My 8-month old son is a great sleeper, he takes two naps in the day and goes to sleep at 7:30 pm and stays asleep until around 4 am for a feed and then falls right back asleep until 6:30am. The only thing I've noticed is that since we've been on three solids a day, he has not been eating much when he breastfeeds at 4am. I think he is just waking up now purely because of habit. Last night, I let him cry for about 10 minutes to see if he would go back asleep but he just kept fussing in his crib until I got him and breastfeed him for about 3 minutes. I have heard that I should just give him less time at the breast when he does feed at 4am in the hopes that he will just realize that it's not worth waking up for anymore.
Does anyone have any experience/advice on how to wean him from breastfeeding at night? Thanks so much!
Have you tried giving him a pacifier. It's more that he needs the sucking rather then the meal. Try that. If you can just "plug" him up it will be much easier. I also keep an extra binky in the dresser so I wasn't searching in the middle of the night for a lost one.
I would do exactly that, Limit the time at the breast for several days and then when its time, maybe go in his room for some comfort time with no breastfeeding until he is ready on his own to sleep through it.
My son ate at 4am very well until he was about 4 months old and he fell asleep during the 4 am feeding and didn't finish. I took that to mean that he no longer needed it, and for a couple days I just went in and rocked him when he awoke at 4. After a few days it was all done, neat and clean.
Don't get me wrong though--he still woke up during other times for pacifier, help getting back to sleep, coughs, etc. But he never wanted to eat in the middle of the night again. And he immediately began eating more during the day, so I knew he was fine. Your son is old enough (and if he is in a normal weight bracket, he is big enough) now to go from dinner to breakfast with no food.
So don't worry about that.
Good Luck!!
my daughter was closer to 11 months when we went through this and she was definatly waking out of habit and not because she was hungry. I let her cry one night for 30 min (she was fussing more than anything of course wanting me to come in and nurse her back to sleep). She is 2 and has slept through the night everynight since then with the exception of being sick. If you can get through the hard part it is so worth it for both of you- we both started getting more/better sleep.
Good luck!
If it's possible in your situation, have dad get up when the baby cries and have dad pick him up for a few minutes, put him down, pet him on the head a little and leave. This worked well for us. at first i tried just soothe my daughter and not nurse, but she kept wanting to nurse (same thing 2-3 min only), so we figured it will be very hard for her to wean if i were the one picking her up. so for a few days dad started going to her. she was a little fussy, but he was very patient with her, and then after 4-5 days she figured he's got nothing for her and stopped waking up. he sometimes offered her a bottle, but she didn't want that.
so, you just have to get over a few nights of him fussing and crying, but it's really not that bad, and it doesn't last more than 15 - 20 min max (which, yes i know could feel like eternity, but really it's not that bad!) i made sure to cover my head with a pillow for the few minutes she cried, so i don't hear her and be able to control the urge to get up. my husband is extremely good with our daughter, but all you really need for this exercise is a few days of patience. and if you are able to do it this way with your husband getting up, make sure you don't "mess" with his methods, he needs to be the one to figure it out. if you get up and your son smells you, he'll want to nurse. so just let dad do his thing, and support him and be thankful he is willing to get up in the middle of the night.
Good luck, it will all work itself out!
Hi C.- What I did for that night time feeding was go and pick him up and stand in front of his crib and rock. I usually would sit in the rocker and nurse but I figured if I didn't sit in the rocker he couldn't expect to nurse it took about 1 week but he stopped waking up. Now he will still cry out once in a while but settles back down within 1-5 minutes. I tried the CIO method but it didn't work for us.
C.,
Congratulations on breastfeeding, it's the best thing you can do for your cutie!
You can try night weaning, but remember: with the later months of babyhood comes - TEETHING, especially molars.
Nursing for comfort during teething is one of the best non-drug induced pain-relievers ever. (and like all pain relievers, not perfect, but best of the lot).
He may only be going 3 minutes because he has a mission and is getting in 3 minutes what he normally gets at leisure during the day.
Good luck,
M.
by 8 months the night time feeding is probally just habitual. i would check with your pediatrician first to see what is recommended.
when i weaned my little one from night time feedings, i just let him fuss in his crib for a while....it took about 3-7 days.
for the next few months, there were a few times when i would nurse him at night...usually when he was sick...but for the most part he has been sleeping thru the night without difficulty.
good luck!
