At 6 months they should be sleeping through the night? Time to think about night weaning? - Page 2

[MamitaM]

You know I do get thirsty often and need to get some water in the night. It's so darn hot in here and I don't control the heat, maybe he's just thirsty. I also roll over just to give him some cuddles and smell him and give him a little kiss while he's sleeping.

[ssh]

Originally Posted by MamitaM 

We went to the doc today and she told me that my son should be sleeping through the night all ready and not need to nurse in the middle of the night at all now.

 

AAP  currently recommends nursing on demand. Sleeping through the night means 6 or 7 and there's range of ages that's considered normal now instead of a specific age. Many of the old guidelines are based on formula fed children. Your doc is not up to date in her recommendations. I hear it's really common for docs to not have current accurate data on normal sleep and nursing patterns in infants and toddlers. You can ignore her advice or tell her that her info is outdated and not based on AAP recommendations. Here's a good article http://www.kellymom.com/parenting/sleep/sleepstudies.html . Several studies indicated that night waking is very common until 18 or 24 months. On a personal note my DD started sleeping through most of the night, 9 hours between nursings, after all her teeth came in. My DD nursed on demand, we never night weaned, until she weaned herself.  What's nice is that as a 5 year old she has no sleep issues at all. She sleeps 10 hours, is up for 14 and then sleeps again. She started going to sleep by herself right after turning 4. We co-slept before. I feel our time co-sleeping and nursing on demand was an investment in her physical and mental health. She has no anxiety associated with sleep, no drama about going to bed and none of the getting back up problems common in young children.

Edited by ssh - 3/19/11 at 8:29pm

[Layney82]

My son's ped. recommended feeding on demand until at least 9 months.  He told us that babies still need to eat in the night until 9 months and after that, they don't need to.  Luckily, our son started sleeping through the night around 8 weeks, but around 6 months he started wanting to eat 2-3 times per night.  I figure that he knows when he's hungry and when he needs to eat.

We did do CIO around 10.5 months to help him learn to fall asleep on his own  but we always went to him when he woke up in the night.  Right around 12 months he stopped wanting to eat at night altogether.  He only wakes in the night about once a week for a cuddle, and I offer him a bottle but he ignores it and goes right back to sleep.

[mom2happy]

Another opinion is always good. I took DD2 for her well visit the other day. She is almost 11 months old.

This is how our visit went: the ped did his physical examination of her and then held her on his lap and looked at her while he asked me questions. He asked if she is crawling, babbling, lots of eye contact........... yes........he asked how she sleeps........ I told him -TERRIBLY! She still wakes up every 2 hours. She only takes 1-2 short naps a day and they are like jokes.

He looked at the baby and said, "AAAAHHH, but she's a nice baby, we'll keep her.

That's his professional opinion on the subject.

Thinking a baby is supposed to sttn is an opinion- that's all. There are so many opinions and pieces of advice on the subject.

My advice is just to follow YOUR instincts. You will know (physically) what the right thing for your baby is and will be.

[Knitting Mama]

Originally Posted by Layney82 

My son's ped. recommended feeding on demand until at least 9 months.  He told us that babies still need to eat in the night until 9 months and after that, they don't need to. 

I disagree with blanket statements like this. I think it's much more realistic to base it on your specific child. For example, my 11 (nearly 12!) month old daughter still gets up once a night for milk. She is practically EBF, as she barely eats solids and certainly not for a full meal. She is on the smaller side, so I would feel terrible withholding milk from her if she's truly hungry. I wouldn't want to risk it given our circumstances. Other babies are probably ready to go all night without milk. It's just different for everyone.

[ssh]

Originally Posted by mom2happy 

Another opinion is always good. I took DD2 for her well visit the other day. She is almost 11 months old.

This is how our visit went: the ped did his physical examination of her and then held her on his lap and looked at her while he asked me questions. He asked if she is crawling, babbling, lots of eye contact........... yes........he asked how she sleeps........ I told him -TERRIBLY! She still wakes up every 2 hours. She only takes 1-2 short naps a day and they are like jokes.

He looked at the baby and said, "AAAAHHH, but she's a nice baby, we'll keep her.

That's his professional opinion on the subject.

Thinking a baby is supposed to sttn is an opinion- that's all. There are so many opinions and pieces of advice on the subject.

My advice is just to follow YOUR instincts. You will know (physically) what the right thing for your baby is and will be.

It sounds like maybe your pediatrician is a keeper.

I fixed the link in my previous post and here's another good article on normal baby and sleep patterns http://www.kathydettwyler.org/detsleepthrough.html . You are right, thinking a baby should sttn is an opinion, but it's not an opinion held up by research. It's completely normal for sttn to happen sometime during a child's toddler or early preschool age.

