best way to wean a nf in 10month old?

[nicolemca]

Hey! DS is now almost 10 months and still getting 1 nf. I've just cut out the df this week so he's now waking around 2am to eat. When we were doing the df he was waking around 4. This is usually the only time he wakes through the night. If he does wake another time DH is usually able to settle him quite quickly if he doesnt do it on his own. He is an IS and has only sstn about a dozen times a month after we initially sleep trained (pupd) at 6 months (was bf to sleep prior to this). After that we hit a 2 month stretch of teething major milestones company and vacation.  In that time we slid back into nf and now I'm sure it's purely habit. 
My question is how to tackle weaning the nf. Is it best to use pd any time he wakes up and completely stop feeding or should we try to put off the feed later each night until it consolidates with wake up? He's a spirited one and during our oupd process we had some 2 hour middle of the night battles so we are expecting (and ready!) for some resistance!

[nicolemca]

I forgot to mention he is a healthy eater and getd 3 good solids meals per day and 4 daytime bfs plus the one nf.
current EAS:
530 wu with DH who gives him water and a cracker
630 bf
8 solids
930-11 sleep
11 bf snack
12 solids
245-4 sleep
4 ebm in sippy cup
5 solids
530-630 bath naked bum time
630 bf
7 bedtime

[katie80]

I think it's up to you how you want to proceed. It really can be done either way... pushing the feed later and later or just dropping it altogether. What do you think would work best for his personality? How did you drop the DF?

It also looks to me like he's ready for a cut in daytime sleep. He's still getting quite a bit for a 10mo old and likely that's what is contributing to only 10.5hr night sleep and that may help get rid of the NF easier too. Have a read through this link and let me know your thoughts... From 2 to 1 nap transition (10-12m and older)

[nicolemca]

Thanks katie80. I think a combination of both approaches will likely be needed. I can try to put him off and if I am feeding I will try to keep limiting his time at the breast. We know from experience with him that he will throw some battles at us, two weeks ago he woke at 130 and it took to 3 to get him back to sleep. It was too soon after the df to feed him and there were no teeth in the picture. He's a textbook personality with a good spirited streak. He's a very happy easygoing guy during the day but it seems his spirited side comes out at night. I dropped the df by working it back to 9pm and by then he would just pull off after a few minutes on his own so I just stopped at that point. He's woken twice at 9 over the past week since dropping it and once dh gave him a quick sip of water and he resettled and last night he settled himself. More and more often he is pulling off after only a few minutes during the nf and that's what's telling me he likely doesn't need it.

Ah yes the 530 wakeups! He's been on those since about 8.5months and I've read that link before but assumed that wasn't the issue as he was still so young! He has always been an 11 hour max kind of sleeper. His am nap is definitely the better one and I always cap it at 1.5 hours although he usually wakes at that time anyhow. The afternoon nap he definitely fights more often and can sometimes short nap that one despite being up for his full A time. How should I cap the naps do you think? It would be great to get some more am sleep for us. There have been a few mornings in the past two weeks where he's woken at 5 or 515. I usually try to feed him if he's waking this early but he's wide awake. leaving him to resettled doesnt seem to work either!

[katie80]

Sounds like a good plan for the NF.  I honestly wouldn't worry about limiting his time on the breast until you get it pushed out til early morning (i.e. 4-5am). Once it's there for a few days, then start to gradually reduce it or just do wake-to-sleep to see if you can get him past it. 

As for capping the naps, I would start by pushing the afternoon one out to 3pm and letting him sleep an hr til 4pm and keep the same BT.  After a little while you'll need to cut that one down to 45min and maybe start pushing the morning one out a bit to discourage the EW. 9:30am is pretty early to have a nice big sleep, so he doesn't have much incentive to sleep later, iyswim. 

HTH, let me know what you think.

[nicolemca]

Oh I'm so happy to actually have a plan to try and get him sleeping later. Is there a total day sleep time I should be eventually aiming for? I couldn't find anything specific on the boards for 10 months... For the pm nap I'm already waking at 4 no matter when he goes down to keep the bt at 7. Just so I'm clear...I'm trying to keep the pm nap at 1 hr total and bring bt forward if he can't make it to 3? I find he usually can't do any more than 3-3.5 hrs for his last A time. I can get his other A times pushed out pretty quickly and easily when necessary, the last time I was able to get him from 3.5-4hrs in about a week without too much fussing.

Thanks for the feedback on the nf plan, I'll be tackling that in about two weeks from now....we're going away next weekend to a big family thing and his sleep can be pretty fragile when he's in unfamiliar places so I dont want to start anything major until we're back home.

[katie80]

Is there a total day sleep time I should be eventually aiming for?

At this age, I'd say 2-2.5hr with one nap being full (1.5hr) and the other being capped.

Just so I'm clear...I'm trying to keep the pm nap at 1 hr total and bring bt forward if he can't make it to 3? 

Yes, I'd bring BT forward if he's not going to make it.  I think after an hr though, he should still be able to go the full time.  And then, when you cut it again, that's when you might want to push the naps out a little more so they're going toward BT rather than moving away from it, iykwim.

Thanks for the feedback on the nf plan, I'll be tackling that in about two weeks from now....we're going away next weekend to a big family thing and his sleep can be pretty fragile when he's in unfamiliar places so I dont want to start anything major until we're back home.

Sounds like a plan... good luck!