Weaning and Sleeping Through the Night

My little girl is now 8 years old and I remember how hard it was to get her to sleep through the night! I bf her until she was three months because she decided she didn't want it and then bottle feed until almost one! She constantly woke up but after a week of just going in and patting her back (not saying anything) and walking away it finally worked. But it's too young to start now unless there are other methods out there I wish I knew about!

Hi A.,
i was 18 when i had my 1st son and he is now 11 and remenber how hard it was at that age to have a child so young. i nursed him for a couple of months and he never had a problem with the bottle. i am sorry to hear that your baby;s father is out of the picture. that makes everything so much harder b/c you are the one with all the burden. i was wondering if you have any family thaa can help ypu maybe your mom or someone else can offer the baby a bottle. do you live by yourself or with anyone. she probably won't take a bottle from yopu b/c it seesm you strictly nursed her. i would keep introducing the bottle a little at a time and hope she will eventually catch onand as far as the sleeping issue goes. that was long gone once you gave birth. maybe try given her cereal right before bed if she is on solids already. also you can use tap water if you plan on making a bottle in the middle of the night, it only has to be luke warm and then you mix the formula in. you don't have to sterilize the bottle and or heat it up the old fashion way at this stage. i commend you for having a baby so young and for sticking with the nursing her for 6 months. i am sorry i can't offer more advice but it will get better as time goes on. hang in there your doing a great job it sounds like. ok kelly if yopu want to talk my e-mail is ____@____.com

Hi there - congratulation on successful breastfeeding to 6 months. Are there other factors surrounding your interest in weaning your baby or is it just lack of sleep? You have done so well so far, if you can continue another six months of breastfeeding, you will have given your child an excellent gift (not to mention saved yourself hundreds of dollars on unnecessary formula - which your child could reject or have an adverse reaction to).

There is no reason to wean at this point. Your child still needs to eat during the night - even up to 9 months they need to potentially have one feed. You're right, breastfeeding her is SO much easier, especially in the middle of the night when you don't have to fuss about making and heating bottles (never mind it sounds like your daughter has no interest in taking a bottle for you).

I found it so much easier to breastfeed my son when he woke at night as not only did it satisfy his hunger, but the suckling he gets at the breast has a calming effect and would put him back to sleep within about 10 minutes at that stage.

What I would do is perhaps research some sleep techniques that you can use to help your daughter self-soothe back to sleep and only call on you if she is indeed hungry. There are a couple of books I would recommend - the No Cry Sleep Solution or Happy Sleep Habits Heatly Child (by Weissbluth). 6 months is a good time to start thinking about sleep training, but as I said, your child may still need a middle of the night feed right up to 9 months old.

She will go for longer stretches naturally in time and in the grand scheme of things, this is a blip in time (though, I work full time and know full well how tired you are!). Things will get easier, but have a look at those two books and don't wean yet - there's no need to do so!

Good job mama and best of luck!

PS - NEVER add cereal to a bottle - it is a choking hazard.

As far as breastfeeding for six months, "Kudos to you!" As far as the sleep ideas, they are all great but, I would never, never, never put cereal in the bottle, espeically since he is so used to the breastmilk. Formula is bad enough without adding the dificulty of cereal to digest. I would have to say that I agree and you may want to keep trying nursing. Do you try nursing him in the bed with you? I lie down and nurse my son and I am always alseep before he is. Then he just sleeps. Much easier than getting up and giving a bottle. Or even to get up and nurse. If you need more help that I may be able to give you, feel free to contact me at ____@____.com
And good luck!!

hey dear meant to ask u the other day are you using formular or B/M in the bottles? Call me. I Love Both of my Girls So Much! K&H Mom

Do you give her a bottle before she goes to be? And if so do you put some cereal in it? That's what I do with my son (who is 6 months old) and he sleeps from 8 p.m. until 5-6 a.m. Something to try. By filling up her belly before she goes to sleep might help her sleep through the night! Good luck and let us know what worked! :)

My daughter Genevieve is 13m. and went through the same thing. We actually "ferberized" her at 6m. Before that, we would give her a bottle around 2-4am and she would go right back down. Her pediatrition told us that it's terrible for their teeth(Gen already had 6 then) and gave us a print out about it. It us 2 sleepless nights, but now she'll sleep through the night from 7-8pm-6:30-7am. We would go in when she cried and would pat her back and talk soothingly to her and leave. We would go in and out every 5 min. for 20 min. and then every 10 min. for the remainder of the hour. It definitely sucks, but it's worth it in the end. Do you have any kind of help? Do you live w/ your parents? You're going to need to sleep the day after doing this if you choose to do this. If all else fails, ask her pediatrition and they'll give you some ideas. GOOD LUCK!!

I am currently working on my second child...my first is now two years old and she was the worst sleeper in the world. I realized for her the problem was me. I gave in too easily. I wouldwake up easily and after about 10 mins of hearing her cry, i would give in and nurse her. My excuses were, I didn't want to wake up neighbors, husband, or I needed my sleep. these are good excuses but they are not going to help long term.
My peditrican recommended a steady ritual and white noise. So I would give her a bath, feed her, show her a couple picture books and hold her with her bink until she was a little drowsy and put her down with some white noise in the room. The first few nights were touch and go, and there was a lot of crying from both of us. She is a great sleeper now. My four month old is now sleeping 7-8 hours and both my children were 100% breastfed.
As far as the bottle is concerned, I found both my children had problems if the nipple wasn't right and if I didn't hold the bottle stiff. A breastfed baby is used to a little resistance when they suck ( your breast isn't moving around) so hold that bottle stiff and make sure there is enough flow...warmer milk (not too warm) seems to flow better.
M.

A.,
Good for you for nursing her for her first 6 months so far! not all moms make it, as nursing can be tough- but the rewards are fully worth it!
As for dd sleeping through the night, most breastfed babies don't. A 6 hour stretch is "through the night" for a nursing baby, and society really puts undue expectations on babies and moms to make it longer. That being said, you can try a few things to help her stay asleep longer- when you put her to bed, do you nurse her to sleep? Try to keep her a little bit awake, and lie her in her bed sleepy, but not sleeping. Keep a hand on her until she's asleep if she protests. As for weaning, do you feel like you are both ready for weaning? It makes it harder for both of you to wean if baby isn't ready, especially if she won't take a bottle from you. If you can continue, it's really great for both of you- the bf'ing relationship only gets better, and the benefits far outweigh the hassle if you've been happy with nursing until now. Only wean if you are truly ready (not because you feel like you should bc she's 6mo, or bc someone said so), and you'll need someone to do bottle duty for you. Here's the kicker- while you're nursing, she likely won't sleep all night. While you're weaning, it will likely get worse. And while you're waiting for her to sleep all night to wean...she may be a year old by then! Go with your instinct on this one, and good luck! You can email me offlist if you need more support for weaning or sleeping!! Good luck!

My son is 8 months, breastfed and doesn't sleep through the night either. My theory is that the milk is easier to digest than formula hence the night-waking. We've co-slept from the very beginning and my Husband and I are trying to get him to sleep in his pack and play. He wakes once, maybe twice a night and we give him solids before bed and supplement with formula on the nights I have class. It's what works for us but he's still waking, even at 8 months.