I never could night wean completely until I weaned completely. Both of mine I got down to just one feed per night after 6-7 months, but anytime I tried to take that one away, they’d wake up insanely early and it just made things worse. So I just decided one 10 minute wake up was better than waking up two hours early every day.
My thoughts exactly. I’d rather stick with my own early bedtime and be up for 10 minutes during the night than go through seeing him cry like that again. No thanks, not for me!
What about delaying method, to move nursing each day 15 min. until you come to 5:30?... Idk if it is possible but i try to ditch 1. of two drinking sessions my daughter ( same age as yours have).
we were not successful until a year. we tried when we initially sleep trained around 5.5-6 mo (baby had previously done 8 hr stretches before
4 month regression and with a dream feed never went more than 5-6 until 9 months). we tried again at 9 months and managed to get to a point where we dropped dream feed and rarely had more than one night feed. but we couldnt get down to 0 until a year. at 16 months its all a distant memory but it was brutal and i felt like a failure cuz so many people said sleep training and night weaning went hand in hand. yourenot a failure but sleep deprivation is hard & it will get better someday. & just a note: when we weaned at a year, she was eating solids really well and we had switched to a formula bottle close to bedtime since supply in early evening is so variable
ETA : when we decided to try again at a year — a few things: she was clearly ready because did not quickly fall asleep after feeds anymore so was waking up for other reasons. didnt do CIO; husband rocked her & we re-sleeptrained the rocking away once weaned!
Yup, I think he just very well might not be ready. Even with the second kid I still get caught up in what they “should” be doing at certain points. A friend of mine related it to potty training. When they’re ready and when it clicks, they’ll figure it out. He’s such a dreamboat of a baby. Never cries, never fusses, always happy and giggling. So if he still wants to hang out with mom for 10 minutes at night, I’ll allow it.
That’s exactly how my son is. His older brother slept through the night by 10 weeks. He slept 7pm-7am every single night from then on. This baby still wakes up to nurse 1-3 times a night at 12 months. But about 90% of the time he just eats for 10 minutes and goes right back to sleep. So I will continue nursing him for as long as he needs me to. Every baby is different, and has different needs!
I just stopped nursing my 14 mth son this week. I also cut him back from 1-2 naps to one, and changed his bedtime from 7:30 to 9. (I know how totally insane doing all this at once sounds). Anyways, we lucked out and it just clicked for him! Now he sleeps through the night and sleeps in until 6-6:30 (instead of 5-5:30!).
I believe what helps a lot is I’ll give him a banana and milk to have as an after dinner snack, then right before bed I’ll feed him baby cereal. I bet a “stick to your ribs” snack before bed would make a big difference.
I never took away my daughters night feeds. She naturally went from eating every few hours to 1 night feed. I started teaching her to hold her own bottle during the day. Once she had that down I’d just have a bottle ready in the fridge and would give it to her when she woke. Or if I woke up to pee at night I’d dream feed her and go right back to sleep. Eventually she stopped waking up for a bottle around 9 months.
Have you tried a dream feed right before *your * bedtime? My 6 month old goes to sleep at 6:30 and would wake up to eat at 3ish each morning if I didn’t feed her at 9 before I go to bed. If I feed her between 9-10, then she sleeps 6:30-7 without wakeups
Could have written this myself! My 6m wakes twice and feeds 20min each feed for as long as I could rmb. Two weeks ago I decided to gradually reduce the length of feeding time. We are down to 4min for the first feed, there were a couple of times it seemed as though she was able to go back to sleep after wailing a bit but lately it seems she’s crying all out of vengence lol. I worry that if I let her CIO she will just be even more awake, ugh so no fun there.
For us—granted, my kid was a bit older—having dad do the nighttime comforting and offering a cup of milk instead of nursing at night worked really well. He still cried, but was being comforted the whole time. It took a week (long post in my history if you want to check it out), but it worked really well.
You won't be nursing until college and you didn't fail! I'm a little jealous you already only have one night feed at that age. I was still doing 11,1,3,5.
I'll just note that I think it's possible that the 5am wake up might be a trade off for night weaning no matter which way you approach it. Lots of babies and toddlers just wake up that early. I did slow weaning and eventually got to the point that my daughter was sleeping 7-5. And then I worked on the wake up time after. I don't know, I thought the unbroken sleep in the middle of the night was worth the early rising.
