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Babies: 9 - 12 Months
Anyone have success cutting down (but not out) night nursing?
Hi ladies. We've struggled with night time but have gotten to a point that I can put my LO down in his crib for bedtime sleepy but awake. We have a consistent bedtime, which does include nursing as the last step, but I am careful to put him down awake. Sometimes he'll fuss a bit but will go to sleep really quickly. However, he still calls for me every two to three hours at night and I nurse him every time. Now that he is really eating a lot of solid foods, it is time to cut down - but not cut out completely - on the night nursing and want to hear ideas on how to do this successfully.
Does this plan sound dumb? Pick a timeframe that is reasonable for me to nurse him. Final goal would be something like before 11 pm and after 6 am. Initially I would start with shorter timeframe to train his tummy to go longer and longer without eating. During that time, if he wakes, Daddy goes in and checks on him and comforts. Do the Ferber type checks until he falls asleep. When he wakes before 11 and after 6, I will go in and nurse him.
The down side to any plan to me is that I can't be totally consistent because we are not ready to night wean completely. I don't want to totally confuse him and cause more stress/tears. Anyone have other ideas?
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Re: Anyone have success cutting down (but not out) night nursing?
I still nurse once a night at random times (anywhere from 2-6 am). But my LO was able to drop down from 2-3 feedings when I reduced her nursing times at night.
For her MOTN feeds, she used to nurse 10-15 minutes and fall asleep before I put her down. I started taking her off the breast at 10 minutes, and then a few nights later 9 minutes, then 8 minutes, etc. I would do this by either pinching the area around my nipple to reduce the flow or just break the latch and let her suck on my pinkie. What this did was get her used to eating less at night. After I eventually cut down to 6 minutes, I let her cry one night for 10 minutes and she fell back asleep and after that she was down to 1 feed a night (the occasional 2 times).
This is what worked for us, but good luck with whatever you choose to do!
I work and pump so only can leave what I pump. However, since he is 11 months old and eating solids, I am trying to get more solids in him during the day.
Yeah - we supplement with formula (for other reasons)
This sounds exactly like our situation! Thanks for posting, b/c I was about to post a similar question
... DD is 12 months and her pediatrician just told us to try and cut back on the night feeds (she wakes anywhere from 1-3 times between 11pm and 5am after we put her down at 8). She thinks LO is comfort nursing rather than actually feeding for nutrition.
I think we are going to try the same thing others have mentioned - increasing solids during the day and have DH go in to soothe in the MOTN if it hasn't been at least 4hrs. (I work and pump, too - and thinking of cutting down to 1 pump session and starting to introduce whole milk)
GL - keep us updated on progress and what has worked for you!
Your baby is associating nursing with sleep. Even though he can go to sleep on his own (going down awake) you nursing him is the last thing that happens before that so when he wakes he wants it for comfort. By six months babies CAN go a long stretch at night without nursing. My LO is 7 months and I used to nurse him right before bed and all through the night too but I ended up cutting him down to one night nursing.
I started by changing our bedtime routine. Instead of nurse, put to sleep, I now do oatmeal at 6pm, nursing at 7 then right into the bath, lotion, jammies, story and bed. He sleeps much longer stretches and only wakes around 4 a.m. for a nursing session and is back out again until 7 a.m. This from a boy who woke up every 45 minutes to 2 hours until recently when I started teaching him to sleep better (using "ferber" but only letting him fuss in 5 minute intervals and stretching to 10 at the most before going in to soothe for less than a minute at a time until he got it).
I would start by limiting him to a session every four hours and then keep stretching it out until you are dropping sessions and down to once a night. When I first cut LO down, My goal was his last nursing session, midnight, 4 a.m. and wake up and I went from there. He cut out the midnight one himself once he realized how much he loved to sleep.
I was able to get him to drop down to 2 wakings a night. For a few nights when he cried to nurse, I nursed him. I made sure he nursed enough to get letdown. I wrote down the time. If he woke up within 2 hours of that last feeding then I made him wait. Most of the time he fell back to sleep after a few minutes. If he woke to nurse and it was more than 2 hours since the last feeding, I'd nurse him.
Then the nursing session I really wanted to get rid of (4 am) I started to time it and nurse less and less during that time (5 minutes, 4 minutes etc.) It would have been easier if he did bottles so I could measure ounces, but he EBF, so I had to do the time thing. I actually read it in Ferber's book and it makes great sense. So I did this to get his belly to stop waking him up for a feeding because he was used to it. However, I ididn't want to go cold turkey since it was suggested in the book that if you eat every day at 4 then you will naturally begin to get hungry around that time. So, he was hungry even though he shouldn't have been.
I'm sure you are right. I have also gotten advice to do what you are doing and do something else in between nursing and bed. I can't seem to try this, though - I really love the snuggle time as I nurse him down before bed:( I wish I could do this and get him to stop waking up so frequently for it.
The last few nights, Daddy has been sent in for the first night waking (usually 2 to 3 hours after bed). It has gone okay, not great, crying for 10-20 minutes. Maybe this isn't a good approach and I should keep going in every time but try cutting back the number of minutes during the times I don't want to nurse.
Oh, and for a day or two count the calories that your baby is eating. I did this and realized that he wasn't getting enough food. I didn't realize that babies this age are supposed to get 1000+ calories a day. Baby purees are mostly veggies and fruit so not very high on the caloric scale. Once I started pureeing meat for him, and adding a lot of avocado to his diet, he did much much better. Even slept through the night a few times since.