those who have weaned from night feedings... help please!

sarbear2

We are thinking of weaning my LO from night feedings. He is 6 months, and I am not sure if he actually needs the feeding or is just waking up at out habit so I feed him and he goes back to sleep. It is just once a night.

So if you weaned, how did you go about doing it? We have been doing a little bit of the CIO, so do we just do the same method and use CIO intervals with it?

Any help or guidance would be great! Thanks!!

LaurenL977

We did progressive waiting (same as CIO, but better name for it, haha).  In the book, it talks about gradually stretching out the feedings.  Once your LO gets used to eating at night, he gets used to it and then his body needs it because that is what it is used to.  If you can gradually stretch it out and maybe lessen the amount you are feeding him each time, it may help to eventually end that feeding.  GL! 

sarbieb

Just did it last weekend! And it's worked like a charm! We sent my husband in every time she cried and she fell right back to sleep on him immedietly! When I would go in she would fuss and fight until I fed her. By the next night she was sleeping through the night knowing Mama wasn't coming in with the boobs! She just stopped waking for it. It was that simple! Try it and GL!!!

Lisa Frank

Is he bottle fed or breast fed?

If it's a bottle, start gradually decreasing the ounces he eats. Breast, cut back the minutes.

So, if it's a 6 oz bottle, do 5 for 2 days, then 4 for 2 days, then 3, then 2, then none. Make sure those ounces are being eaten during the day. Once you get to none, then you can do some form of graduated sleep training or whatever you are comfortable with, but you don't feed him in the MOTN. 

sarbieb

Agree with PP! My LO was down to just one minute of nursing and it was happening every hour from 4-7am so I knew it wasn't out of hunger. Don't stop cold turkey, definitely dwindle the amount/time and go from there.

Last night my LO woke randomly at 2am and but herself back to sleep before I could even get out of bed. It was fabulous! 

kateweave

Agree with the previous answers.  Also. I found that if I went in to pick her up and rock her a little she would smell me and start fussing for food.  If DH went in he could soothe her pretty quickly.  It didn't take very long for her to just figure out that she wasn't going to get any milk during the night and has been sleeping like a champ.

bbzangel70j

we waited longer and longer to feed when we first dropped night feedings. so if he was up at 330 fussing, we would do everything but feed which would normally take us to about 4... and so on.

so try everything but- and have your DH go in if he can. i swear my son can smell me and he would freak out when i put him close to my chest to rock him. he doesnt do it with my husband.

go in, pat the butt (my son loves this, no clue why), rub the back, turn on the white noise, shush, pick up and rock if you have to, change the diaper if necessary, repeat all of the above. if at that point baby isnt getting sleepy or is crying to eat- feed him!