By 6-8 months your baby is fully ready and capable to be completely done with eating at night. Dr. Sears suggests that some parents really enjoy feeding their babies at night and will happily continue offering night feeding sessions until the child stops waking up on their own. If you are one of these mythical “I love waking up in the middle of the night” parents, best of luck to you. Personally I don’t know any people like this. And I think they’re really rare. Like unicorn rare.
But my point is that by this time your baby no longer needs to consume lots of food at night and is fully capable of getting all their calories in during daylight hours. And while a few babies will organically drop all their night feedings without any assistance from you, the vast majority of babies will continue to wake up routinely for a nursing session or bottle for years. So you can live with night feedings for the next 3 years, or you can take some simple and effective steps to gently wean your baby off their night feeding habit.
Start by choosing the feeding that is the least fun for you (typically this is the “dear God why are you awake it’s freeking 2:00 AM” feeding). Use the relevant process outlined below to completely wean off one feeding. Repeat.
Night Weaning for Breastfed Babies
- Gradually reduce the amount of time baby gets on the breast by 1 minute every 1-2 days. For example if your baby nurses 10 minutes a side (for a total of 20 minutes), start popping him off at 9 minutes, 8 minutes, etc.
- By the time your baby is only nursing for 2-3 minutes he may stop waking up all on his own. WHOOPIEE!
- If your baby STILL wants to nurse then you have a few options on how to handle it:
- A) Send daddy in for 1 minute of low-key soothing. Daddies are miraculously good at this. Also? They don’t smell like food. Babies are much more adaptive at getting the “no more food for you buddy” message from Dads.
- B) Let him complain. This should NOT be a nightmare CIO scene. Most babies who have been gently decreasing their milk consumption are now USED to not eating at this time. Left to their own devices they typically complain for 5-10 minutes and then fall back to sleep.
- When you are done feeding your baby at X time of night you are DONE. Don’t let teething/colds/travel get you back on the night feeding menu. If this happens you need to start over again. Do not pass GO. Do not collect $200.
Night Weaning for Bottle-fed Babies
- Offer 2 oz less of formula. So instead of an 8 oz bottle, offer a 6 oz bottle. Then a 4 oz bottle. Etc.
- -OR- Dilute the formula by reducing the amount of formula in the bottle by 1 scoop but leave the amount of water the same. So instead of 8 oz of water with 4 scoops of formula you would offer 8 oz of water with 3 scoops of formula.
- Continue decreasing the dilution of the formula until the bottle is 100% water. (Or continue offering less formula in the bottle – 6 oz, 4 oz, 2 oz). After 1-2 days of “only water” bottles, no more bottles.
- At this point your baby will probably stop waking up for this feeding all on their own. If not read the tips above (for breastfed babies) on how to proceed.
- When you are done with a given feeding you are DONE. No more bottles at that time of night. The kitchen is closed.
I’ve done this with many families over the years and it works shockingly well. Don’t believe me? Try it. Then come back next week and share your success story in the comment section!
There are a few small caveats to night weaning that I want to share….
The Dreaded Early Morning Feeding
Why?
Because babies often respond to giving up the 5:00 AM feeding by deciding instead to start the day. I think the problem is that a) it’s close enough to their normal wakeup time b) they’re used to waking up at that time already and c) they’ve gotten enough sleep that basic exhaustion won’t just whisk them back to dreamland.
I have no magic solution to this dilemma. Try weaning off the early morning feeding and see what happens. Your baby may continue to sleep happily until their normal wakeup time. Your baby may figure out how to fall back asleep at 5:00 am with a little gentle soothing encouragement from you or your partner. Or your baby may flatly refuse to go back to sleep without being fed.
If the latter then you can decide if you want to simply concede defeat and continue with the 5:00 AM feeding rather than wake up in the early dark of the morning. Personally I think an extra hour or two of sleep is worth dealing with the 5:00 AM feeding. If you’re nursing I would strongly encourage you to give your baby a bottle instead at this hour so you and your partner can take turns.
