Can nightweaning help with poor weight gain?

[babyjonesmama]

Help! I have a 16 month old who has not gained any weight in over 3 months. I am getting pressure from my husband and my pediatrician to start cutting down on breastfeeding in order to increase his appetite for other foods. He eats very little solid food and will not take cow's milk. I work about 32 hours a week, and I stopped pumping when he turned 1. He eats considerably better when I am not home and he is just with his dad. When I am home, he nurses very frequently and I have only started to try to limit it within the last couple of weeks. We do co-sleep and he wakes several times a night to nurse. I have been considering nightweaning but have not made any serious attempts as of yet. Does anyone have any experience with this type of situation? Is there any chance that if we nightwean he will increase his intake of food during the day? I'm not ready to stop breastfeeding altogether, but the prospect of sleeping through the night for the first time in two years is definitely appealing...any advice? Thanks!

[tanyam926]

My children have all gone through periods where they don't gain for a few months and then go through a growth spurt. It was always my understanding that this is normal. In fact, ds3 (EBF) hit 20 lbs by 4 months and was only 23 lbs by 1 yr old. His growth has slowed even more now that he is over 1 yr.

Is your child underweight? If not then I would consider getting a different doc or getting your dh on board w/just following your child's lead.

Breastmilk has many nutrients, good fats and carbs, as well as many other things that are important for a growing toddler. I can't think of any situation where the solution should be to wean. I say follow your instincts on this one.

[annekh23]

My experience was that night weaning did increase DS's weight gain, but then I wasn't working as many hours as you, so he got more in the day time. Also, after thinking about it for a while, I could tell that night feeds had become comfort, not feeding, so ultimately gentle night weaning became better sleeping, which is when they do their growing, it wasn't because less breast milk was consumed, or more other foods.

[cocoschmoco]

My son doesn't eat as much when I'm feeding him, either. He is getting better about it, and I think part of it is that I've been gently weaning him and have completely night weaned him. He's 23 months, though, and I didn't night wean until he was 21 months or so. I agree that unless he's underweight, I wouldn't worry about it, especially if he's growing length-wise. When my son was 16 months, he was eating some solid foods, but getting at least 50% of his daily calories from nursing.

[kalamos23]

Just wanted to add that breastmilk is higher in fat and calories than most foods, so I'd leave him be, honestly. When did he start walking the majority of the time? Did the weight even out then? DD has always been a huge gainer, but even her weight slowed significantly when she started walking most of the time ~12 mo. It didn't happen when she started crawling, but walking seemed to be a huge calorie burner for her, maybe that is true for your baby too?

[hopey1canobe]

Hi there

I know I'm in late on this thread but wondering if mama who posted could give an update on the situation as it sounds very similar to ours as far as age, night nursing, poor weight gain, etc

I'm worried sick about what may be causing his increased refusal of all foods. We night weaned at 14 months because I was losing my mind without sleep and I am working the same amount you were at that point so, day sleep is not an option.

He started primarily walking at the same time we night weaned and has actually lost weight since then. There are a lot of factors:

• ear infection/antibiotic treatment during that time
• bad head cold
• poor feeding issues (chews then spits food out), generally refuses food at meals (even things he previously went for)

Anyhow, I would love to hear follow info if you would be willing to share.

Thanks

Hope

[kalamos23]

DD didn't stop gaining weight until 18m, but she is still not nightweaned at 32m and literally has stayed the same weight to within a few ounces since 18m... she was a heavy kid to begin with, but I'm thinking it must be fairly common. She has grown about 4 inches in height though. 

[namistenicole]

My DD is pretty small (22 lbs at 2 years) and she did finally start to put on weight when we nightweaned. She started eating a lot more breakfast and added an evening snack.