How do you nightwean 9 mo old that wakes up every 2-3 hrs?

[lkmiscnet]

What is the process for attempting to nightwean? If the baby is hungry at night or won't stop crying, I'm curious to know how you accomplish this feat.

[Bokonon]

If the baby is hungry and/or won't stop crying, it's probably not a good time to nightwean.

[Unconventional1]

Originally Posted by lkmiscnet

What is the process for attempting to nightwean? If the baby is hungry at night or won't stop crying, I'm curious to know how you accomplish this feat.

My DD did this at the same age- she wasn't hungry so much as comfort nursing due to teething pain. It stopped once the teeth came through, now we have 3-6 hour stretches depending on the night. Also, she wakes up and fusses more frequently if I have eaten something that upsets her tummy.

If your LO really is hungry that often, it may be a growth spurt and they are trying to up your supply, or make up for not feeding enough during the day- DD did this as well because she was getting too mobile and interactive to bother with nursing as often/long as normal. If this is happening to you can you go to a quiet/darkened room to nurse (if you don't already) to try to lengthen feedings?

Good luck- I know how exhausting this is- I still go through it with DD on occasion for 1-2 weeks at a time. I don't think that nightweaning is necessarily the best idea at this age though.

[MangoMommy]

I'm feeling ya!!! My 9 mo usually wakes about 4 times during the night (10pm-5am) and I am SO exhausted from her doing this, I barely get sleep. I'm so over it!!!!!!!

If they are hungry, you could try to nurse him/her more before bedtime and thru the day to get them off the night-feeding cycle.

If they won't stop crying I try to figure out why...teething? clothes? diaper? scared? I woudln't leave a crying baby.

I don't have an brilliant ideas, just wanted to commiserate! I'm so crabby all day long due to the extreme sleep deprivation, ugg. And in my case, my husband is USELESS at night. (that's another post LOL)

[karika]

Originally Posted by lkmiscnet

What is the process for attempting to nightwean? If the baby is hungry at night or won't stop crying, I'm curious to know how you accomplish this feat.

you don't. I suggest cosleeping if you aren't already. everyone will be much happier. I sleep through my baby nursing me all night long. She has never slept anywhere but with me. I lie down with her every time she lies down. If the baby is crying a lot, it could be that the baby is not getting enough hindmilk. Let the baby nurse as long as it wants to, not breaking the child off. this will ensure that LO gets the fat rich hindmilk. http://www.kellymom.com/bf/supply/fo...-hindmilk.html
this site is full of breastfeeding info
http://kellymom.com/
Also, cow's milk protein in your milk will irritate a baby's tummy. eliminate dairy in your diet. see the other post about dairy in this forum for tips.

[KristyDi]

Originally Posted by karika

Also, cow's milk protein in your milk will irritate a baby's tummy. eliminate dairy in your diet. see the other post about dairy in this forum for tips.

While it's true that some babies are bothered by cow's milk in mama's diet it is by no means universal. Unless there are other signs of there being something wrong, I wouldn't jump to the conclusion that mama needs to eliminate dairy.

OP I agree w/ PP, it sounds like now might be a bad time to attempt night weaning. If you're willing co-sleeping can allow you to get some more rest since your babe can nurse while you lay down and, once you get used to it you can sleep through night feedings.

I know it can be tough.

[claddaghmom]

For us, 9 months was the beginning of the anxiety stage. I would not have been comfortable trying any type of training, especially CIO, at that time period. DD was teething huge teeth, going through several milestones and TBH a complete mess. Around 12-13 months she changed into a different person and is back to a normal sleep schedule.

There are a few times in our child's life where they really need us, and this is one of those times as I found out. I've heard others mention increased anxiety at the end of the first year, including Dr. Sears.

[lkmiscnet]

Waking up every 2-3 hours at night is not unusual for my LO. He has been doing this for months. He will whimper and as soon as I give him a boob, he nurses and falls back to sleep quickly, usually within 5 minutes. We have been co-sleeping for 5 mo now. So, I do consider myself lucky that he will stop crying quickly, though I still feel he is comfort nursing. The bad thing is that my DH is in the guest room because there is not enough room in our bed and none of us would get much sleep with our LO waking so frequently, so that's not good for our relationship.

One thing I have been doing the past 2 weeks is to wait for our LO to get fussy during the day to signal me when he is hungry because I was automatically nursing him every 2-2.5 hours. I thought I should go with baby-led hunger signals so he would develop a healthy attitude toward only eating when hungry.

During this experiment, he goes 4-4.5 hour stretches during the day without nursing or fussing. Why can't he do that at night? It hasn't changed his night schedule at all though and he's still nursing with the same frequency at night and not trying to make up for it.

He is on pureed food twice a day, sometimes eating a few bites and sometimes about 2 ounces. That never made a difference in his frequency either at night.