Night Weaning Isn’t Working
What worked/didn’t work for you? Leave a comment below!
{photo credit: DonkeyHotey and Stephen Heron}
I’m confused do I let my lil man CIO first then wean from night feeding or wean from feeding first then start CIO, he’s 9 months on the 5/29 just getting over his 3rd back to back double ear infections since he selfweaned from being EBF when I went back to work 2 months ago. I work twice a week 12 hour shifts Monday and Friday and occasionally fill in when needed, I’m exhausted when I go to work. His crib is in our room right next to my side of the bed, how’s the best way to start training I’ve read through all the steps 3 times and I’m still confused on where to start maybe it’s cause I’m tired I don’t know. I’m a nurse doing home health care with Peds patients on trachs, g-tubes etc I need to be alert. I’m a busy mom of 6 ages 16-almost 9 months I should know how to do this my youngest was a surprise there’s 5 years in between him and his only brother I guess I forgot everything in 5 years. Please Help
Hi Kiana – did you figure this out? You should start with bedtime (CIO) and getting baby to sleep on his own at bedtime. Once that’s established, then look at these steps for night weaning. Notice that this blog page is labeled “part 3” – search the site or the links at the bottom of the page and make sure you read and do parts 1 and 2, first.
Hi, my LO is 10 months old and just like your article stated, slept like a rock from 2 weeks old to 6 months in his crib. After 6 mo, on the mark, he started night waking and has every since and its only gotten much, much worse. He was breastfed and still nurses only for comfort as I am pregnant with child #2, and takes a bottle of donated breastmilk through the day. I continued to nurse him to sleep and when he awoke in the night. Now that he is waking 4-8 times a night I am trying hard not to let him comfort nurse every time, but he screams bloody murder for up to 30 minutes if I let him, if he doesn’t get the boob (my fault, I know). At 7 -8 months he cut 4 teeth at once, so I attributed his sleep problems to that and at 6 months, I attributed his sleep problems to the normal developmental leap stuff, but now at 10 months it’s only getting worse, and Im a zombie! So my biggest question is, since he only comfort nurses, what can I do to wean him from that? He still sleeps in his crib, so that is a plus. He also will wake up a lot when I place him in the crib and my process for getting him to sleep (nursing) has to start again. I don’t mind nursing, I just want him to sleep through the night. Thanks!
I have tried slowly weaning my baby off his night time bottles. He is 6 months old. He eats a lot through the day. He is 18 lbs. He was having 2 lots of 4oz bottles a night. I slowly cut them by an ounce. But when I completely dropped the first bottle he s reamed for an hour. We soothed him at 10 min intervals and he still screamed and screamed. I finally caved in and gave him 2 oz. He wasn’t happy and cried for more, but after 2 mins of crying he went back to sleep. I don’t know what to do since I’ve done everything the literature tells me to do with gradual weaning. Do I have to go back now to feeding him twice a night, since he screams the house down for so long now his bottles have been taken away?
Hi! Does he get a bottle at bedtime? During bedtime routine?
Hi there! I have a 6 month old (23 pounds and 28 inches – big boy) who used to sleep well, but since the 4-month regression (where nursing only got him to sleep), he is sleeping horribly. He will usually sleep about 4 hours, then wakes up every hour. Sometimes its the other way around. I recently started work full time and he is only drink about 3 ounces per feed (every few hours) with some solids. Sometimes I feel like he is genuinely hungry, however I never know until he is done nursing. He currently naps about 1 hour four times a day. I have tried everything to get him to sleep longer. After he wakes from his last nap I nurse, feed solids then start bedtime routine – bath, diaper, pajamas, nurse again, book, put down awake. He will fall asleep great on his own but when he wakes up he can’t put himself BACK to sleep. Is this a nap issue? hunger issue? comfort/separation anxiety issue? Help!
Hi Sara, how have things gone for you? Your son sounds a lot like mine! He just turned 6months old and my biggest issue is putting him back to sleep. He used to be so good but now we have crap naps all day and so much night waking – the issue is definitely going BACK to sleep. Did you find something that worked?