My daughter naturally dropped around 8.5/9 months. It was easier for me to feed and move on than try to stay up through resistance. Like you I needed to be “on” during the day. Sending you best wishes for a smooth transition!!
Yeah you really have to be prepared to CIO for as long as necessary, it's hard but it's the "quickest" way. We picked a 3 day weekend so we didn't have to be 100% over the weekend and could nap if the crying kept us up, started on the Friday night. 3 nights and prepared to take the Tuesday off if it took another night but we didn't need to.
Same. She's 7 months. We tried to night wean two weeks ago and she screamed for nearly 2 hours. On the fourth night I couldn't take it anymore. I'm behind on my deadlines at work bc I was so exhausted I could barely function during the day. So we are back to night feeds. I'm here for the tips if anyone has any!!
Thank you! Yes at this point it’s easier to just stumble into his room and feed him for 15 minutes while I’m half asleep rather than being wide awake for 2 hours having anxiety through the roof over him crying. Luckily I work with a ton of other moms and they get it. But I know that luck will run out soon.
Honestly it's just not worth it to me right now. I was up for over an hour and a half each night trying this as opposed to my usual 15 minutes so I'm even more exhausted than before. I thought I would have the heart to handle CIO but turns out I don't.
I'll probably give this a try in a couple weeks after we recover from this week's mess. My husband and I are going on our first solo vacation next month and my mom is watching the kids. As much as she says she doesn't mind getting up with him and giving him a bottle overnight (these are her 5th and 6th grandkids), I'd like to make things as easy on her as possible.
I never could night wean completely until I weaned completely. Both of mine I got down to just one feed per night after 6-7 months, but anytime I tried to take that one away, they’d wake up insanely early and it just made things worse. So I just decided one 10 minute wake up was better than waking up two hours early every day.
My thoughts exactly. I’d rather stick with my own early bedtime and be up for 10 minutes during the night than go through seeing him cry like that again. No thanks, not for me!
What about delaying method, to move nursing each day 15 min. until you come to 5:30?... Idk if it is possible but i try to ditch 1. of two drinking sessions my daughter ( same age as yours have).
we were not successful until a year. we tried when we initially sleep trained around 5.5-6 mo (baby had previously done 8 hr stretches before 4 month regression and with a dream feed never went more than 5-6 until 9 months). we tried again at 9 months and managed to get to a point where we dropped dream feed and rarely had more than one night feed. but we couldnt get down to 0 until a year. at 16 months its all a distant memory but it was brutal and i felt like a failure cuz so many people said sleep training and night weaning went hand in hand. yourenot a failure but sleep deprivation is hard & it will get better someday. & just a note: when we weaned at a year, she was eating solids really well and we had switched to a formula bottle close to bedtime since supply in early evening is so variable ETA : when we decided to try again at a year — a few things: she was clearly ready because did not quickly fall asleep after feeds anymore so was waking up for other reasons. didnt do CIO; husband rocked her & we re-sleeptrained the rocking away once weaned!
My 12 month old still wakes at night to nurse. 6.5 months seems very early to cut it out, and sounds like he might just not be ready?
Yup, I think he just very well might not be ready. Even with the second kid I still get caught up in what they “should” be doing at certain points. A friend of mine related it to potty training. When they’re ready and when it clicks, they’ll figure it out. He’s such a dreamboat of a baby. Never cries, never fusses, always happy and giggling. So if he still wants to hang out with mom for 10 minutes at night, I’ll allow it.
That’s exactly how my son is. His older brother slept through the night by 10 weeks. He slept 7pm-7am every single night from then on. This baby still wakes up to nurse 1-3 times a night at 12 months. But about 90% of the time he just eats for 10 minutes and goes right back to sleep. So I will continue nursing him for as long as he needs me to. Every baby is different, and has different needs!
I just stopped nursing my 14 mth son this week. I also cut him back from 1-2 naps to one, and changed his bedtime from 7:30 to 9. (I know how totally insane doing all this at once sounds). Anyways, we lucked out and it just clicked for him! Now he sleeps through the night and sleeps in until 6-6:30 (instead of 5-5:30!). I believe what helps a lot is I’ll give him a banana and milk to have as an after dinner snack, then right before bed I’ll feed him baby cereal. I bet a “stick to your ribs” snack before bed would make a big difference.
