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Night weaning nightmare! HELP!

ginafunginafun member
in Babies: 6 - 9 Months

(I also posted on the breastfeeding board)

DD just turned 7 months old. She nurses regularly and eats solids twice a day. She's never taken to a paci or a bottle. We also co-sleep for part of the night. The first sleep stretch she sleeps in a pack n play next to my side of the bed. After her last feeding of the night (4:30-5 a.m.) we sleep together as a family, that way when we wake up together (6-6:30 a.m.) we all have cuddle time. She just cut a tooth and she has a sniffly nose. I know, I know! They are always changing. But I have got to get less broken sleep so I don't get sick. She is waking up to nurse every 2-3 hours at night.

The thing is, she is a wonderful napper during the day. She nurses to get nice and relaxed, then, if she isn't over tired, I put her in her crib and she puts herself to sleep without a fuss. She usually does that for her first stretch of sleep at night too. She goes to bed anywhere from 6:30-7:15 p.m., though some days it may vary depending on when her last nap was of the afternoon. I really just want to start weaning her from one night waking. That's all I want right now so that I can get more consolidated sleep. I know she can put herself to sleep without nursing, but at night it's like she is all thrown off. She will fuss and cry until I pick her up and nurse her. But then, I can put her back down awake and she puts herself right to sleep without a fuss! (and let me mention, that during the day for naps, she doesn't always nurse before falling asleep. So I know she can fall asleep even without nursing right before.) She will not go back to sleep if we rock her or bounce her. We even tried sleeping in the guest bedroom so she wouldn't smell me when she woke up. It worked once, she was able to go back to sleep with a little fussing. But then sometimes, like last night, it didn't work and I was nursing every 2-3 hours again.

I read that sometimes if babies are not ready to wean cold turkey from a feeding, you can shorten the feeding over time until it phases out completely. I guess I've heard about these quick 3day CIO fixes, were after three days of letting them cry through a feeding they automatically sleep through it on the 3rd night. But honestly, we tried it and it did not work for DD. Plus, I just hated, hated, hated it. Do any experienced nursing mamas have any advice for me on how to gently and slowly wean her from one night feeding at a time? I hate to say it, but I'm jealous of my friends babies that only wake up for one night feeding. That's ideal. TIA!

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Re: Night weaning nightmare! HELP!

  • DCMergedDCMerged

    You can try stretching the time between feedings each night (say 15 minutes each night). You or your partner (which might be easier since she associates you with nursing and that will be confusing) will need to find other ways to soothe her while you work on the night weaning.

    Even if she can put herself to sleep during the daytime, babies can have different associations between daytime naps and nighttime sleep.

    We went from nursing all night every 2-3 hours in bed to crib sleeping and down to two nursing sessions a night over the last month. What really helped was having my husband take most of the night shift during this time.

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  • williebulldog1williebulldog1
    We were having the same issue. Some nights she will sleep fine in her pack in play, others we co sleep. When co sleeping she wants to nurse every few hours. It was so exhausting. I finally had enough and knew she was only doing it for comfort so I did the Ferber sleep method. I figured if I could get her sleeping in her own room we would both sleep better. First night she cried for about 40 min and than slept from 8 to 6 second night she cried for 12 min, woke up once to eat, third night cried 10 minutes slept 8 to 6. When I was letting her cry I went and checked on her every few minutes. It was a lil hard to handle but so worth it once I finally got a full night of sleep. Now she has two teeth about to pop through so at the moment I'm holding her while she sleeps otherwise she is crying because she is so much pain. So I'm sure I will have to start the sleep training again.. Not sure if this helped or not, just wanted to let you know what worked for me.
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