Attachment Parenting

night weaning?

I am looking for some advice.  My daughter is only 9months but I am looking for info now for the coming months when I will hopefully be able to drop a night feed (or 2, or 3).  My daughter is a creature of habit and nurses every 2hrs, round the clock.  Since birth she has been a gulper and my milk has been FAST.  At birth her feeds were 8-10min, then they dropped to 4-6min at about 10weeks and now they are about 3min.  She is getting a full feed as far as I can tell, I hear her guzzling it and she chokes and gags at times.

At night she and I bedshare on a bed in her room. I recently moved the mattress to the floor so I can sleep with my husband in the early evening with less concern of her rolling off the bed (she's yet to roll in bed at all, but I worry).  She wakes every 2hrs, on the dot to feed.  It's the same length and speed as during the day.  Guzzles back a full feed, unlatches, and conks back out.

Come mid-January I will be starting a home daycare, adding one child at a time so all adjust nicely.  Come spring I'd hope to have a few young children in care...and would like to have some longer stretches of sleep at night :-)

What should I be doing now to make that transition go smoother?  How do I know when it is ok to drop a feed?  At 9 months does she NEED these feeds?  I can't help but think she does as they are full feeds not just a boob in mouth to fall asleep.

She is BLW and LOVES her food.  She LOVES her food.  But, no matter how much or how often she has food she nurses ever 2hrs round the clock lol. 

She is 9months, 28.5inches tall and 19lbs13oz.  She seems a great size to me, not scrawny but not bulging so I don't feel she is over/under eating.  She has consistently been on the same growth trend (about 75th for height and 50th for weight using full-term charts).  If it matters any, she was born 35w0d (after 4 weeks on bedrest for contractions) she was 8lbs0oz at birth.

Oh, one last thing.  She has been feeding every 2hrs, round the clock for a good 6months or longer (she never went longer than that).  We've had a few random stretches of 3-5 nights where she'd do a 5hr stretch...then right back to her 2hr pattern.

Any advice for how to eventually stretch out our night feeds? 

 

Re: night weaning?

  • At 9 months, I might hesitate to wean from any "normal" feedings. It does sound like when she wakes, it is to legitimately feed, not just comfort-suck. Since breastmilk is still her sole source of nutrition (solids at this point are still for play and motor skills practice), I would feed her when she wakes. However, you do need to decide what will work best for you and your family. This is just my $0.02.

    Sounds like you have a forceful letdown and possibly a bit of an oversupply, based on your description of her feedings. It may be that she nurses more frequently because she gets more foremilk and fills up on it fast, so she needs to nurse again sooner. Before doing any weaning, I might try massaging your breasts before she nurses, in the direction of your nipple, to help combine the cream that has separated and risen to the top. You can also lean over and gently shake your breasts, or even hand express a little bit before nursing (easier done during the day). If she gets a fair bit of high-calorie, fatty milk when she nurses, even just for a few minutes, that may take longer for her to metabolize and make her less likely to wake hungry so soon.

    If she is in the habit of waking so frequently, it may be a week or more before she begins sleeping longer, even if she is filling up on a nicely blended milk. ;) You might start to notice more comfort sucking when she wakes than legitimate feeds, which is a great sign that longer sleep is on the way!

    If you would like some recommendations about how you can adjust your supply a bit, if you think you might have an oversupply, let me know and I'll send it your way!
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  • Also, it's great that she loves solids! But some caution is recommended in how much is offered. Breastmilk is much much more nutrient and calorie dense, and so at her age, LO should not eat enough solids to replace any breastmilk she might get (that's effectively diluting her total daily calorie/nutrient intake). Many people think that solids will help babies gain weight, but in reality they can have the opposite effect.

    Just something to be aware of. Sounds like your DD is getting just the right amount of solids, because she's still nursing just as much as before solids! :)
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  • What @Emerald27 said.  Really, all of it.  Excellent advice.
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  • Emerald27 said:
    Also, it's great that she loves solids! But some caution is recommended in how much is offered. Breastmilk is much much more nutrient and calorie dense, and so at her age, LO should not eat enough solids to replace any breastmilk she might get (that's effectively diluting her total daily calorie/nutrient intake). Many people think that solids will help babies gain weight, but in reality they can have the opposite effect. Just something to be aware of. Sounds like your DD is getting just the right amount of solids, because she's still nursing just as much as before solids! :)
    Yep...I was worried about this a month or so ago and asked on the breastfeeding board as to how to know how much is too much.  She's still taking same number and length of nursing sessions so we'll stay status quo but I do watch to make sure she's not dropping nursing sessions.  The main thing is that while she is happy to sit there a long time eating food...most of it does still end up on her, the tray, the floor, the walls and us.  So I don't believe she is eating as much as she would if I spoon fed her  but she is her happiest (aside from being at the boob) in her chair with a chunk of steak or a pork chop lol.