My baby is the same thing. She sucks at naps (30mins) and wakes up often at night and sucks at falling asleep on her own. The last two nights she has fallen asleep by herself but she still wakes up. Sometimes we can calm her down but the times she wants to eat, there is no calming her down.
Great articles and I love your tone…super encouraging. My baby has been falling asleep on her own since she was 7 months. Now 14 months, she still does not sleep through the night but wakes frequently. We’re going to try CIO but I’ll still nurse and use the reduction method you describe. She naps like an angel, her bedtime routine has been the same (literally) since she was born. This has been really frustrating!! I feel like I’ve done most things right and it’s still going so wrong!!
We have the same baby!
My 10 month old still gets up once at night to eat. It is never at the same time and sometimes(!) he will actually skip that feeding, so my doctor thinks he is actually hungry. What do you think?
Dp I get rid of the pacifier before night weaning or after? She falls asleep with the pacifier and doesn’t actually eat at bedtime. She just wakes to eat throughout the night
I was wondering about the night weaning. When you offer a bottle-fed baby a diluted bottle or decrease the ounces, is it each night? Or weekly?
Hi! you could do nightly, or every couple of nights. weekly might be a little too slow…good luck!
I need help :/ my baby was born premature at 4lb she is bf and now at 6 months Wakes every 45 minutes through the night and will only settle being breastfed. I think the issue has come from the fact that 1 she was premature and 2 she had reflux. She stayed sleeping through for longer periods of time but we would wake her for feeds because of her size so I’m scared this has ruined her pattern and secondly because she developed quote bad reflux we had to hold her up for half an hour after each feed. So now we have a baby who feeds every forty five minutes followed by being held up for thirty minutes and then sleeping for 15 minutes in her cot. ..we’ve been living on 3 hours of broken sleep. ..but sixmonths of no sleep has stated talking is toll 🙁 what should we do? She isn’t hungry every 45mins but she wants to feed! !! Any help would be appreciated! ! Thanks so much
If baby wakes 2 hourly instead of 4 hourly overnight do I CIO every second wakeup? What do I do if they’re still crying when the 4 hour mark hits? I don’t want to confuse her by feeding her if she’s been crying for ages.
My baby is almost 14 months old and doesn’t know how to fall asleep in his own. I tried to sleep train earlier but my husband insisted in me rocking him in a hummock. Now he is waking for hours at night and is only quiet when laid in the hummock. He seems totally asleep but the moment he is put in the crib he starts crying like they’re killing him. How do I wean him of that hummock ? Please , please , help!
My little guy is almost 14 months old. And he wakes around 4:30am to nurse…and start the day. He used to fall back asleep for an hour or two after this feeding but nope. Not anymore. 🙁 I can’t get on board with starting the day that early. Even 5:30 would be reasonable…ish but would be in heaven if he could stretch it to 6. I’ve just accepted that I don’t have a 7am – 8am baby waker. He still has two day naps (45 – 90 minutes each) and his bedtime is between 7 – 7:30. Any suggestions?
Check out the podcast on snooze button feeds (https://www.preciouslittlesleep.com/reader-mailbag-snooze-buttons-sleep-training-and-crib-slats-ep-9/).
My daughter is 9 months old. She was going down at 7 – 7:30, waking at 4 to nurse, going back to sleep, and waking at 6:00. We were able to phase out the snooze button feed using the method in the podcast (decrease the feeding time gradually over a few weeks, then send in husband to soothe). There were a few hellish nights, but now she’s done with the 4 am feed and sleeps solidly until 5:30 or 6.
Your situation is a little different because baby isn’t going back to sleep after the 4 am feed anymore, but I bet if you phase out the feed he’ll go back to sleeping longer. At 14 months it could also be that he’s ready to transition to 1 nap.