[scrandall1173]

My daughter often woke up once a night until she was 18 months- especially if she was going through a developmental stage, teething, or just needed to connect with me more than we had during the day. Usually it was hunger. That's just how her metabolism was I guess. I imagine all kids are different. Is your ped concerned there's a medical problem ?

[sk8boarder15]

I think your LO probably COULD go all night if he needed too as long as he was getting enough during the day, but if you are not seriously sleep deprived there is no reason to change a thing! This is a parenting issue, not a health issue at this point, and your the PARENT! My 6 mo old nurses at least 3 times a night! Im not planning on nigh weaning any time soon! There are times I'm sleep deprived and will ask DH to be in charge of sleep for a few hours so I can get a good chunk! So DS will fall asleep without nursing, if I'm exausted, but most of the time I'm happy to either nurse him in the rocking chair or bring him in bed with me! 

right now my plan is to nurse on demand round the clock untill he is a year old, at that point I figure nursing can be on my terms a little more!! :p 

[holothuroidea]

Of course the answer is a resounding NOOOO!!! 

If it works for you and your baby do not let a single doubt cross your mind.

Unreasonable expectations like this are why breastfeeding relationships get derailed so often. It's one thing if you say, "I am having difficulty functioning because I don't get enough sleep," and a doctor telling you that, medically, your child will not suffer if you night wean. It is another thing entirely to offer the "advice" that all 6 month olds should start night weaning even if everything is going fine. 

[Layney82]

Originally Posted by Cecilia's Mama 

I disagree with blanket statements like this. I think it's much more realistic to base it on your specific child. For example, my 11 (nearly 12!) month old daughter still gets up once a night for milk. She is practically EBF, as she barely eats solids and certainly not for a full meal. She is on the smaller side, so I would feel terrible withholding milk from her if she's truly hungry. I wouldn't want to risk it given our circumstances. Other babies are probably ready to go all night without milk. It's just different for everyone.

I agree entirely - sorry, it wasn't clear from my post, but my son needed to eat in the night until about 12 months.  He was still hungry, so I fed him.  I only included my doctor's statement to say that at least some medical professionals don't think it's appropriate to deny food at night to a baby younger than 9 months.

[Magali]

Originally Posted by MamitaM 

We went to the doc today and she told me that my son should be sleeping through the night all ready and not need to nurse in the middle of the night at all now. I'm not concerned at all and I kinda don't care to think about night weaning yet. He sleeps really well,always has. He can fall asleep with out nursing and doesn't make a fuss when I take my boobie from him when I think he's done eating at night and often he'll unlatch and turn over and go to sleep on his own. He has been waking more often to nurse at night though over the past month, he doesn't fully wake or even cry really and I'm happy to nurse him as often as he needs me to.

Is it really time to consider night weaning?

Sorry to say, but I don't trust your Dr. very much.  She is creating a problem where none exists.  My ds nursed in the night till I weaned him at 2.5 years old. 

[MamitaM]

I don't think he has any medical issues, she never mentioned she was concerned about anything due to my night nursing. She was a bit worried about a small amount of weight loss though, but he's since gained it back plus more. She's concerned about me doing BLW and skipping the iron fortified baby cereals though. I'm also concerned, but am learning about BLW and how to make sure he gets what he needs without the cereals.

I have food issues b/c as a child I was often sent to bed with out dinner as punishment and had food kept from me at at other times, so I promised myself that I'd never make my child go hungry so if he's telling me he needs t night nurse then he's going to nurse.

I can function just fine and figure I won't even try to night wean until it affects my sleep or if we're still nursing at well over a year maybe.

[TreeRose]

Our ped said the same and DD almost 7 mo goes thru spurts. Lately she's nursing every 1-2 hrs day and night with a long stretch of not nursing in the afternoon (when she eats more solids). While it's tiring when she nurses all night I'm not going to withhold. Ped said it was our fault for co-sleeping that she doesn't sleep thru the night but between growth spurts and teething and development I can't blame her and won't hold back milk. Most nights she's in her crib from 7-12 with 1 or 2 nursings to get her back to sleep. I defer to Dr Sears who says some babies need nursing and comfort more than others. It's sad that peds put this pressure on us as mothers.

[sunnygir1]

I know that doctors will say things like that, and have no trouble believing that she wasn't joking, but that doesn't make it correct.

You aren't going to harm your child by nursing on demand, so keep doing that if it feels right to you.

My ds is 18 months and we're working on night weaning this week...I'm so tired!  I night weaned dd around the same age.

[holothuroidea]

Originally Posted by TreeRose 
 Ped said it was our fault for co-sleeping that she doesn't sleep thru the night

Your pediatrician is correct. The problem is, is that nobody is questioning whether it is a GOOD thing for babies to STTN. I don't think it is.