Finally completely STTN (some hope for BFers who aren't night-weaning)

march2008 · May 2012

DD dropped down to one middle of the night feeding when she was around 6 months and has been waking up once every night ever since. It was always a random time during the night that she would cry out and I would nurse her back to sleep. A couple of weeks ago, she randomly stopped. I couldn't believe it and didn't want to mention it at first for fear that it was some fluke, ha!

It's been about 3 weeks now and she hasn't been waking up at all, with the exception of last night when she was in pain from teething (DH just went in and had to give her some ibuprofen b/c she was clearly uncomfortable). I had no plans of night-weaning her anytime soon and I was just hoping that she would someday outgrow it when she was ready. So, I guess that time has come. I'm posting this to maybe give hope to any of you that might be out there who are waiting for LO to completely STTN on their own time.

LexGator · May 2012

I am so happy to see this. First, congrats! Second, you give me hope. DD has never STTN and usually wakes up 2-4 times to nurse. I started Dr. Jay Gordon's very gradual night-weaning plan this week (we bedshare) out of pure desperation, and the last two nights, she has only nursed once. I have been able to soothe her back to sleep almost instantly without nursing the other times she wakes up. I have no plans to wean completely, but I just can't do the waking up every two hours thing anymore. As I told DD, we did "life on demand" for a year; now, mommy needs more than two hours of uninterrupted sleep. I suspect her improved sleep is more coincidental than related to the night weaning, although I have definitely fallen into the trap of nursing her anytime I hear her stir just so I can close my eyes and go back to sleep. So, it's more effort to soothe her back to sleep otherwise, but I think it's a good way to encourage her to sleep for longer stretches, which will benefit all of us.

I went off on a tangent there, but your post does give me hope that she will get better at some point. I know she won't do this forever, but if you told me a year ago that we'd be three weeks away from her first birthday, and she'd never STTN, I would have thought it was a cruel, cruel joke. At this point,I just want progress (like down to one feeding) because we haven't made any in months.

jcsumm0 · May 2012

Thank you so much for posting this! Evie is up once (sometimes twice) and I really think she is hungry. Like you said, she wakes up at random times.

Anyway, thanks and congratulations! Party!!!

march2008 · May 2012

I honestly think that my LO was hungry when she was waking up once during the night because she would nurse and then go right back to sleep. It wasn't until around 10 months that she even began to eat a substantial amount of solid food and finally started decreasing the number of times that she BF during the day.

Lex - you are a trooper to still be dealing with every 2 hours. You'll feel like a new person if you can just wake up once during the night. Waking up once every night really wasn't so bad, but it's definitely nice to have uninterrupted sleep back!

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Finally completely STTN (some hope for BFers who aren't night-weaning)

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