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Anyone successfully phase out night nursings?

CubbyMamaCubbyMama
in Breastfeeding

If so, how did you go about it?

My 8-month-old still wakes up numerous times a night, often wanting to nurse.  She's getting plenty of milk and solids during the day, is plenty chunky, and has occasionally had a night where she only nursed once (and once, she went an entire night without a feeding) so I feel like it would be OK to gently try to phase out the night feedings and hope it will also decrease/eliminate her night wakings. 

TIA for any advice/experiences!

image
Kiwi Fruit, 10.2.06 & Ellie Bug, 4.5.09

My blog: Bear With Us
Ideas on Teaching Your Toddler/Preschooler at Home

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Re: Anyone successfully phase out night nursings?

  • Temp6313048411121614Temp6313048411121614 member
    DS1 woke to nurse until he was 14.5m (we eventually broke down and did CIO).  Other than CIO, maybe you could try giving her a pacifier when she wakes to nurse.  I could see the first few nights being rough (keeps waking), but maybe she'll get used to it and not need any form of CIO (that's what I'm planning on doing if the twins wake as much as DS1 did).  GL with whatever you decide to try.
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  • CubbyMamaCubbyMama

    imageAussie*s_Mom:
    DS1 woke to nurse until he was 14.5m (we eventually broke down and did CIO).  Other than CIO, maybe you could try giving her a pacifier when she wakes to nurse.  I could see the first few nights being rough (keeps waking), but maybe she'll get used to it and not need any form of CIO (that's what I'm planning on doing if the twins wake as much as DS1 did).  GL with whatever you decide to try.

    Yeah, I have tried giving her a paci off and on, but she gets mad and smacks my hand away, or takes it and throws it down! lol  If she wants to nurse, the only way she'll (sometimes) take a paci is if I keep just putting it in and leaving, letting her cry for a couple of minutes, and repeating.  I feel like if she's in the habit of being fed during the night, she probably DOES get hungry, so I don't want to just quit nursing her altogether and let her go hungry for a few nights until she gets used to it.  If she were FF we could just gradually reduce the amount of formula in the bottle, but with nursing, it's not quite that easy to quantify what she's actually getting.  Hmm.

    image
    Kiwi Fruit, 10.2.06 & Ellie Bug, 4.5.09

    My blog: Bear With Us
    Ideas on Teaching Your Toddler/Preschooler at Home

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  • bakershakerbakershaker
    My best advice to you is that your LO is probably waking up out of habit, rather then actual hunger. This happened with our son. At 7 months, I let him CIO through one feeding...I stayed alert and used his monitor so I could make sure he wasen't going to freak out bad enough. He cried for 10-15 mins and went back to sleep. The next night he woke up for 5 mins and went back to sleep...and never woke up again! If you go into her room and she sees you..she will want what you usually give her, which is milk. Just stay outside of the door and monitor her crying.If she is hysterical..then she probably still needs those midnight feeds. I hope this works for your little one:) Good luck~
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  • Mrs.0428Mrs.0428 member
    We did the Ferber Method to phase out some of DS's night time feedings.  He was sleeping through the night, then had a cold and regressed to getting up every 2 hours again.  Once he was feeling better we did Ferber.  I still get up with him anytime he cries after 3am though because I feel at that time it is possible that he is hungry.  We mainly had to do Ferber because of sleep association (i.e. he needed to be nursed to sleep, nursed back to sleep).
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  • juniper19juniper19 member

    With my dd I cut out all nursings but 1 using straight CIO.  To cut out that last nursing I timed how long it took to nurse and then cut off a minute each night until I got to 2 minutes and then I stopped going in.  That was at about 6 months.

    My ds was much harder to night wean - we only recently stopped at 15 months (we were down to once per night - occasionally twice).  To do that I had dh go in instead of me.  DS was FURIOUS to see him - dh just picked him up and cuddled him a little and put him back down.  DS cried for a few minutes and then stopped.  It only took two nights and he stopped waking up.  It was MUCH easier than I thought it would be.

    So those are two things you might try.  It just kind of depends on your child's temperament and age too. 

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  • Temp6313048411121614Temp6313048411121614 member
    She might be wanting to nurse for the cuddle time.  Could you try pumping and having your DH give her a bottle (just a couple of ounces).  Maybe that would give her 1/2 of what she wants (milk but no you), or you could cuddle her but not feed her. 
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  • ryemoryemo member
    We had DH start going to DD instead of me. He wouldn't pick her up, just rub her belly and soothe her. It was a rough few nights for them, and then he slowly lessened the time he went in until eventually it was just a quick check and then we let her CIO. Surprisingly, she didn't cry alot...it was like she knew the jig was up.
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