Night feeding

LisaLisa1980

I don't know what happened, but over the past little while I've hated the feeling of BF. It feels like someone flicking your nips while you just have to take it. It's irritating! There's nothing to "correct" either - he's just soo gentle. It's the worst at night because he's half asleep & so the sucking is even more slow. I'll take it out & he'll just scream. Most times he'll calm down & go back to sleep but when he doesn't, I just dread to continue feeding. I really just want to be done BF. I hate it.

He had a sippy cup that was really great but then he chewed a hole in the spout & I haven't been able to find it in stores. The sippy he uses now gives out too much water so he chokes everytime. He has not learned to slow down - otherwise Id give him a sippy at night instead.

I dunno what to do. Is it normal to just hate the feeling of BF after a yr of doing it?? When do they stop needing to eat at night? He eats A LOT during the day too.

bumpuser794640

I don't BF since LO is adopted, but we stopped feeding him at night right at 9 months, or a week or so before. It had gotten to just being a habit, so we slowly cut down the amount of his nighttime feed to 2oz, and then stopped offering it when he woke at night. I'm sure some other BF moms can give you better advice, though

greenangeleyes

Is he nursing for food or comfort? My LO occasionally nurses at night, but I've found that if its for comfort I can hold him like I would to breast feed but give him a paci and he just falls asleep. Most of the time for me it is because he misses me and wants to spend time with me.

LisaLisa1980

greenangeleyes said:

Is he nursing for food or comfort? My LO occasionally nurses at night, but I've found that if its for comfort I can hold him like I would to breast feed but give him a paci and he just falls asleep. Most of the time for me it is because he misses me and wants to spend time with me.

Honestly, I don't know. Most likely comfort, but he won't let me just hold him. He screams like he's on fire if I do that.

=Lee=B

I've heard the gentle way to night wean is to shorten each night feed by like 2minutes then shorten again until the feeds are so short they don't bother waking.  That said, if this pisses him off it may not help :-)  If he's drowsy and has some in his belly and you can unlatch him early it might help to slowly get his tummy used to not feeding.

How often is he nursing?  My daughter is 13months now and recently started going longer...now about 5hrs between feeds, I thought the day would never come when she'd go longer than 2hrs (day and night) but all of a sudden she was going 3hrs, now 5hrs and has even gone 6-7hrs at random. 

 

LisaLisa1980

=Lee=B said:

I've heard the gentle way to night wean is to shorten each night feed by like 2minutes then shorten again until the feeds are so short they don't bother waking.  That said, if this pisses him off it may not help :-)  If he's drowsy and has some in his belly and you can unlatch him early it might help to slowly get his tummy used to not feeding.

How often is he nursing?  My daughter is 13months now and recently started going longer...now about 5hrs between feeds, I thought the day would never come when she'd go longer than 2hrs (day and night) but all of a sudden she was going 3hrs, now 5hrs and has even gone 6-7hrs at random. 

 

I'm still nursing every 2-3 hrs when it's a day at home because he also comfort nurses & it calms him down when he has a tantrum. It also gives me 10 minutes to sit in peace lol. If it's a day my H is home and we're going out, he can go longer stretches & I usually give water for thirst. He has slept 7 hrs w/o eating 2x now.

amie444

Can you send your DH in to try to comfort? That is how we dropped our Middle of the night feeds. I wasn't that difficult either. Because the association with eating went away. I can now go in and comfort no problem.

jlpev

Dd was doing that at night. I just start shortening her nursing session. I would lay her down drowsy & she cried for a little bit but eventually would fall to asleep. After 3 days she stopped nursing at night & is sttn now at 10 months.
Nursing is exhausting!! I nursed ds 13 months & dd almost 11 months. It wears you down but find something else for him as a comfort. That will help you. Ds was a huge comfort nurser.
Good luck & be proud that you nursed this long.

LisaLisa1980

amie444 said:

Can you send your DH in to try to comfort? That is how we dropped our Middle of the night feeds. I wasn't that difficult either. Because the association with eating went away. I can now go in and comfort no problem.

Yes, we take turns going in, but he can't be the one going in there all night

taraleanne

LisaLisa1980 said:

Can you send your DH in to try to comfort? That is how we dropped our Middle of the night feeds. I wasn't that difficult either. Because the association with eating went away. I can now go in and comfort no problem.

Yes, we take turns going in, but he can't be the one going in there all night

LOL, why not?? I'm mostly kidding- but seriously, why not? Just for a few days? I mean, how long have you been doing it? Months, right? We had a problem in month 8 where my LO wouldn't settle for me when he woke in the MOTN. He would seriously just lay in my arms and stare at me and play with my nose. If BF would put him back to sleep (and trust me, I tried that) I wouldn't have complained, but it did not work. Rocking, co-sleeping. Nothing. Send hubby in and he's in and out within 5mins.  Luckily it was a phase that passed for us and he's back to STTN.   It sounds like your LO is mostly nursing for comfort and maybe sending your hubby in would help break that. I hope you find a solution that works for you and baby soon. GL!

LisaLisa1980

Because he works. That's why we take turns. I can't be going in there all night either because I need energy for the next day & vice versa. Nursing does put him to sleep, but so does my H rocking him, but I don't think it's fair for H to be the only one going in there.

=Lee=B

There's nothing fair about raising a child :-)

You can try having hubby take over night duties over a weekend, or better yet a long weekend.  Even 2-3 nights of breaking the comfort nursing habit can help (should you want to break that habit)...then when hubby needs to go back to work you can resume your dual efforts of going in...but by then you might be successful at comforting him in a different way because it's been a few nights.

It sucks for him...but night duty always sucks.  You can make up for it by taking over some extra baby duties during the day so your hubby can nap or something. 

When my husband had a few days off he took over the night duties.  He would go in and settle her.  If she didn't settle he would bring her to me to nurse then take her back to get her to sleep.  It worked wonders.  It was the first nights in a year I didn't do night duties as I had been doing all night wake up (bedsharing with her in her room).  It was the first time in a year I got more than 2hrs sleep :-).  It did greatly help break the nursing out of habit...she now lets him know when she wants to nurse by saying "mum" when he walks in the room at night.  She only does this when she needs to nurse the rest of the time she just lies down and lets him tuck her in and find her soother and blanket.

It really can do wonders to have someone else take over just to break the current habits.  It will suck for hubby...but the pay off in the long run is everyone sleeping longer stretches.

 

GRJC

First, you need to talk to the Dr. and see what he/she says.  If there is nothing you can do and it's painful, personally, I would stop.  Do what's best for you and your baby.

Secondly, how old is he?  He should not need any night time feedings after six months.  If he is waking up, it's for other reasons. He's used to getting up (in which case I would try to get him back to sleep/sleep training that you feel comfortable with) maybe wet diaper, etc.

I quit breast feeding around nine weeks.  It just didn't work for me for other reasons but once I did it was the best decision for me.  You have to do what's good for you.

My son started SSTN at 12 weeks.  We did the CIO method. Not for everyone, but it worked for us.  Maybe look into something that works for you.  Good luck!