Chantel we are in the same boat. I’ve tried everything it feels like but baby never sleeps past 5:30. I’ve heard you can shift their bedtime forward gently by 10 minutes every few days but seriously what baby goes to sleep the same minute every day to make this scenario possible? I’d you find a solution I’ll give you everything I own if you tell me.
How does this work for breastfed babies who will not take a bottle? My 11 month old is in daycare during the day…8 hours total…and will drink just enough milk to knock the edge off–usually 2-4 oz. We’ve tried bottles, sippy cups, etc. and nothing works. So, since she’s barely getting milk during the day, she nurses a lot at home.
Our nights go like this: start nighttime routine by 6:45. Baby in crib by 7:15 and usually asleep by 7:30. She then wakes to nurse around 11:30, 2:30, and 4:30. How do I wean from nighttime feedings and make sure she’s getting enough milk during the day??? We’ve had issues w her slow weight gain and don’t want to cause anymore. Thoughts??
You poor thing, it’s so incredibly stressful especially because you’re stressed to be leaving them already even without this issue!
My first child was like this. We tried every bottle/cup, person and scenario you can imagine and she wouldn’t take any liquid from anything except me. When I went back to work at 7 months she just had tonnes of breastmilk or formula mixed into each solids meal during the day and I gave her a long feed before work and at bedtime. She still got all the fluids in her food so the nights didn’t need to change. She started sipping water from my Camelbak water bottle at 10.5 months thankfully but never took milk.
Thanks for sharing! We were adding breastmilk to her food, but now that she has teeth and is getting more solid foods, we can’t even do that. She will drink water from a cup, so I figure I’d try milk. She took a sip, looked me in the eye, spit it out and crawled away! Lol!! A friend told me her son self-weaned once his 4 front teeth were fully in. I’m praying my daughter does this!
If you’re able to give him a breastfeed morning and nightly then that adequate milk at his age, he’s almost 12 months and my paediatrician told me that from 12 months they don’t “need” milk, it’s more a thing you give them to sip when they want it after that, because they get enough dairy through solids like yoghurt. So the milk just becomes another food in their diet.
My son is 9 months.. He goes to sleep at 7 pm and wakes up a few times a night because he wants me to hold him or just be in my bed( he falls asleep in my bed and then is put in packnplay in my room) and at 12 am every single night he expects a 6 oz bottle which isn’t too bad but my pediatrician said he no longer needs night feedings at this age and should be sleeping in his room by now so she recommended this site to me. He is also a huge paci sucker ever since I stopped brestfeeding at 6 months.
Any suggestions to get him to sleep in his amazingly adorable nursery I spent months decorating and getting ready for him?
I am a 48 yr old mother if 17 children (ages 28, 22, 21, 20, 19, 18, 17, 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 9, 7, 4, 2, 1), so by number 17, you would really assume I have experienced it all, right? RIGHT? I’ve breastfed all but the first 3 and until the very last child, they all basically slept through the night (6 hrs +), even when I was nursing them. The baby, who is now almost 13 mos, weaned from the breast (on his own) around 8 mos and started on bottles of formula. He has NEVER been a good sleeper, except naps. He takes one nap per day and easily sleeps 3 hrs. I put him down awake with a 3-4 oz bottle and off to sleep he goes. At night, however, it is a different story. I’ve tried all sorts of things to get him to sleep longer at night (except taking away his nap, which I don’t think would do either of us any good!). I use cereal in his bottles in the evening to “fill him up”. Doesn’t help. I do solid food before bed. Doesn’t help. I let him cry.. and cry… and cry… doesn’t help. He has to sleep in our bedroom because quite simply, I have no where else to put him. He is in a crib, and I have the 3 exposed sides of the crib covered so he can’t see out. It doesn’t seem to matter if I put him down earlier or later, he wakes up all night long. 99% of the time, he wants a bottle. It used to be small bottles (5 oz) but now he has worked up to 6-7 oz bottles and still wakes up 2-3 times a night. He does sleep longer once 7am or so comes around, as long as his diaper is changed. Then he will sleep til 9 or even 10am sometimes. It is driving my husband and I insane. He is my last baby and I am really feeling my age with no sleep! At what point might it be a medical issue vs a behavioral one?
