Anyone have a baby who dropped NFs on their own?

[~inbalance~]

DD is over 7 months now and I still feed her every time she wakes (2-3x) because it's easy. I can't stomach the thought of trying to settle her without feeding as she is so used to it and it would be a very long screamfest. I'm kind of hoping she will go back to sleeping longer stretches again on her own and eventually drop NFs on her own too. Wishful thinking? I actively sleep trained ds1 and half heartedly ds2 (though he did drop the last feed on his own), and tried harder to settle them without feeding, but I just don't feel like I have it in me this time. She's always been a better sleeper than the boys but has regressed since she started teething. Now she is up every 3hrs (sometimes longer) and I feed her even though I know she doesn't need it. Am I crazy to think this issue might sort itself out? (I actually don't mind getting up to feed her, it only takes 5 minutes)

[georgeo]

Mind if I tag along? I'm in a similar boat with dd.

[*Kara*]

Alexandra wasn't BF but did nightwean herself for the most part... I just gave her the final push.  She was much younger though...

She never had more than 2 NF (didn't do a DF or clustering either).  She was down to 1 NF at 11/12 weeks, down to none at 19/20 weeks (but the trade off was a 10 hr night!)  Thankfully, she napped like a champ!

[Skadiver13]

My honest opinion? Its fine until its not. At some point she's not going to be nursing anymore and you'll still have the NW's so you'll ether have to sleep train then which will be much harder or you'll end up with another prop like rocking. I would bite the bullet and work on the independant sleep. My DS is 8 months and the 1st go round was hard but we did it in 4 xays. A GS and thedn illness and developmental stuff has put us back and this time its a bit harder but at some point you'll want your sleep back.

[JennŠ]

Mine did.  She started at every 2 hrs around the clock.  As she got older she slept longer stretches at night and dropped feedings along the way.  The last to go was the 0330 one at about 11 months corrected.

[KathrynK]

Sophie did it all by herself (at 9 weeks, don't hate me!)
Alex woke repeatedly during the night and was hard to settle without feeding until 14 months but he had reflux which was not properly diagnosed or medicated for ages- finally took sessions with a cranial osteopath to sort him out.
xxx

[jessmum46]

J had a NF at around 4am until 7 months and then dropped it completely herself without any encouragement from me

[squeakersmum]

Both mine dropped on their own.  That said I was still DFing until about 8 months with Abi (can't remember when I stopped with Ben).

And they both had other props too. DS with his dummy, DD with her lovey; so that probably helped with teething etc

[creations]

Mine dropped his NFs himself, but like other pps it was very early on.  I continued the DF though as his reflux meant very little day time milk was taken so I relied on the BT feed and DF to get milk in when he was more relaxed and able to drink more.
I tend to think if they are going to drop on their own they do it early on (like within a few months) rather than later on.
Maybe try to encourage a lovey if she doesn't already have one?  DS has a lovey but I didn't allow him to sleep with it when he dropped his night feeds, he was too young to leave anything with him all night, but it's certainly been a HUGE comfort for him through illness, teething, etc.

[jessmum46]

I agree with the lovey idea too - I started introducing it at 5 months during a BT feed, she had it in bed with her from around six months and now it's such a comfort to her when she's sick, tired or when leaving her at nursery.  If you're worried from a safety perspective you could use something very light and breathable like a muslin?

[*Liz*]

Megan did  . The switch to FF at 9 mths helped a ton. I think you know my theory - that my babies always fed heavily at night because I had low evening supply and never had the energy to do anything about it. In fact I know that was the issue. Megan went from 2-3 NFs to STTN instantly on a bottle, DS went from waking every 2-3 hrs to sleeping until 4am. He dropped the final feed just before 12 mths (although I did dilute feeds a bit).

But I guess I do believe that as long as the BF isn't a prop they will drop them once their tummies are full enough, but that will be 12-18 mths for a lot of bF babies because of the lower supply in the evening thing  .

Megan was very adept as being cuddled to sleep mind you. So if she did wake she would fall asleep on DHs shoulder.

Oh, and I am certainly not advocating FF over BFing. Most of you will remember why I suddenly stopped feeding Megan (sound medical reason). I had intended to feed until she self weaned.

[creations]

Very good point about the formula feed and breast feed.  BFing does mean more night feeds, for longer.  it's certainly worth taking that into account when looking at other LOs who drop feeds and STTN earlier.  Mine was ff because I couldn't bf even though I had planned to.

[jessmum46]

Though just to give a different perspective, J was EBF with no dream feed . Pretty much only one night feed from the start.......lucky me!

[squeakersmum]

Yeah, both mine were still EBF when they dropped the NFs. Once BF was actually established though (establishing in the early days was a nightmare with both) I never had a problem with low supply in the evening.

[shivi]

I was never going to cope with NFs and a F/T job so from the get-go I did the old-fashioned tracy style "training" - DF EBM in a bottle from 10 days old with Oscar- the DF was the milk I pumped first thing in am so very fatty etc. We had him STTN (with DF of course) from 14 weeks consistently. He WAS prone to EWs and still is, but I preferred that anyway as I had to get up for work....

With Emma, I had much more significant low supply in the evenings and what I pumped in the am I used to settle her at 7pm, then could rest up till 11pm (or sleep) and would DF from the breast  - DH brought her to me. She STTN consistently and well, without EWs, from 10 weeks!!! Such an angel!

Mine DID wake in the night but I'd offer the dummy - in the days that they were sleeping next to me in the Moses basket - and I never fed any closer to the DF than 3 hrs (so if DF 11pm, I never fed earlier than 2am).  But by the 10 and 14 week mark we never heard a squeak from either of them till it was morning - honestly!

From what I know now after studying my bfing course etc and becoming an IBCLC I'd probably not be as "strict" with myself and their feeding, but that would also depend on when and if I was going back to work....with Oscar it was such a "stress" to get him STTN before 4.5 mths (as I was back in work at that stage). He did it fine but I remember thinking about it and wishing him to be born already to "start working on it" - he was born at 41+4 and I HAD to go back to work on a certain date so his being on the late side was eating into my time with him and my time sleep training him.....

I am just someone who does not survive the working day on broken sleep - even if it is for 5 or 10 minutes...and I had to do something about it early on....so I started with this "plan" from the outset. Don't know how it'd be if I hadn't. Probably in Emma's case it would have been a lot harder....as we had real supply and impatience issues from her!

HTH and hugs xxx