So, I was just wondering for those that have HAD to wean, how they did it because I am facing that prospect in a couple of months, when he turns one. Does that mean getting up in the middle of the night with a bottle? I do have a huge stock of frozen BM, so would not have to use formula.

[PatioGardener]

You may find that if you nurse more in the day baby may go longer at night. Doesn't always happen, but might help. May be worth another experiment!

[RiverSky]

Hmmm, personally I think it would be torture for your baby if you tried to nightwean at this early stage. Right now, your baby NEEDS to nurse at night. Cosleeping can really help, because you can mostly sleep right through the nursing, especially if you don't wear a shirt at night. It's such a help!

[jecombs]

Night-weaning (or any type of weaning) is not recommended for babies under a year old. I night-weaned DD when she was 14 mo. using Dr. Jay Gordon's method for co-sleeping families. We successfully night-weaned, but it did not lead to more sleep immediately. That took months. So, night-weaning is not necessarily going to solve all your night-time problems.

To answer your questions about bottles, I did not offer any to DD when we night-weaned. Instead, I gave her a sippy cup full of water.

Just out of curiosity, why do you say you'll have to wean in a couple of months? Nursing my DD after she turned 1 was sooooo much easier than nursing her as an infant, especially after we night-weaned. My supply was so stable that I didn't have to pump anymore and DD got cow's milk in a sippy during the day. So we just nursed in the evenings and on weekends. It was a really relaxed and joyful time in our nursing relationship.

[Babybirther]

Wow, my 2 y.o. still wakes frequently at night! I tried this past summer(all summer long) to get her to sleep more and in her own bed before my other DD was born. She liked her own bed, but I was up all night getting her back to sleep. So, she's back in bed with me and the 6 month old nursing just as much as ever. To me, it's hard to wean a babe at night time. The 2 y.o. nurses at night and naptime. She does ask constantly to nurse.....

[Baby_Cakes]

I think that's too early. I was very VERY tempted to nightwean at 9-10 months too, but I knew in my heart it wasn't right. We did bedshare/cosleep, and DD was waking up basically as much as your LO.

I had DH take one night waking. It wasn't so much nightweaning, just a break for me -- and most of the time, she would fall asleep easily on DH and then if she woke up AGAIN, he would bring her to me to nurse. I would always nurse sidelying during the night, so she wouldn't be under the impression that it was time to get up for the day. It helped.

We began following Dr Jay Gordon's tips for nightweaning at 12 months. You basically pick a section of the night that is off limits for nursing, and for all those wake ups, you rock, sing, shush, pat, etc, until your LO is back to sleep. When we waited until a year, Nora went back to sleep easily and it only took about a week, maybe two, with no tears. It was amazing and easy.

That said, at 17 mo she still wakes a few times at night -- but she is night weaned. She doesn't look to nurse, she just needs to crawl on top of me or DH and then she falls back to sleep.

GL -- and just give it a few more months. You made it this far, you can do it!

[hollytheteacher]

Another vote for WAY too early! In fact I'm pretty sure the months that my ds did the MOST night nursing was in the 14-17 month range and then after that it started slowing down. He's now 2.5 and still wakes once or twice and sometimes now i can say "wait til morning" and he'll roll over and go back to sleep but not always (and this is still pretty new).

I would also increase the day feedings (not decrease or the baby will just make up for it at night). And maybe even back off on the purees. Each puree you feed is waaaay less calories so it could make your LO want to nurse more. Have you read up about Baby Led Weaning? (giving your baby soft chunks of food and skipping the purees so he/she can learn about eating on their own terms)

[Erinz]

I have no idea how anyone would nightwean a 9 month old. They have no reasoning cababilities, I just don't see a kind way to do it. So you're just wanting to nightwean from the breast? Sounds as if you are willing to give a bottle? Try that I guess? Are you needing to wean completely at a year? I wasn't sure why you said you HAD to do it anyway in a few months. I can tell you that the difference between 9 months and 12 months is HUGE. Huge I tell you! That baby of yours will change and grow so much in the next 3 months.

I nightweaned my first at 18 months and I feel like that's a pretty good age. It was easy for both of us because he was old enough to understand "boobies go to bed when he does and they don't wake up until the sun is up" along those lines. But ya, a 9 month old can't grasp that at all!

[Super~Single~Mama]

I would go back to nursing ever 2-2.5 hours in the day. If baby isn't hungry, he won't eat.

And, if he's just wimpering, try rubbing his back before offering the boob. I do this alot - if my ds is actually hungry, he doesn't go back to sleep - if he's not hungry but just stirring a bit he goes back to sleep.

I know the night waking is really hard on everyone - but it passes!! It's slowing down for us quite a bit right now.