Dropping night feedings?!?

Question

We had our 9 month well check this morning. Our Ds is doing great so far but still wakes 1-2 times a night and has a bottle of formula each time. He has 3 meals of baby food along with bottles throughout the day. I'm looking for advice on how to drop the night feedings without causing both of us undue stress. When Ben wakes at night he is super upset so I do not want to make it worse. I want to drop the night feedings as his dr suggested in order to get him truly sleeping through the night so any advice would be a great help! What worked or is working for you guys? Should I  wait longer to drop them? FTM and not a huge fan of the idea of letting him CIO. Thanks in advance for your help!

Answer

I just quit offering one night; don't over think it. I still went in to comfort her when she woke up, but didn't offer milk.  I knew she was ready because she was falling asleep after eating for less than 5 minutes - it was just a comfort feed.  She would fall back to sleep just fine without it within minutes of me picking her up for a quick cuddle. Eventually I did do some cry it out because she continued to wake at the same time each night and wouldn't put herself back to sleep. Be prepared...eliminating the night feed for me didn't mean she magically slept through the night.   I do feed her right before bed so I feel confident that she can last all night without eating.  Good luck...hopefully not too many tears!

Answer

I had this problem and got some great advice which worked. If your baby is wakening up before 3am it is because they are hungry so work on the feed after. For example if baby wakes at 4am don't offer a full feed. If you want baby to last until say 7am only give 1oz per hour so just offer 3oz. I don't this with my son and within a week he stopped feeds. It also meant when he got up in the morning he was ready for a feed. Another option is to try only offering water instead of milk. It might work some nights and not others depending how hungry he is. Between offering water and only giving 3-4oz of milk my son dropped his feeds within a week. Let me know how you get on. He still gets the odd unsettled night where he needs a feed but that's only about once every 3 weeks.

Answer

Following...same situation...looking into reducing the ounces I offer during night feedings to gently wean...last resort is CIO...

Answer

I literally just quit night feeds last night it went well giving her a little larger bottle at about 9:30 has helped she pretty
Much sleeps til 6:20-6:30 am

Answer

We are in the same boat.  My dr yesterday said to just explain 'its night time, the boobies are asleep' (that's what we call it).  She said he understands more than you think he does and to just keep comforting him until he goes to sleep.  I rubbed his back on and off for about 45 min and talked him through his little fit until he fell asleep.  The second time he woke up I gave a short 5 min feeding and put him down awake. I felt bad cutting all feedings at once.  I'm working on skipping the first, then cutting back on the second until it's no longer needed.

Answer

Following

Answer

Yes! We had the same problem. He was wanting to be held all night again and waking up every hour so we sleep trained. I gave him four bottles during the day and breastfed him four times to make sure he had enough and we used the sleep sense method. (Routine, laid down awake, patted him and left the room) we let him cry 10 min and went in to pat him (I always just pick him up and wait for him to calm down) then lay him back down and let him cont crying. (I left the room but you can stay in the room if it's better. My guy would actually get louder when he saw us so we left) went back in after ten min to console again. Laid back down and let cry again.. by the time I was back downstairs he was asleep and slept for 12 solid hours. I was amazed. We have had such a hard time with nighttime sleep and part of it was
Prob my fault feeding him so much and teaching him to wake up for milk. He's doing so much better now! I def recommend it!

Answer

Rice cereal didn't work for us. I'm a ftm too. She was eating a 5 oz bottle in the middle of the night. Sometimes 2. I decreased to 3 oz for the first feeding for a week. Then 2 oz and so on. And if she woke after 4am I only gave 1 or 2 oz. It eventually evened out and she dropped all feedings.

Answer

I put Gerber organic rice cereal in his last bottle for the night which is around 8-8:30pm. Asleep by nine and doesn't wake until 7am.

Answer

Following

Dropping night feedings?!?

The Top Baby Tracker App: Embrace New Beginnings with Tender Care

The Top Fertility Tracker App: Your Path to Achieving Pregnancy

The Top Pregnancy App: Nurturing Your Journey to Motherhood

The Top Period Tracker for Empowering Your Menstrual Health Journey