Author Topic: How to start night weaning a one year old?  (Read 4770 times)

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Offline gueradeb

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How to start night weaning a one year old?
« on: April 10, 2006, 03:09:38 am »
Hi.  Sorry - I was going to ask this quesiton in my other post, but accidently pressed send before I could write this.  My one year old still nurses 2 x per night.  I didn't have a problem with this before because she had poor weight gain, we live in a very hot place, and the conditions are not very good here so it was safer I thought to just let her feed from me to make sure she gets calcium, etc.

However, now she's a year and I think it's interfering with her sleep.  She wakes up out of habit to feed.  IN Tracey's book she weaned an 8 month old with a pacifier, but my DD is older and I just wondered if you have any compassionate suggestions for getting rid of the feedings

Thanks, Debbie

Offline Sylvia.

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Re: How to start night weaning a one year old?
« Reply #1 on: April 10, 2006, 03:23:20 am »
if it were me then i would wean the second feed first, first i would see what happens when you don't go to her, could your dh/dp get up and try to settle her, he may have to do shh/pat pu/pd at this time, the key to it will be to stay consistent, do the same thing and go all the way, when i did this for dd at 7/8 months she cried and carried on for two hours the first night we hung in there, the next night was somewhat better, and the next better again, look this is what i done for my much younger baby, i hope you get some responses from mothers who weaned an older baby, remember she will resist as this is what she has come to expect, you need to break the habit, you can do it, i stopped the second feed about 7 days later, all the best to you

Offline Samuel's mum

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Re: How to start night weaning a one year old?
« Reply #2 on: April 10, 2006, 12:12:51 pm »
Can I ask a few questions before I reply properly?
Does she fall asleep nursing at any point during the day or night? Or does she break off and then go back to sleep? I'm asking because I think that will affect the methods you need to use.
Does she settle herself back to sleep at other times in the night?
Have you experimented with reducing the feeding time and seeing whether that means a sooner wake up?
Are her wake ups/feeds always at the same time?
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Offline gueradeb

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Re: How to start night weaning a one year old?
« Reply #3 on: April 13, 2006, 03:15:02 am »
Hi - thanks for the questions.  She only breastfeeds to sleep on the 1 am and 4 am feedings, and even then she breaks away and sometimes she doesn't sleep and I have to pat her to sleep.  For putting her to sleep at night I can put her VERY drowsy in her crib.

Her feedings are more or less at the same time every day.

I try to reduce time of feeding but it varies - sometimes she's fine with it, sometimes she cries and then wakes up after only 1/2 hour to an hour afterwards, so it seems better to maybe just go cold turkey.  I got rid of the 1 am feeding before by just hanging in there and getting up with her every half hour from 1 until 4 and holding her.  Gosh, I don't think I can deal with her crying for 2 hours - does night weaning have to be that traumatic?
Thanks, Debbie

Offline Katet

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Re: How to start night weaning a one year old?
« Reply #4 on: April 13, 2006, 05:24:26 am »
the fact she is very drowsy at bed time would impact, can you try to gradually make her more alert, that will help a little.

When she does want more when you cut it short, have you tried offering water, that can help. Also I'd say definitely start with the first wake up as if she is fed then not fed secons time around she will go "hey why did you feed me last time & not now" where as when you get the first one dropped, you may find the 2nd one pretty easy to get rid of.

I am actually doing this at the moment (he used to go all night before illness & then "I" let him feed as I go more sleep :()& I concentrated on the first feed. cut it back as much as I could... if I couldn't settle him in 2mins, was back on for a feed etc... well the first one is almost gone... will settle without a feed. The second is still a full feed. What may happen is when the first dissapears she will wake 1/2 hour later, but if you have got her to sleep without feeding the first time, this one is ok to feed, the idea is you are "teaching" her how to settle without being fed back to sleep.
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Offline Samuel's mum

