Night Weaning Help 6mos

[Meggyfunk]

Hi mamas!

I am interested in night weaning our 6 month old. He used to sleep through the night on his own for 8-10 hours around 2 months old. He regressed at 4 months, nursing every couple of hours overnight again until we started sleep training around 5 months. He stopped waking to nurse within a few nights. We did this planning to nurse once per night and he ended up weaning himself, sleeping 10-12 hours. The 3:2 transition that followed around 5.5 months really threw our entire routine off. His EASY became EAEAS as his A time rapidly increased and he began nursing at night again. I tell myself (during his STTN phases) that I am going to soothe him to sleep without nursing him if he ever wakes and I fail every single time; I simply don't know how else to calm him during NW's without lots of tears, followed by mom guilt. I can't help but wonder if I am attributing to his continued NW's and would like to see if he is ready to go back to STTN again (mommy is!). We are down to one NW that I would like to try and wean.

A typical day goes as follows:

E 7am Nurse
A
E 9am Solids + Nurse (we tried an earlier time for solids and he wasn't yet hungry. I offer to nurse to wash it down and ensure he is full. Should I not nurse after offering solids? We are still introducing him to solids, this used to be nursing only when getting through the 3:2 transition. I feel like maybe I started a bad habit here? )
A
S 10 - 11:30am

E 11:30am Nurse
A
E 1:30pm Solids + Nurse
A
S 2:30 - 4pm

E 4pm Nurse
A
E 6:30pm Nurse until drowsy
S 7pm/7:30

NW: Around 3/4am
Notes: NW's started before we started solids and have decreased over the last couple of nights from 2 NW's to 1. He's been teething since he was 4 months and we medicate at bedtime. Growth spurt has already passed.

When we tried sleep training after the 4 month regression, I reduced the minutes I nursed him the first couple of NW's and it worked beautifully. I am aiming for this again, as he's already nursing for a very short period of time. I would love to hear your experiences with night weaning around this age. Our son is a little over 6 months old.

Thank you 

[zissi]

in my opinion NW at 6 months is very early. its not unusual for a baby of this age to breastfeed 2/3 times per night. he also doesn't have many breastfeeds during the day. does he nurse well during the day? many LO's need night time feeds at this age as they become very distracted during the day to eat properly and may still need the calories at night time. he also only started solids. so, I would keep that one night feed. what do you think?

[Meggyfunk]

Hi, and thank you so much for your reply! I would really love to find a way to add those calories back into his daytime routine. I'm not really sure where we went wrong, as we added an E when extending his A time. He went from nursing every 3.5 hours down to every 2-2.5 hours because I always offer the breast after giving him 2 ounces of breastmilk with oatmeal. During the day I either nurse him in his room where it is nice and quiet or keep the noise lowered because I definitely find that he is otherwise distracted. After his 4 month regression I had a feeling he was snacking for comfort at night and tested this theory by only offering expressed milk in a bottle. He was taking in one ounce or less at each waking. We eased him back and he dropped the one night feeding on his own. Knowing he has easily slept 12 hours consistently on his own in the past makes me feel comfortable with keeping calories during the daytime and it is something I would at the very least like to try for and see how it goes.

[michaeljacknnugg]

He's going to get more active at this stage, so it's not surprising that he needs more calories. As he gets established on solids, you can get more in during the day.

Personally I'd wait, continue to feed and focus on a good routine that includes solids. We did BLW and very quickly (after 6mo) picked up three meals a day.

[Meggyfunk]

Thank you so much for your feedback!

[Meggyfunk]

Would you ladies recommend a dream feed? Last night he woke at 11pm and then slept until 7:30am. I usually go to bed around 10pm and could definitely stretch it to 10:30 to try a dream feed. I've always steered clear of this idea because I preferred to  feed him when he's actually hungry vs feeding for the sake of sleep. I also wasn't sure how it would work weaning a dream feed. I've just  been having a really hard time with his NW's this time and have so much anxiety at bedtime for some reason.  The night before we had three NW's and last night was back down to one. 

[michaeljacknnugg]

There's nothing to lose by trying one!

[Meggyfunk]

I just wanted to report back that our little one slept from 7pm - 5:45am. I never knew waking up at 5:45 in the morning could feel so glorious. 

I took a long look at our EASY the last few days and decided to make the following tweaks:
- Stopped topping off solids with nursing (He is now taking a fuller feed after his naps)
- Added solids dinner (He gets 2.5 oz of three times a day now)
- Made sure he got a full feeding at bedtime (He kept trying to fall asleep within a few minutes of nursing at bedtime and I would wake him to go to bed drowsy, now I wake him to continue getting a full feeding)

I have no idea if it will happen again, but I'll take it for today! Yay!

[michaeljacknnugg]

Sounds fab! Enjoy that feeling!!

[Meggyfunk]

Thank you!!!! Celebrating small victories as they come (though it feels kind of huge)!