Have you night weaned?

kmornelas29 · December 2013

Today DD had her 9 month appointment, and the doctor told me I should night wean.

She said there is no reason she needs to nurse at night anymore, since she has 3 solid meals, 2 snacks, and BM every 2 to 3 hours during the day.

She said this will create a bad habit and make unnecessary night time crying happen. I can see where she is coming from, but I feel horrible about it! I get that it may be harder for mommy, but LO will not be happy about this!

She doesn't always wake for a night feeding, but when she does it's mostly just once or twice, and she WANTS the boob!

Pedi said to replace with some water if she wants a drink.

She sleeps 12 hrs at night, and nurses and goes right back to bed after, so I'm terrified of screaming and sleepless nights ahead. I feel like 12 hours is so long to go at just 9 months!

Has anyone else night weaned? Advice? Or are you still night nursing?

SarahRae85 · December 2013

We'll be sleep training which will likely lead to night weaning here, starting tonight, actually. They can go that long without any real issue. Heck, DS started sleeping 10-11 hours at night when he was only 3 months old (picked up a few bad habits when teething started up, which is why we're sleep training now). Your pedi is right that they do not need it, but it should be 100% your decision. If you don't want to do it right now, you don't have to.

We'll be sleep training via Ferber method, so, cry-it-out, for what its worth.

I do think your pedi is right in saying it could just cause more issues, but just because it CAN cause issues doesn't necessarily mean it WILL. In our case, it did. As I said, DS was sleeping well, then teething started and he started waking up once a night. Then twice a night. Now he wakes up ever 2 hours and some nights it takes an hour or two of fighting with him to go down, no matter how tired he is, because he wants to nurse (even if he just nursed). Even worse, he'll wake up after 30 minutes and it becomes another fight all over again to get him to go down and stay down. This is why we are choosing to sleep train. It's not about the night feedings, for us. Night weaning is more of a side effect.

ETA: Your DH can be your biggest aid in night weaning. If your LO is desperate to nurse, they can smell the milk on you, but if DH goes in, food is not really an immediate option and having him be a part of it can really help. Assuming he's able, of course. I know in our house, DH works 12 hour shifts and him getting up every 2 hours is not really an option since he has to go run machinery at 6am the next day.

jamu · December 2013

We just had our 9 month and they didn't mention it to me... but sleeping through the night would be really amazing. We are still waking up 1-3 times on our good nights.

jonesie2010 · December 2013

DD wakes once at night to eat, usually about 8 hours after her last bottle. I asked pedi about it at our 9 month check up this week, and she said it's fine to continue the night feed if LO actually seems hungry. She said some babies can go 12 hours between meals but others can only go 8 or 9.

Devbo18 · December 2013

I am so ready for the night wean, but here's my question, we only nurse 3-4 times a day with 2-3 meals of puréed food, so is he getting enough during the day to skip the night feeding? He is so busy and active all day that he nurses quickly and I don't think he eats all that much bc I will still feel full. As much as I have loved nursing, I feel like it has such a slew of other issues as they get older!!

kmornelas29 · December 2013

Devbo18 said:

I am so ready for the night wean, but here's my question, we only nurse 3-4 times a day with 2-3 meals of puréed food, so is he getting enough during the day to skip the night feeding? He is so busy and active all day that he nurses quickly and I don't think he eats all that much bc I will still feel full. As much as I have loved nursing, I feel like it has such a slew of other issues as they get older!!

I would ask a pedi about whether or not that is enough food, but I know my pedi said she was having enough with 3 solid meals, plus her 2 snacks. She also nurses about 5 times per day.

I want to night wean as well, but at the same time, its so much easier just to nurse back to sleep!

maritimeme · December 2013

My pedi says the same but I am in the same boat as you. We did sleep training but gave two windows where she could nurse only once. Now instead of waking 2-3x she's up 1-2x and that happened about a month after starting the training.

At this point I have no plans on night weaning as it is working for us. I do go back to work in 3 months so maybe I will do something before then if needed but I function perfectly fine the way things are! I figure she will sleep through when she's ready. She is too busy to nurse during the day (only 3 maybe 4 times if I'm lucky). She mostly takes a full feed (1.25 boobs) each time she's up.

Have you night weaned?

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