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Re: How to start night weaning a one year old?
« Reply #5 on: April 13, 2006, 07:22:57 am »
I agree with the above. You need to ensure she's not using the breast to get herself sleepy or back to sleep. I've heard of some mums who move the feed out of the bed into a chair to really break the connection and then ensure they're awake once they go back in bed. Not so nice for mum though! Some babies then realise the chair is where it happens and stop 'asking' because they'd rather stay in bed.  Have a look at this sticky on gentle removal: https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=52857.0
I think you're going to get some crying whatever happens but the main thing is to be with her and not let her feel alone. Hold her when she's crying and comfort her or get someone else to. Then when she calms put her down and pick her up again if she becomes upset. (pick up put down but initially with long periods of picking up). If you have to, substitute breastfeeding for rocking and then work on less rocking. That sleeping/nursing connection is the powerful one to break first.
You could also have a look at the BW for Toddlers if you haven't got a copy. Tracy describes night weaning for an older baby and has her own gentle removal description that fits very well with the advice in the sticky above. It's basically about lots of patience and holding and not expecting the process to be a quick one.
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Offline DarbysMom

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Re: How to start night weaning a one year old?
« Reply #6 on: April 17, 2006, 21:09:01 pm »
H! my dd is 11 mo. next week. Trying to do the nightweaning thing in 2 weeks, along with trying to get her to take a cup during the day.  We need to do it by May 1 because My DH job changes & he is gone 4 days a week.  That's a little more than I can handle right now with getting up 2-3 time s a night.

Which feeds should I eliminate 1st? she eats 6:30pm, 10:30pm, 2am & 4:30-5am?


Offline Katet

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Re: How to start night weaning a one year old?
« Reply #7 on: April 17, 2006, 22:19:06 pm »
I assume the 6.30pm is bedtime... make sure she doesn't fall asleep on that one & then don't feed until after you have got her to sleep from the 10.30 wakeup... you may not get to the 2am after dropping the 10.30, but make sure you get her back to sleep by other means before you feed again... ie the next wakeup after sleep even if she only sleeps for 20mins... the idea is she learns that she doesn't go back to sleep by feeding. The first one will be the hardest & COULD take 2 hours of settling, after that they do tend to get easier, but still take effort... you probably won't get all done in 2 weeks, but should get a stretch to about 2am by then, 4am if you are prepared to push really hard.
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Offline DarbysMom

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Re: How to start night weaning a one year old?
« Reply #8 on: April 18, 2006, 02:21:49 am »
Katet,
Yep.  She is actually more between 7 & 7:30 (we are nudging her a little later).  So let me see if I understand you correctly.  You think I should skip the 10:30 pm (let her wake up & get herself back to sleep w/o any feeding), when she wakes up the next time feed her, even if she only sleeps a few minutes.

I'll talk to DH & see what he thinks.  Sounds good to me.

Question.  Do we know it's time to start on the next one when she is successful in sleeping through the 10:30 and wakes up at maybe midnight or something?  What defines success? 2 nights in a row? More?

I'm going to see if I can find some ear plugs if it's going to be 2 hrs... :o just to dull the noise, not to block it out of course!  I'll still have DH go check on her periodically so she knows we are there.

I'll let you know how it goes.  Thanks!

Offline Katet

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Re: How to start night weaning a one year old?
« Reply #9 on: April 18, 2006, 03:09:26 am »
Darby'sMom... OMG, I wasn't saying you leave her on her own to cry until she falls asleep...  I mean you (not intentionally) got her to the stage she needed all these feeds, so you need to "help" her learn a new way... you or your dh NEDD to be with her 100% of the time when you are trying to get her back to sleep either doing pu/pd or soothing her in the cot... if you leave her to cry on her own you just open up another cause for night waking & it is cruel as well... stay with her until she goes to sleep & then next time she wakes you can feed

once she settles with say you just visiting ie going in & saying soothing words & patting her (say 1min) or she sleeps through the feed, I'd then start on the next one, it may start being one at say midnight, but probably the 2am will get later too.

night feeding is "learnt" hunger & so she is hungry so you have to allow for the extra calories to be picked up in the day

I have done this with both my ds's BUT both were when night feeds were re-introduced due to illness & not a long term thing... for me each feed improved in 2-3 days, but it may take longer if this has been happening more than a few weeks
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Offline DarbysMom

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Re: How to start night weaning a one year old?
« Reply #10 on: April 18, 2006, 21:48:09 pm »
We made it last night!  dd woke up about 10:45.  DH tended to her for 30-40 min. until she fell asleep.  She only slept about 20 min or so. DH went in to make sure she was covered with a blanket and she woke up.  So I fed her & she slept until 5AM!  Wow! Thanks for your help.  We'll do it again tonight & hopefully she will cry less.

