Night Weaning

[twinmama2]

My 10 month old twins still wake to feed 1-2 times each night.  We are exhausted and really hoping to night wean.  I am not sure how to go about this without upsetting them too much!  They don't wake at the same times every night, sometimes it's 12am and 4am and sometimes it's just one feed at 3am. 
A sleep consultant suggested pushing their feedings back by half an hour each night until they don't need to eat until the morning, but since they wake at different times every night I don't know if that will work.  They absolutely will not go back to sleep without a feed when they wake, sometimes it's crying until they get fed, sometimes they settle in our arms but get really upset when we put them back in their cribs. 
I would really appreciate any suggestions.  I know 10 months is really old to still be waking to eat and we all would benefit from some more sleep.
Thank you!

[cath~]

Hi there,

Tbh 10 mos isn't *that* old to still be having 1-2 feeds/night.

One thing you could try is decreasing the amount of time you feed for each time and making sure that you stop when the strong sucking stops.

Some people also find that if some one other than mum tries to settle them that can help because they know a bf isn't an option.

How do they settle to sleep at bedtime and naptime? Are they independent sleepers?

[cath~]

PS have you seen this and the krllymom links at the bottom of it:
Night Feeds and the Breast Fed Baby

[*Ali*]

I agree 10mo is not really old for a BF baby to be having a NF.

What is their feeding routine during the day? How many BFs and how many solid meals?

Do they go to sleep independently for naps and at BT or are you in the room? Just wondering if they are needing help to get back to sleep rather than hungry.

[twinmama2]

This is a typical day for us:

6:30 bf
7:30 solids (just a little bit of finger foods while older kids eat)
9:15 bf
9:30-10:45 nap
11:00 bf
12:30 solids (just finger foods like breakfast)
2:00 bf
2:15-3:30 nap
3:30 bf
4:15 solids (largest solid meal, some pureed food but transitioning to mostly finger foods)
5:30-6:30 cluster feeding
6:30 bed

They do go to sleep at naps and bedtime on their own.  They are usually very good about falling asleep by themselves with no fussing most times.  We have been trying to not feed them until after midnight lately, which works some nights, but the last couple nights they have woken at 10:00 and we are not able to settle them back to sleep until I nurse them.  If just one of them wakes, then DH tries to soothe him, but if it's both then I help.  After their night feedings we also try to put them back in their cribs awake so that they fall asleep on their own again.  We've found that after their first night feeding they are up the rest of the night every 2-3 hours and won't settle until fed. 

If they're not ready to be night weaned, do you have any suggestions on how to encourage them to start lengthening their time between feedings at night?

Thanks so much for your help.

[*Ali*]

I see they do get a BF immediately before naps and BT even though they fall asleep independently. Do you think they see it as an essential part of the wind down and need it to relax again at night?

I'm also wondering if they are entering the 2-1 nap transition and are undertired on two longish naps. Check out the FAQ From 2 to 1 nap transition (10-12m and older)

The other thing to consider is how much solid food they eat. Typically a 10mo would be on 3 solid meals a day. I'm not sure exactly what you mean when you say just a little finger foods for breakfast for example. Perhaps they need a full breakfast like an egg and toast to help fill them up. They also seem to be having 6 or more BFs in the day which could mean that they are snacking perhaps? Do you think they are taking a full feed each time? I recognise that you are obviously feeding two though so maybe they do indeed need the more frequent BFs than a singleton would get away with because they are sharing the supply. Something to think about anyway

How do you try to resettle them at night when they wake?

[twinmama2]

We just transitioned from 3 to 2 naps a couple months ago so I really don't think they're ready to go down to 1 nap already.  Up until about a week ago they were still taking a third catnap a couple times a week.  We've just figured out some of their sleep problems were from being overtired so I'm not sure I want to try taking that second nap away quite yet. 

They have recently started refusing most pureed food (with the exception of yogurt - they love it!) so I'm still trying to figure out how to get them well fed with mostly finger foods.  I will start offering more food at breakfast and lunch.  As far as breastfeeding goes, do you think I should try to eliminate one of their feedings during the day?  Maybe with increasing their solids they would be able to do that and then take better feedings the rest of the day. 

When they wake at night we usually start with shh/pat and sometimes move to pu/pd, but we are not usually very successful.  One night it was two hours of soothing before they were both back asleep....and then L was up 30 minutes later!!

Thank you so much for your insight.  It is really helpful to have someone more experienced take a look at what I'm doing.  I really appreciate the advice - I don't have a clue what I'm doing!

[*Ali*]

Were they full term at birth btw? Just wondering if they have an adjusted age as many twins do.

Did you read the link to the 2-1 transition FAQ? It isn't about dropping to one nap overnight but rather gradually tweaking sleep so they do one long and one short nap until they are ready for just the one long nap. The nap capping stage can last months. My DS1 moved to 2x 2hr naps at 7mo and I started capping his afternoon nap to 45 mins at 10mo(ish) and he moved to one 3hr nap at 12-13mo. Ds2 was always lower sleep needs and I had to start capping his naps at 1.5hrs and 45mins by 9mo and he stayed on those naps more or less until switching to one nap of 2-2.5hrs at 15mo. The FAQ explains all the steps that LOs tend to go through between the beginning of the transition and the final switch to one nap. Anyway, you would know best. They may well just be high sleep needs which is always nice

With regards to the naps I would just offer the foods you usually purée as finger food instead. Sticks and wedge shapes tend to be easiest. By this GW they can pretty much just eat the same food you would as long as it isn't too sweet or salty. You could try to eliminate one of the day feedings if you are happy that your supply could allow them to eat more in each sitting.

How are you doing the PUPD? At this age it is more just put down as older babies tend to settle better in the cot. Check out this FAQ which shows how to adapt the method by age. How to PU/PD (inc age adaptations)