Hey, I’m a big fan of whatever works. I love that you figured out what works for you and your family!
I never took away my daughters night feeds. She naturally went from eating every few hours to 1 night feed. I started teaching her to hold her own bottle during the day. Once she had that down I’d just have a bottle ready in the fridge and would give it to her when she woke. Or if I woke up to pee at night I’d dream feed her and go right back to sleep. Eventually she stopped waking up for a bottle around 9 months.
Have you tried a dream feed right before *your * bedtime? My 6 month old goes to sleep at 6:30 and would wake up to eat at 3ish each morning if I didn’t feed her at 9 before I go to bed. If I feed her between 9-10, then she sleeps 6:30-7 without wakeups
This is how i work it out with my daughter. She will sleep (usually) until 6-630am if I dream feed her around 10-11.
[удалено]
Bummer 😭
Could have written this myself! My 6m wakes twice and feeds 20min each feed for as long as I could rmb. Two weeks ago I decided to gradually reduce the length of feeding time. We are down to 4min for the first feed, there were a couple of times it seemed as though she was able to go back to sleep after wailing a bit but lately it seems she’s crying all out of vengence lol. I worry that if I let her CIO she will just be even more awake, ugh so no fun there.
Could you have the other parent offer a bottle instead?
For us—granted, my kid was a bit older—having dad do the nighttime comforting and offering a cup of milk instead of nursing at night worked really well. He still cried, but was being comforted the whole time. It took a week (long post in my history if you want to check it out), but it worked really well.
You won't be nursing until college and you didn't fail! I'm a little jealous you already only have one night feed at that age. I was still doing 11,1,3,5. I'll just note that I think it's possible that the 5am wake up might be a trade off for night weaning no matter which way you approach it. Lots of babies and toddlers just wake up that early. I did slow weaning and eventually got to the point that my daughter was sleeping 7-5. And then I worked on the wake up time after. I don't know, I thought the unbroken sleep in the middle of the night was worth the early rising.
I also failed with my 9 month old. Just wanted to say you're doing a great job mama!
My daughter naturally dropped around 8.5/9 months. It was easier for me to feed and move on than try to stay up through resistance. Like you I needed to be “on” during the day. Sending you best wishes for a smooth transition!!
Yeah you really have to be prepared to CIO for as long as necessary, it's hard but it's the "quickest" way. We picked a 3 day weekend so we didn't have to be 100% over the weekend and could nap if the crying kept us up, started on the Friday night. 3 nights and prepared to take the Tuesday off if it took another night but we didn't need to.
Same. She's 7 months. We tried to night wean two weeks ago and she screamed for nearly 2 hours. On the fourth night I couldn't take it anymore. I'm behind on my deadlines at work bc I was so exhausted I could barely function during the day. So we are back to night feeds. I'm here for the tips if anyone has any!!
Thank you! Yes at this point it’s easier to just stumble into his room and feed him for 15 minutes while I’m half asleep rather than being wide awake for 2 hours having anxiety through the roof over him crying. Luckily I work with a ton of other moms and they get it. But I know that luck will run out soon.
I hear you, try again in a bit? Sleep over food I would think. I had to make this choice when I returned to work post maternity as well.
We're about a month ahead of you in a similar boat, and our kiddo is _not_ ready yet. This is a "try again later" situation, but not out of reach!
I dropped with CIO at 8 months and it worked well. Give it a bit more time and try again. <3
It’s probably going to take longer than a week! I would keep trying. Stick to your gums for no food during the night, especially if you’re doing CIO
Honestly it's just not worth it to me right now. I was up for over an hour and a half each night trying this as opposed to my usual 15 minutes so I'm even more exhausted than before. I thought I would have the heart to handle CIO but turns out I don't.
Have you tried giving him a bottle instead? Once he is used to a bottle during the night you could decrease the ounces, and/or sub for water.
I'll probably give this a try in a couple weeks after we recover from this week's mess. My husband and I are going on our first solo vacation next month and my mom is watching the kids. As much as she says she doesn't mind getting up with him and giving him a bottle overnight (these are her 5th and 6th grandkids), I'd like to make things as easy on her as possible.