No more night feedings?

[Thirteen]

It's time. He's 10 months old, and eats dinner, then nurses right before bed time.
We're down to 1x in the night, but I don't think it's for hunger's sake now.
I am considering cutting it: I miss sleep.
Am I cruel? Do you wait til they quit it naturally?
He sleeps in his own room and has since 4 1/2 mos.



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[moonlight]

I know moms on here and IRL that are up with toddlers. I don't know how you do it. I guess because you have to. DD started sleeping through the night at about 7 weeks. I say go for it! Must get more sleep!!

[GrayMatterWife]

Go French. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...googlenews_wsj

Seriously. I had no idea I was French until I read this article, then I realized that there is a whole other country that parents like I do. Here, I am cruel and indifference. In Paris, I would be normal.

[moonlight]

I like how in the article she throw this out there like it's no biggy:

"Of course, the French have all kinds of public services that help to make having kids more appealing and less stressful. Parents don't have to pay for preschool, worry about health insurance or save for college. Many get monthly cash allotments—wired directly into their bank accounts—just for having kids."

[MrsK]

I'm not sure what advise I can give. I've just started to experiment with CIO for K2 (7.5 months). Actually, it's more like fuss it out; if he was truly wailing, I'd probably cave. It's rough going because he shares a room with K1 who keeps calling me to let me know that the baby is crying. K2 wakes at night too but I think that sleeping in our bed has more appeal for him than nursing.

My mom would probably advise you to just give him a bottle of water when he woke up. Water isn't worth waking up for. I did that for K1 after he was a year old.

FWIW, my nephew is 4yo and has not yet slept through the night.

[GrayMatterWife]

I like how in the article she throw this out there like it's no biggy:

"Of course, the French have all kinds of public services that help to make having kids more appealing and less stressful. Parents don't have to pay for preschool, worry about health insurance or save for college. Many get monthly cash allotments—wired directly into their bank accounts—just for having kids."

tell me about it!

[moonlight]

After reading that, I do feel a bit less guilty for mainly chatting with my hubby in the evenings rather than playing with DD for two extra hours.

[spotty_dog]

In my house, nighttime parenting is part of the gig. I nursed and comforted and settled my babies in the night until they were about two, and honestly...my littlest one is three now and all that is left of those tough baby years is memories of times when it was just me and them and the big dark night, and I cherish those moments.

I totally get the need to night-wean when the waking habits are untenable: sleep deprivation is a bitch; but in my mind, *most* breastfed babies *need* night nursing, whether for the calories or the closeness, until they're at least one, and I wouldn't jump on any drastic solutions before then, personally.

Am I cruel? Do you wait til they quit it naturally?

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Are you cruel? No.

Do I wait? Well I stopped nursing DS at night when he was 2. He'd still he nursing now if I had left it up to him! With DD if she sleeps through before 2 then great. If not then I'll probably cut it out by then with her too.

You're going to get both ends of the spectrum of advice here but go with your gut. It's a personal choice. How does he go down for the night? If you want to stop feeding in the night I would suggest doing whatever it is that you do to get him to sleep (rocking, shushing, leaving him to cry, whatever) and "they" say that after a few nights he'll quit waking up.

[Bittersweet]

We just got rid of the middle of the night waking last month. DH was on an easier rotation without call, so we decided that he would go in and comfort/rock DS back to sleep. DH was really the magic ingredient - DS associates me with food and my efforts to sooth to sleep are pretty ineffective when he's demanding boob. We didn't push it and if DS continued to fuss I'd go in and feed him. It took the full month but it ended up gently breaking DS's "habit" of getting up at 2:00 am. I'm sure there are quicker and more efficient ways to eliminate night waking but we weren't willing to do cry it out and I wanted to be very sure that DS didn't actually need to eat. It seems to have worked (knock on wood). Of course, it may have all been luck. Who knows

[ladymoreta]

Ours was similar to Bittersweet's, only DS tolerated me rocking him back to sleep. I started keeping a bottle in his room, and I'd mix in a couple ounces of formula if he wasn't settling. If he was hungry, he'd drink it, but he didn't like it as well as breastmilk, so I think it was a similar tactic as a bottle of just water. You know when you're ready - trust that instinct!

[v-girl]

DH had to take care of night wakings to help ween from night feedings. Mommy = boob = milk

[alison]

Dh did all the night feedigs, because dd was bottle-fed. Unlike me, he's able to go, take care of business, and fall back asleep. See, doing epidurals for a living comes in handy!

Dd didn't sleep for 12 hours straight until she was about 13-14 months old. Dh fed her on demand, because she was underweight and never ate anything during the day. And dh still says he loves the time he had with dd, rocking and smelling her. He really liked at least being able to spend some time with her when he got home too late to see her before bedtime.

BUT I understand wanting to sleep. I can't get my ass out of bed to get M in the morning and I hate being sleep-deprived!

[Michele]

D was 2y or so, K was 2y, and P is still nursing at night at 18m. But I know I'm on the upper end of the age spectrum for nursing around here.

[GrayMatterWife]

D was 2y or so, K was 2y, and P is still nursing at night at 18m. But I know I'm on the upper end of the age spectrum for nursing around here.

We need to get you a Golden Breasts trophy! Some sort of award in recognition!