I forgot to add, he does not use a pacifier and never really has.
This doesn’t quite make sense to me – if my baby doesn’t fall asleep in a swing, but doesn’t cosleep and is 3 months, I don’t see an option. How do you wean from bouncing and rocking to sleep if a swing doesn’t work?
There are lots of ways to wean from “rocking to sleep” at 3 months. I have a whole chapter on this subject in the book, it might be helpful to check that out!
My daughter is nearly 8 months. Currently, she takes bottles during the day but she’s breastfed when I get home from work and until I go to work the next morning. We bed share and I nurse throughout the night but lately it’s excessive (5-7 wake ups for nursing a night) and I’m not getting any sleep at all.
I’ve read parts 1-3 of “Sleeping through the night” and I’m wondering if I’m past the “night weaning” stage (where you suggest decreasing feeds by a minute). My daughter doesn’t really wake to eat at night. She usually grumbles and proceeds to thrash around looking for my breast until she finds it, nurses for a couple of seconds and then falls back to sleep. If i don’t give it to her (like I’ve been trying not to for the past couple of nights) she’ll thrash more and grumble louder until I can’t bear it anymore and give in. Do you still think I should be decreasing feeds throughout the night? Or do you think I should skip to sending dad in &/or letting her complain for 5-10 minutes? I should note that her complaining very quickly escalates to her screaming her head off.
Thanks in advance.
I am right there with you… have noticed over the last few weeks that she is waking up more and more through out the night. She will cry immediately until we get situated (finds my breast) then we both go back to sleep. Although we are up very briefly, I’m finding my self exhausted! I also pump and she is bottle fed with solids and snacks throughout the day and I really don’t think it’s out of hunger because she falls back to sleep so quickly, sometimes even before a letdown so she couldn’t be very fulfilling. Hopefully we can find a solution soon because it has been more than a year since I’ve had a good nights sleep!
I have the exactly same issue. My son who’s almost 8 months old, was rocked and bounced to sleep by my parents and in-law when they took turn to come help me. Starting from 2 weeks ago, I put him awake in bed instead and he is now capable of falling asleep on his own, still with someone in the room watching him but no intervention. He usually takes 2 to 3 naps (one longer and there others short like 30-40 min) and we start the night routine before 7pm and he falls asleep before or around 8. He would sleep for 4 hours straight (occasionally longer to 5 hours) and wake for feeding. We usually give him a bottle of 4 to 5oz and he will go back to sleep contently after that. But the following is pretty much identical to Joanna’s situation. He grumbles frequently thru the night till he totally wakes up in the morning (past 6am and the best days around 8). When he grumbles, I pulled him close to me and let him nurse to sleep.
I have asked his pediatrician whether I should wean off the night feeding but since my son was born with growth restriction at only 4lbs, her opinion is he needs the extra calories to catch up, if he wants to feed, just let him. I feel like there night feeding is hampering his day time milk intake. And honestly he isn’t awake enough to nurse fully, just a few sips here and there. There breast is more a comforting tool to him.
What should I do?
My LO is 7 months old and I am ready to sleep train her using CIO. My only concern is that her milk intake while I am at work is very less and I started solids a month ago so I have a feeling she makes up for the milk at night. How would I know if she is really waking up to eat or just out of the habit. Will appreciate a response.
I tried to wean my formula fed 6-month old from the early morning feeding by reducing the formula until I got to water only. He ended up being sick and crampy all day from drinking 6 oz of water. Have you considered the risk for water intoxication using this method?
My almost 10 mo. old girl wakes 1/2 hr after being put in her crib at night and again around 2:00 am and 5:00 am. I breastfeed her to sleep on a chair in our living room and then transfer her to her crib. (I just read how this would feel Iike for us going to sleep in our bedroom and waking up in our yard) She wants to eat when she wakes and usually only breastfeeds for 10 min or so. Sometimes when I transport her to her crib, she wakes up and cries lowdly, so I rock her or breastfeed her again. Should I try sleeping by her crib or cry it out? She does not take a bottle or pacifier. Her bedtime is usually 10:00 pm. How do you do cry it out when you have a husband who needs to work the next day, and a 3 yr old in the same house? Please help!
