how do you know when LO is ready for night weaning?

jonesie2010

LO is 7 months old and FF. She goes to bed around 6 or 6:30, so her last feeding is usually around 5:30 pm. She sleeps until 3-ish and then eats and goes back down for another 2 or 3 hours. (She sometimes wakes a time or two before 3 but will usually go back to sleep on her own after a few minutes of fussing. The 3 am wakeup is a more complete awakening.)

I would really like to lose the 3 am feeding but how do you know for sure when they're ready? I know I would never be able to tolerate 3 am CIO if I had the slightest shred of doubt that she might be crying out of hunger.

I asked the pedi but she wasn't much help. She said at this age she should be able to go 10 to 12 hours without eating, so she "might" be hungry at 3 am.

I've also tried putting her down later at night so that the wakeup comes at a more tolerable time. But she's not a great napper and she is usually DONE by 6 pm.

pinottoparenthood

Your baby is sleeping for almost ten hours before this feeding so she probably is hungry. Maybe try making that 3 am bottle a little smaller each day and see if she misses it or if you can eventually cut it out altogether?

08summerbride

We qre in the same boat here. Ds goes down at 6:30 for the night and is up sometime between 2 and 4 to eat and goes back to sleep until 6:30. My pedi told me the same thing at our 6 month check up....6:30 -3:00 is a long time, so he may very well be hungry, but if we wanted to try some cry it out we could.
I need to revisit my healthy sleep habits happy child book, but I think it says that one waking is still normal (unfortunately for us ).
My oldest was sleeping 6:30 to 6:30 with no night waking from 5 months on, so I was spoiled the first time around.

JTGochnour

We starting making her nighttime bottles smaller and smaller and eventually she weaned herself and slept through the nighttime feedings (99% of the time at least).  We do however feed her right before bed, then she sleeps from 7 until about 7 or 8 and then eats "breakfast" around 8:30am followed by solids. She does wake up throughout the night and fuss herself back to sleep.  She does drink a bottle every 2 1/2 to 3 hours during the day, plus solids three times per day, so it is a day of non-stop eating   She is 7 months.