11]

Feb 9, 2015 14:20:03 GMT -5 Courtniko said:

Feb 9, 2015 14:04:16 GMT -5 daisylola11 said:

I know he can go 4 hrs at night and 3 during the day so if he wants to nurse in between its comfort nursing. Also the way he eats is very different, you can hear him swallowing hard vs just feeling a little sucking and swallowing every so often. I guess it's hard to explain haha

Thanks.  Yeah, she always initially acts ravenous when she first starts eating MOTN.  It often slows down to what you are talking about after a minute or two, but it always starts out like she is starving.

I started giving the paci more often at night and that helped too, sometimes they just want something to suck on

[Courtniko]

Feb 9, 2015 14:27:35 GMT -5 daisylola11 said:

Feb 9, 2015 14:20:03 GMT -5 Courtniko said:

Thanks.  Yeah, she always initially acts ravenous when she first starts eating MOTN.  It often slows down to what you are talking about after a minute or two, but it always starts out like she is starving.

I started giving the paci more often at night and that helped too, sometimes they just want something to suck on

I wish she would take a paci, she acts like I am trying to kill her whenever I try to give her one
DH claims that she will take one when I am not around, maybe I should try having him giver her one MOTN, hmm...  I like this idea

[daisylola11]

Courtniko win win hehe

[caybeh]

DD wakes up once a night. I have no plans currently to night wean. She's fast and we are usually back pretty to bed quick.

[Deleted]

I would love to night wean, even did some reading about it this weekend, but came to the conclusion that it isn't time. I am just frustrated because we have gone from one feeding to two, but I think it is teething related or a growth spurt. I always offer the paci first because we also sometimes have wakeups just to fuss. I am hoping it resolves itself.