     

  • Emerald27 said:
    At 9 months, I might hesitate to wean from any "normal" feedings. It does sound like when she wakes, it is to legitimately feed, not just comfort-suck. Since breastmilk is still her sole source of nutrition (solids at this point are still for play and motor skills practice), I would feed her when she wakes. However, you do need to decide what will work best for you and your family. This is just my $0.02. Sounds like you have a forceful letdown and possibly a bit of an oversupply, based on your description of her feedings. It may be that she nurses more frequently because she gets more foremilk and fills up on it fast, so she needs to nurse again sooner. Before doing any weaning, I might try massaging your breasts before she nurses, in the direction of your nipple, to help combine the cream that has separated and risen to the top. You can also lean over and gently shake your breasts, or even hand express a little bit before nursing (easier done during the day). If she gets a fair bit of high-calorie, fatty milk when she nurses, even just for a few minutes, that may take longer for her to metabolize and make her less likely to wake hungry so soon. If she is in the habit of waking so frequently, it may be a week or more before she begins sleeping longer, even if she is filling up on a nicely blended milk. ;) You might start to notice more comfort sucking when she wakes than legitimate feeds, which is a great sign that longer sleep is on the way! If you would like some recommendations about how you can adjust your supply a bit, if you think you might have an oversupply, let me know and I'll send it your way!


    I will try some of those ideas then touch base for more.  I do notice that the instant she latches she is already gulping and on the few occasions where she has to suck a bit for milk first she freaks out and gets sooooo mad that she has to work for her milk.  I definitely have a forceful let down (I can hear it hitting the back of her mouth). 

    The problem is she likes it the way things are.  If I were to try and slow things down she would go into hysterics.  I do only nurse on one side at a time, which I started when she was a month or so old in hopes of her getting more fatty milk.  But your ideas might help even more!!

    Thanks.  This was the info I am looking for. I have no intentions of making her skip a feed on my doing but was hoping for some ideas, like these, that may start to stretch her night feeds out to 2.5, then 3hrs so that by 12months I'm not feeding her 12 times at night, but maybe 10, then 8 and so on.

    One more question.  She is MPI so I cut out all milk/dairy about 7 months ago.  Would that make my milk less fatty?

     

  • Quoting on mobile is hard, so I'm going to do it this way. ;)

    @=Lee=B said; "She is MPI so I cut out all milk/dairy about 7 months ago. Would that make my milk less fatty?

    Have you tried phasing in any dairy? Babies sometimes outgrow milk protein intolerances between 6 and 18 months. It might be worth asking your pedi if she/he would recommend trying adding a small amount of dairy back into your diet and seeing if it affects her.

    It is important to make sure you have lots of good, healthy fats in your diet. The amount of fat in your diet does not change the amount of fat in your milk (unless quite extreme), but the type of fat in your milk will mirror the type of fat in your diet. So if you consume healthy oils, some nuts, and lean meats, those fats will be the fats present in your milk. :)

    The nutrients in your milk are drawn from both your diet and your body's nutritional stores.

    Hope this helps! If you like, I can pass along some resources about nutrition for breastfeeding and for mamas whose babies have food intolerances/allergies.
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  • Emerald27 said:
    Quoting on mobile is hard, so I'm going to do it this way. ;)@=Lee=B said; "She is MPI so I cut out all milk/dairy about 7 months ago. Would that make my milk less fatty? Have you tried phasing in any dairy? Babies sometimes outgrow milk protein intolerances between 6 and 18 months. It might be worth asking your pedi if she/he would recommend trying adding a small amount of dairy back into your diet and seeing if it affects her. It is important to make sure you have lots of good, healthy fats in your diet. The amount of fat in your diet does not change the amount of fat in your milk (unless quite extreme), but the type of fat in your milk will mirror the type of fat in your diet. So if you consume healthy oils, some nuts, and lean meats, those fats will be the fats present in your milk. :) The nutrients in your milk are drawn from both your diet and your body's nutritional stores. Hope this helps! If you like, I can pass along some resources about nutrition for breastfeeding and for mamas whose babies have food intolerances/allergies.


    EPIC FAIL :-(  I was so hopeful a month or so ago and tried a bit of baked-in milk.  Fail.  She recovered then I mistakenly had something with a bit of dairy the other night at a Christmas party and she is still recovering.  Her diaper rash is so bad she is bleeding.  Her pattern is that it will be a few more days before she stops pooping 12plus times a day, then a few more days to heal the rash after that.  It's heart breaking, she is in so much pain.  I really hope it clears for Christmas :-(

    I'm always game for more reading on the healthy eating for breastfeeding and the MPI if you don't mind!

     

  • Aww. Sounds like she is still very very sensitive! Poor girl, and poor mama! That's quite the sacrifice you're making, giving up dairy for your little girl. Kudos!

    I'll dig around for some resources to share. I'm in the car now (don't worry, DH is driving. Lol) but will be home soon and can share some links from my computer. :)
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