My baby is 8 months old and wakes up about 4 times a night. When I put her to bed it’s awake and she falls asleep fine but wakes up 3-4 hrs later. She doesn’t want to eat she just wants to be held then put back in bed. I think I can only feed once in the middle of the night. But how do I stop her from waking up just to be coddled?
Hello – my baby will be 11 months old next week. At bed time, we do bath, jammies, play a little, bottle while rocking in chair then he falls asleep while I’m holding him. He wakes once in the night and takes another bottle and I have to hold him/walk around until he falls back to sleep. He doesn’t eat much solids during the day so I feel like maybe he is hungry (he is drinking 30 ounces of formula a day) but maybe not. If I let him cry after a bottle he works himself up after 5 minutes and vomits multiple times. I want to cut out the middle of the night bottle because we will be switching to milk soon. From what I’ve read above, I should work on the getting him to sleep by himself first, before taking out the middle of the night feeding? When do you suggest I feed him his bed time bottle? Before we do bath, jammies, play? he goes to a sitter twice a week and takes naps from being awake (he won’t do that for me, so I know its a habit and comfort thing) so I know he is capable of self soothing. Any tips or advice would be great. thank you!
Hi! Yes, change his bedtime bottle to the first step of the routine- so bottle, bath, jammies, books/song/, crib- he most likely will cry so be prepared! Decide before hand if u plan on checking on him or letting him protest (recommend against checking). Once he’s falling asleep on his own at bedtime, without a bottle, you can start the middle of the night bottle reduction as alexis recommends. Good luck!
Thank you!!! I forgot to add, we are taking a trip with him in three weeks. Should I start this before or after the trip?
I think it’s fine to do it now before the trip, if you do extinction, you should see changes long before your trip. You may not have enough time to wean the middle of the night bottle before your trip, but it’s worth a shot. Keep in mind, traveling can make it hard for your little one to sleep well, so be prepared for some extra soothing perhaps while on ur trip, and just be committed to going back to your bedtime routine once you return home. Good luck!
Hi!
Ok, so before reading this 3 step process I had already began the COP. I would lay my 6 month old down and let him cry for 5 min and then go soothe (not picming him up!) and then if he still cried I would wait 10 min ect. I increased 5 min every time. It took 4 days but he is now pretty good at talking himself to sleep now without crying. So here is my question, he still wakes 2-3 times a night and is very fussy. I sometimes will feed him if I want him to go back to sleep quick but most the time he just wants to walk around for a bit and I’ll wait for him to get drowsy and start the same intervals as bedtime. Mist the time this works. Should I try letting him wake up and just cio until he falls asleep without picking him up? He does use a pacifier but even if I try to put that back in quick he usually is still upset so I don’t think it is that. It could be teething to? I’m not sure but I’m exhausted! Please help.
I mean I started the CIO method. My first sentence was autocorrected.
I came upon this site three nights ago looking for help because my daughter who turned 9 months yesterday would wake up multiple times a night crying very loudly I knew that most of the time it was because she had thrown her pacifier and wanted it now but three out of those times it was to drink milk at 12:30 am then at 3:30 am then around 5:30 am I read this article because i was so tired and sleep deprived but I still have the problem of not being able to return to sleep quickly after I get up but I read this article and I prompted me to make a change I stopped giving my daughter her pacifier I stopped in the morning the next day because I didn’t want her to cry so much by night well she didn’t like it she screamed and cried for about an hour when it was her morning nap time which never would have happened before she would go right to sleep with her pacifier and she didn’t sleep all day because of her pacifier at 9 pm she looked very very tired I gave her a bottle and she turned over and fell right asleep she didn’t wake until 3:50 am again!!!! Success!!!! It’s night two and again she woke up at 4:20 tonight I’m amazed but it’s barely day two I’ll keep you guys updated!!!!!
