how can i drop night feed for 7 month breastfed?

[Lovejoy]

totally selfish, but i really need solid sleep now!  I have been lucky that since about 6 weeks LO has only ever woken once for feed.  Before weaning her at 6 months, she was showing signs of sleeping through once/twice a week.  We went on holiday - she slept though 4 out of 7 nights.  Returned back home and she wakes every night (at different times)

OH tried to give water, she screamed.  he tried breastmilk in a bottle, ditto, tried ignoring ditto.  I go in and she's happy on the boob.  I think it's comfort that she wants at night

She does sometimes wake up one more time at night and talks to herself, but settles herself to sleep.

Is she hungry/is it comfort/habit of getting the boob?  When will she sleep through? 

tired mum (i don't dreamfed her)

[f1re_cr4cker]

my dd when she was 7months woudl wake around 3ish for a feed - it was abbig one around 8ozs and was purely comfort. i got her off it by doing a dremafeed at around 10-11pm and this kept her going til morning and broke the cycle of waking.i did this for about 2 weeks then tried not giving her the df one night and she has never wanted a bottle during the night since

[teezee]

i wouldn't suggest going to a df at this point as it may cause further wakings from disrupting sleep - this is the age tracy suggests stopping it anyhow..how much is she taking at the night feeding? how is her morning feeding?

here is a link about weaning night feeds - you do it differently for bf or for bottle fed - so for bf you would reduce minutes
https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=46907.0

there is also a link for gentle removal - https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=52857.0

with anything you do you have to stay consistant or it is better not trying anything at all as it will just confuse lo and make it harder for you when you do feel that you are really ready to try something..so be sure and go for it!!

if after a good amt of time you are making no progress with either of these techniques you may want to look at the props forum and post there..in the meantime keep me updated on you progress and let me know if you have any other questions

[chargerfans]

I too am an exhausted Mom. My 10 1/2 month old was still waking at night for a feed. Sometimes twice a night! I work full time and feel guilty (even though he is on EBM) and think he misses me so I go don't mind spending that extra cuddle time with him. However, it was killing me. And I knew he was old enough to not need a night time feeding. One week I was sick with bronchitis and on antibiotics and he didn't care for my milk. So for the whole week he drank only enough to get by.... and then he slept through the night! I knew then that if he could sleep through the night when he wasn't drinking his normal amount of milk then he could do it all the time. So that day we started the  night weaning... he slept through the night for 3 straight nights and then when he started to wake up we would do the sshh/pat or PU/PD, turn on his mobile and white noise from his humidifier. We also would try the ssh/pat and PU/PD and then walk out of the room, wait 5 mins, go back in and comfort, wait 10 mins... This lasted about a max of 30 mins. Usually it doesn't take him too long to settle back down. And if you have a significant other - have him do A LOT of the work!

I wouldn't recommend getting bronchitis to kick the night time feeding though!

I also tried to stop the  night time feedings when he was about 8 months old. He was getting up 3 times a night and I decided to offer water the first time, nurse the second and then water the 3rd. He quickly changed to twice a night and then I started to offer water only. After a few days he seemed to be changing his sleep habits since he wasn't getting anything good when he woke up. But then we went on vacation and the paragraph above is what happened!

Sorry to say he is still waking up once a night (teething I guess). So much for sleep! 

[teezee]

chargerfans - are you giving your lo painreliever about a half hr before be? how about using orajel?

[chargerfans]

No I am not giving him Tylenol or orajel. He doesn't really seem to need it. When his first couple of teeth came through you could definitely tell his teeth were bothering him  - there was no doubt about it. So he had some orajel and Tylenol then. But now when he gets up he isn't rubbing on his teeth he just gets up and stands at his crib and cries. Once we go in and give a hug and some pats on the back he usually goes back to sleep. Maybe its separation anxiety and the his teeth are just waking him up? I don't know... I just don't like to give him Tylenol when he isn't acting like it really hurts