Weening 5 Mo Old from Night Feedings

I had two kids 14 months apart. Unfortunately I was so exhausted after the second he slept all night after 3 months. I think I must have slept through his cry a night or two and he quit waking up. Let him cry a little more each night. When you go in try not picking him up - just rubbing his back and not talking.

My son did the same thing, and when I finally got tired of it I did the cry it out thing with him. The first night was terrible, took a couple hours and of course I was up the WHOLE time, the second night only took maybe half an hour and the third night he made some noise for 5-10 minutes and went back to sleep. That was all it took, and he slept through the night pretty consistently after that. I know it is really hard, but it worked for us and he doesn't seem to be traumatized by it! (He's 4 now). Good luck!

Ha, our children share the same birthday!!!! My daughter was breastfed to begin with but has since moved on to formula. My recommendation is (because I got tired of nightly feedings after about 2 months), I know they say not to put rice cereal into a bottle but I put a teaspoon of cereal in her nightly bottle with 2 oz. of formula for her nightly feeding. I ended up having to put cereal in her bottle for only about 6 weeks and now she sleeps through the night with just her nightly feeding. The rice cereal will help him feel fuller so he doesn't feel the need to wake up every couple of hours to feed and you can mix it with your pumped breastmilk. I just took one of my old smaller nipples and cut the hole a tiny bit bigger for the cereal to fit through but not so she was taking so much in she would get a gut ache. If you're not interested in using cereal the cry it out method is the only one I know of. I've done that method before and ended up on the couch in the living room cause I couldn't sleep with her crying next door to me. I hope this helps because I know how hard it is not to get a full nights sleep.

A.

He is still so young. Breastfed babies get hungry quicker than bottle fed babies. A big, healthy breastfed baby can get enough to satisfy them in just a few minutes. He probably still needs to eat.

I cannot stress enough, how important it is, to ENJOY this time with him. It goes so fast. He needs mommy in the night and he is only little once.

I have 5 children (1 is a step child), they range in age from 26 months to 24 years (I was 18 when the first one was born and 40 when the last one was born) My daughter (26 months) was and still is the worst sleeper of all of them. When she was nursing she was awake literally every 90 to 120 minutes at night wanting to nurse. I used that time to have her all to myself. My husband says I created a monster, but I think I created a loving bond. She still wakes up a few times a week and we go to the couch and cuddle.

It is all what you make it in your mind. It can be a pain to get up with them and of course you are tired, but if you look at it as "special time", it changes the whole time you spend with him.

I'd say just let him cry if he's doing it for soothing rather than needing to eat. Most will disagree but I assure you he'll be just fine. :) He's more than capable of making it through the night without a feeding.

We started giving our 7 mo old a small amount of water to pacify him at night. He really didn't seem hungry, but he doesn't take a pacifier either and now he sleeps throught almost every night! If he does wake up, we give him a drink of water and he usually goes right back to sleep.

I feel for you! Your son sounds exactly like mine. I too, have tried other ways to put him back to sleep, but nothing works like nursing. My son is 7 1/2 months old, and he wakes maybe twice during the night. The only advice to give is to wait it out. Eventually, they will sleep through the night. Beware, a lot of mamas on this site believe in letting your baby "cry it out". I don't recommend that. Good luck.

I also have a gigantic child and I have used the cry it out method. It's terrible to go through, but wonderful now that it's done. It only takes a couple nights, but they can cry for more than an hour before they fall asleep (just to prepare you). We'd go check in on him every 10 minutes and now we don't have to at all. He sleeps from 6:00-6:30 p.m. until 6:30 in the morning. I know this sounds rough, but it does work and now even for naps he goes out like a light.

Hooray for completely breastfed baby and momma! You may realize how rare that is these days, but if you don't..... I too urge you to enjoy. Sleeping with a bassinet right next to your bed or just cosleeping has brought me many hours of needed sleep through their (I have four children - all breastfed; 2 of 4 exclusively until 12 months & I'm due in 3 months) young lives. You get to enjoy their babyhood and sleep at the same time :-) As far as breastfed babies getting hungry faster - not really true, but soothing isn't so awful, is it? IF indeed you think he is hungry at all, you could use a bottle that contains milk pumped at the 'end'. Your foremilk has the content that really fills them up. Nursing for 5 minutes would not produce that. Hope this is helpful. ENJOY, really!