Offline Katet

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Re: How to start night weaning a one year old?
« Reply #11 on: April 18, 2006, 23:25:27 pm »
thats great... 40mins is about what is normal, but some do longer & I'd hate for your lo to have taken longer & only told you 40mins

Expect there to be some regression, some days she will last longer & others shorter... the key more is that when she first wakes up you DON'T feed & then feed after that so she learns to go back to sleep without feeding
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Offline DarbysMom

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Re: How to start night weaning a one year old?
« Reply #12 on: April 19, 2006, 02:11:29 am »
Katet,

Thanks for the encouragement! I just put her down so we will see how it goes. 

The other thing I realized we needed to change was the order of her routine before sleeping.  For naps it has typically been feed & then straight to bed.  DH can sometimes get her to go down for a nap w/o feeding, but no way if I'm there.  So we will begin tweeking the order and end with a story I think.  Night routine has always had prayers after feeding, even if it is short we are almost always there together (me, dh & dd), so I think that works OK.  Tonight she actually wanted to eat first & then we did pajamas, stories & prayers.

I'll keep you posted on how it goes tonight.  I really appreciate your insight

Offline stephlauren

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Re: How to start night weaning a one year old?
« Reply #13 on: April 19, 2006, 18:25:24 pm »
I have been enjoying your posts--I'm going through the same thing.  My dd is almost 13months old and still nurses when she wakes, before her two naps, before bed, and at least once during the night.  I will try to drop the first night-time wakeup feeding also following the previous suggestions . . .

We just moved into a new house two weeks ago, and Lauren is still very anxious.  I would like to cut out the nursing before the naps, but she is very upset and will scream in her crib reach out to me (for very long periods of time).  I have tried to spend as much time with her in her new room as possible, reading, rocking, and playing on the floor.  Before her naps we rock and read stories, then I usually end up nursing her to sleep.  If I mix up the order, she clings to me after nursing, and cries frantically if I put her in her crib. 

I would love some suggestions . . .

Offline DarbysMom

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Re: How to start night weaning a one year old?
« Reply #14 on: April 20, 2006, 15:58:08 pm »
StephLauren - nice to see I'm not alone.  We are now past our third night dropping the 10:30 feeding.  Last night she woke up at 11:00pm & had 2 failed attempts with DH to fall asleep for longer than 5 minutes.  In the past this usually ment she was hungry.  It had been a busy day & I think we missed at least 1 highchair meal (she has like 5 or 6! ).  I thought I could cut out the 3 pm feeding and only have a highchair food, but I guess not yet.  Moral of yesterdays adventure...keep on top of the daytime feedings if you want the night to go well. 
She also woke up at 4am (as usual), so I fed her & she slept until 6am.  I was hoping to try to cut out the 4 am starting tonight, but since last night was not so successful, I'm going to wait another night & see how it goes.

How did cutting out the 10/10:30 feed go for you?

Offline stephlauren

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Re: How to start night weaning a one year old?
« Reply #15 on: April 20, 2006, 22:27:20 pm »
DarbysMom,

Well, dropping the 10:30 feeding did not go as planned.  She woke up and DH couldn't get her to sleep for more than five minutes at a time (sound familiar  ;)).  She ended up nursing like crazy and then slept until 5:45.  Not too bad, I would much rather have her wake up at 10:30 than 2am.  I am also trying the technique that I read about on another post, working to take her off of the nipple before she is totally settled--hopefully this will help. 

I just found out today that we will be going out of town for a family emergency tomorrow and staying at my in-laws.  I know this will through a knot in things, but we are just getting started so we won't be set back much.  What I am not looking forward to is the unspoken disapproval of me still nursing Lauren at all.  My mother-in-law and sister-in-law (no children) are amazed I have nursed past six months.  I appreciate reading the posts here and seeing I'm not alone.

Good luck!

Offline gueradeb

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Re: How to start night weaning a one year old?
« Reply #16 on: April 21, 2006, 01:06:26 am »
Dear All:

Glad my post helped some others as well.  Just wanted to say thanks for the answers and support to my questions.  Last night I tried something from Elizabeth Pantley's book - Marica woke up and I said "Meme sleep" (her word for breastfeeding) and she actually went back to sleep.  Now the two times she feeds are 2 and almost 6 am.  She fed for 2 minutes at 5:45 then slept until 7.  So maybe I just have to be zen and follow her time a bit.

Good luck to everyone!

-Debbie