11 mth night weaning qu

I need to night wean Tom as most  nights he has up to 3 feeds during the night normally around 9.30/10ish, 1/2ish and then 5.30ish.  I tried it a couple of weeks ago just dropping the 1am feed and it went OK that week (still woke up and eventually went back to sleep without a feed after me giving him cuddles and him grizzling for an hr) but then he got a cold and started teething again so now we are back to 3 feeds a night.

 

My question is- I can't decide whether I should first try and drop the 1am feed again but still give him a feed at 10 and 5,30 OR whether I should drop the 10pm and 1am feed at the same time (am happy to just leave the 5.30 feed at the moment).

On one hand I don't want it to be a huge shock for him, so that is why I am thinking of first dropping the 1am feed and then later on working on the 10pm feed. BUT then I am worried that by feeding him at 10pm I am giving him mixed signals.

 

What would you do?

 

BTW he isn't a big solids eater which is why I have kept feeding him at night, as I told myself I wasn't going to nightwean until he was eating more.....but I now realise that probably isn't going to happen.

Could you still do the 10pm feed as a 'dream feed' and try to drop the other two?  I think this is what the sleep store advises. That is what I would try anyway.

Goodluck. I feel for you, you must be very tired still getting up 3x a night.

And yes - I think the sleep store info is awesome

Or, if you aren't so keen on the verbal reassurance/cc etc then the No cry sleep solution suggestion is to shorten the feeds when baby wakes.

I don't have any advice as we're going through the exact same thing! 3 is about average - but give or take 1 feed.

Only reason I personally haven't night weaned is because she tends to feed about 7pm (bedtime) 9pm, 11pm, 2am, 5am and then again about 12pm (lunchtime) but before her nap... I would be more than happy to feed her at 7pm, 2am or 5am and then at 12pm but pretty sure she'd probably wean as sometimes she skips her 12pm feed!

Yup, I think I'd be tempted to just drop all the night feeds in one go, although I think 5.30 really classes as a (very early) morning feed, so I'd give him a top up then, if he woke up. Before 5.30am though, I'd put my foot down.

It's probably going to be horrible for the first couple of nights, but he'll soon get the idea. Have a think of what approach you want to take for the settling and stick to it. As you know, we did a kind of mix of VR & CC. Mainly cause I can't really see the difference between the two. I think the VR is more for the parent than the baby LOL I would pick Roo up out of the cot if he was really upset (not just grizzling) wait till he was OK and then put him back down. He's scream the house down for about 1-2mins, but then settle into either another grizzle or sleep. It only took us 2 nights to get him back on track

The way I look at it (and this is just my opinion, not suggesting that what other people do is wrong) Roo is a lot happier if he has a full nights sleep. He can settle himself and is happy to do so. He doesn't need to cry, so doesn't (9/10). If he does wake up in the night crying, I know there's something wrong. Soooooo a couple of horrible nights teaching them that they don't need boob during the night, or need mummy to help them settle = a happy baby in the morning and a well rested mummy

I totally appreciate your dilema re: solids though. I would give it a couple of nights though and see if he either encourages him to eat more, or if he just takes more boob. Either way, it's worth keeping an eye out, just to make sure he's getting plenty during the day.

LOL sorry, didn't mean to ramble. I'm sat down drinking a coffee and the caffine's kicked in

Now.... when TomTom starts sleeps 12 hrs straight and totally messes with his day naps, don't ask me for advice, cause I don't have a clue...as you know LOL

I think that sounds like a good idea!

You could always keep the 10 feed as a dream feed if that would work but cutting them both is probably better.

I managed to get DD to self settle tonight. Only took 20 mins, took 30 yesterday for her nap (didn't try it last night or todays nap though) so making a start and plan to get more consistent with it on monday in the hope that it helps her sleep better. Not quite ready to night wean yet but we'll see how this goes first!