Hi. So I’ve read part 1- 3 and I’m thinking that maybe it’s time to wean the nighttime feedings. My baby is 9 months old. Her bedtime schedule is pretty much the same every night. Most nights I put her down awake and she puts herself to sleep, sometimes she cries a bit and sometimes she doesn’t. She normally wake up once during the night for a bottle. So my question is, I use liquid concentrate formula over powder. So how would I dilute her bottles? Do I just add extra water in her bottle?
I don’t love diluting bottles for kids under 1 because you don’t want to give them huge amounts of water. I would prefer to simply offer less each night (usually 1 oz less per day).
Ok I’ll do that instead. Thank you.
What happens if my little guy who’s 6 months old doesn’t have a set wake up time at night for a feeding? He kind of wakes up…whenever he wants to. Can I still use this method of less time/ounces to encourage the dropping of a night time feed, no matter what time it is at?
Examples: last night he woke up at 12am, the night before at 5:45am, then the night before at 3:45am.
Nooooormally, he’ll wake after 4am, but that’s not really a guarantee anymore.
Another question to tie into this: if I’m using an SNS/lactation aid, would I decrease the supplement first before decreasing the time at the breast?
Thank you so much for your time and your help. I appreciate it!
So there are loads of “what if” scenarios that are detailed in the book (hint hint!) and specifically this one is addressed in depth – what if my kiddo doesn’t wake at the same time every night? The short answer is yes – you could decrease the first feeding of the night whenever that falls and see where that takes you. If it works – great! It not, check out the book.
As for which first (supplement vs. breast) that’s a bigger issue and my answer is – it depends. If you’re looking to fully night wean and thus have longer than 6 hours without stimulation and you’re worried about supply you might need to pump/stimulate even if you’re weaning off feeds. It’s a whole thing – ask your LC. Hope that helps!
Thank you very much !
These articles are BY FAR the best ones I have come across. My husband and I have a 6mo daughter and we are walking zombies! She is bottle fed breast milk during the day at daycare, and nursed while she is home with us. We have always had a very strict bedtime routine. She is fed, bathed, played with, and then laid to bed to fall asleep on her own. (She is normally put to bed between 8-8:30 but after reading this I am going to start trying to put her down around 7:30). I will let her cry while checking on her intermittently, but she also uses a paci (another hiccup in her night time wakings). BTW, I know I need to get rid of the paci at some point.
HERE IS MY PROBLEM: When she wakes up in the middle of the night, my husband brings her into the room and I nurse her and then just keep her in the bed with us because I AM SO TIRED and this is just “easier,” except it’s not because she is constantly waking up looking for my breast.. My husband and I are the problem, I know that. She nurses for just a few minutes and falls back to sleep only to wake up again a couple hours later and we start over again. So, this is my question…Is it ok for me just to stop bringing her in the bed when she wakes up at night and just let her soothe herself back to sleep since she is only nursing for a couple of minutes anyways? Should I give her the paci as a substitute until she is used to not nursing and then nix the paci? OR should I just let her get rid of it all in one swoop? I appreciate any advice. 🙂
Is 4 months too young for this? our baby is 4 months. and in the wake of a successful CIO, we want to make him completely stop waking in the night at sleep from like 9PM to 6AM. but still he wakes for a bottle around midnight and again around 4-5AM.
I didn’t quite follow this to the T but it worked. I have a 16 month old that co sleeps. He was waking every 45 minutes to nurse. We simply changed the bedtime routine so milk is in a different room before bed, and he doesn’t fall asleep drinking it. Then we lay next to him while he rolls around and falls asleep. When he woke the first few nights and wanted milk, I’d only let him drink if he cried/asked for it longer than 30 or so seconds. Most times he would fall back to sleep before then. By night five he was only waking up once at 5 am to drink. Seems like a miracle. Thank you!!