I second the cosleeping or "side-car" sleeping advice. There's nothing wrong with him eating 3x/night, it'd just tiring for you. Sleeping closer to him so you can nurse him in bed will really help with that. And yes, I agree with others, he'll only need you in this capacity for such a short amount of time - savor it!

If he will take a bottle of breastmilk, you nay be able to mix some baby cereal in with it. It will make it a little thickerand more filling so he may not wake up as many times during the night. Cereal is generally introduced at 4 months or so anyways, so this may help.

I too have been weaning my 5 month old EBF son from night feedings and can just share what has been working for me. I had started doing a dream feed at 10-11pm before I go to sleep. Then I knew he could only realistically need one more feeding in the night (around 3am even if feeding every 4 hours). So any other time he woke up I went in (he was just soothing)and comforted him - rocked him, loved him whatever it took to get him back to sleep without nursing. Once we broke the 'feeding association' he started to only wake up around 3am the one time I really was feeding him. This was at 4 months and at least getting up one time is better than 3 or more. Just now I am dropping the total time of this final 3am feeding every night. It would average about 25 minutes and I am dropping by 2 minutes every night - I am only down to 14 minutes now so can let you know how it turns out. I have read that if you wean slowly they will transfer their calorie need from night to day time.

My daughter is 2 days older than your son and has not been eating at night for probably 4 months now. Night feeding being 3 or 4 am. She recently started waking up at that time again and for the last week me or my husband had gone in there and turn her over (tummy sleeper). We probably did this 2 or 3 times before she went back to sleep. And finally she is sleeping through the night again. They just need to learn how to sooth themselves back to sleep. It is a little hard to lay there and listen to them cry but sometimes it’s needed. After you don’t hear him crying anymore you do need to go in there and check to make sure he hasn’t got himself stuck up by the bumper. I’m assuming your child probably sleeps on his back so if he takes a pacifier you can just put it in his mouth and walk out. Don’t talk to him or hold him. You can have your husband do this if he is willing since your son sees you and thinks he is going to get food/held. If he doesn’t take a pacifier or sleep on his stomach you will just have to let him cry it out. It may take a few days to a few weeks but each time the crying time should get shorter. He doesn’t need the food and he needs to learn to put himself back to sleep. And it’s easier to do it now while he is in a crib and not old enough to get out of bed and climb into yours in the middle of the night.

Once they are nursing only for comfort, not because they need to eat, it's really helpful to have someone else get up with them each night. My husband took over the night duty for each of my kids when it was obvious that they didn't need the calories, just the comfort. It took about two weeks with just him getting up (and he got pretty tired each time) but once they figured out that Mom wasn't there to feed them, they eventually just started sleeping thru, rather than get up with Dad.

My daughter does the same thing. Her Dr. said it has nothing to do with her being hungry at night. Babies don't wake up at night because they are hungry, he said they wake up because it is a neurological impulse in their brain. Their brains are growing. He said to let her fuss herself back to sleep but I haven't had the heart to do it yet. Good Luck!

I think its so great that your still breastfeeding and i wish i had the strength you have to keep going! On that note please dont let your baby "CRY IT OUT" how awful! Your baby is 5 months and communicating with you of his wants/needs. Im pretty sure they arent doing this to drive you crazy although it does. Like many ladies said breast fed babies feed more often. My daughter although not breastfed SINCE 2 months, stopped waking up 3x a night around 6-7 months.
A baby is a baby for a very short time, so take advantage of this time to enjoy holding and nursing your baby. No one's life or growth is going to be affected if the housework doesn't get done.
Take a look at this by Dr Sears; http://askdrsears.com/html/3/T031600.asp
10 TIPS FOR EASIER NIGHT NURSING!