Doc wants me to night wean, I'm not so sure

[jessmke]

Isla has always been difficult to nurse during the day. She will always nurse before naps and bedtime so that's at least 3 times during the day, and I can usually coerce her into a fourth time but that is usually it. Then she wakes every 2-3 hrs at night with a growling tummy and wanting to nurse. We are doing BLW but she doesn't consume a lot yet so most of her calorie intake happens at night. My doctor wants me to night wean her so she will nurse/eat more during the day and sleep more at night. While I would love to sleep more I am worried that night weaning her will send me down the path of having to supplement with formula if she still won't nurse more during the day. I know most of her nutritional needs come from milk for the first year so I don't want to night wean until she is at least a year, or earlier if she decides to cut back in her own. I guess I am just worried that night weaning will be the beginning of the end of our breastfeeding relationship and I really want to BF for at least a year. What are your thoughts?

 

[mac1979]

We just had our four month appt and our pediatrician said that Sabine should be sleeping 11-12 hours a night without nursing...I sometimes think docs are full of it. Do what you think is right for your child.

 

[jessmke]

We just had our four month appt and our pediatrician said that Sabine should be sleeping 11-12 hours a night without nursing...I sometimes think docs are full of it. Do what you think is right for your child.

Thanks, I think I need to trust my instincts instead of listening to the doc.

 

[crownest]

I find my DS feeds more during the night if he has skipped a feed or being distracted during the day. He wakes once or twice during the night but I find if I reduce the nursing time he picks it up the next day , if that makes sense. So if his feeds start getting longer at night I'll reduce the time over a few nights so he is happy with a 5 minute feed once or twice a night at night and feeds more during the day. I don't want to stop it because I'm worried my supply will disappear at night. I also ignore people telling me to give him formula to help him sleep. Trust your instincts no one know Isla or her needs better than you.

 

[happynewmom1]

Listen to your instinct on this. All babies are so different and doctors seem to like to come up with solutions to get babies to sleep through the night when the baby might just not he ready for that yet. You know what your baby needs . with our first baby the doctor encouraged me to give him cereal when he was 4 months to get him to sleep.. In my desperateness and as a ftm, I tried it.. Didn't work. So at 6 months I was told to do CIO since he was still waking a lot. It was the most horrible week ever with him and it didn't even work. So I decided to quit doing that stuff and go with my gut. It was actually way less stressful making that decision and at 13 months, we did one night of kinda CC.. I was in and out tending to him constantly.. I barely would leave as I just hate that stuff but he was ready. Fell asleep quickly and slept through the night since.

With our middle child.. She didn't sleep through until she was like 2.5..she wouldn't go to sleep unless I laid down with her and would wake at least once to see me. But then one night she said goodbye and goodnight to me.. Went to sleep by herself and slept all night. Night weaning didn't work with either of them btw. Follow your gut on this..if you are hoping to breastfeed for a year, I just wouldn't risk it.

 

[jessmke]

Thanks guys. To be honest she is so hungry in the night I honestly don't know how I would go about night weaning even if I wanted to. She is very efficient and only nurses for about 5 minutes at a time, so it don't even have much room to cut back on the time I allow her to nurse. I have decided that if she is hungry then I am going to feed her, whether it is during the day or night. My doctor can tisk tisk me all he wants, I'm not going to deny food to my baby when she needs it.

 

[noon_child]

Maybe if this was still happening in another 12 - 18months or so and was affecting how much food she was willing to eat it might be a problem but at 7months she is still so young. She might really take to food in the next few months and start dropping the night feeds on her own. Why do something that could be upsetting for both of you unless you really need to/want to?

 

[jessmke]

Maybe if this was still happening in another 12 - 18months or so and was affecting how much food she was willing to eat it might be a problem but at 7months she is still so young. She might really take to food in the next few months and start dropping the night feeds on her own. Why do something that could be upsetting for both of you unless you really need to/want to?

Thanks, I agree. My doc seemed to be very concerned that I wasn't getting enough sleep, but I feel ok most days so if I'm not stressed about it then why should he be stressed? On the days where I am feeling tired I just take a nap when Isla naps!

Isla is getting more and more interested in food, she tries everything but just doesn't manage to swallow much. I think once she gets some teeth she will really get into eating. I have a ton of frozen breastmilk in my freezer that we never used because she wouldn't ever take a bottle. She will now drink out of a cup so I've been putting about 5 oz of milk in her cup and offering that to her during the day in-between feedings. She only usually drinks at most an oz at a time so it isn't affecting the amount she breastfeeds at all, and it gets just a few more calories into her during the day. She will drink it cold right out of the fridge so I don't even have to worry about warming it up and then having it go to waste.

 

[noon_child]

Maybe if this was still happening in another 12 - 18months or so and was affecting how much food she was willing to eat it might be a problem but at 7months she is still so young. She might really take to food in the next few months and start dropping the night feeds on her own. Why do something that could be upsetting for both of you unless you really need to/want to?

Thanks, I agree. My doc seemed to be very concerned that I wasn't getting enough sleep, but I feel ok most days so if I'm not stressed about it then why should he be stressed? On the days where I am feeling tired I just take a nap when Isla naps!

Isla is getting more and more interested in food, she tries everything but just doesn't manage to swallow much. I think once she gets some teeth she will really get into eating. I have a ton of frozen breastmilk in my freezer that we never used because she wouldn't ever take a bottle. She will now drink out of a cup so I've been putting about 5 oz of milk in her cup and offering that to her during the day in-between feedings. She only usually drinks at most an oz at a time so it isn't affecting the amount she breastfeeds at all, and it gets just a few more calories into her during the day. She will drink it cold right out of the fridge so I don't even have to worry about warming it up and then having it go to waste.

Oh that's great she will drink breast milk from a cup! Btw my LO didn't get teeth (tooth) till 11months old and she'd been eating family food for months by then. Next one didn't appear till 14months! Once they get the hang of it the lack of teeth doesn't really stop them!

 

[jessmke]

Maybe if this was still happening in another 12 - 18months or so and was affecting how much food she was willing to eat it might be a problem but at 7months she is still so young. She might really take to food in the next few months and start dropping the night feeds on her own. Why do something that could be upsetting for both of you unless you really need to/want to?

Thanks, I agree. My doc seemed to be very concerned that I wasn't getting enough sleep, but I feel ok most days so if I'm not stressed about it then why should he be stressed? On the days where I am feeling tired I just take a nap when Isla naps!

Isla is getting more and more interested in food, she tries everything but just doesn't manage to swallow much. I think once she gets some teeth she will really get into eating. I have a ton of frozen breastmilk in my freezer that we never used because she wouldn't ever take a bottle. She will now drink out of a cup so I've been putting about 5 oz of milk in her cup and offering that to her during the day in-between feedings. She only usually drinks at most an oz at a time so it isn't affecting the amount she breastfeeds at all, and it gets just a few more calories into her during the day. She will drink it cold right out of the fridge so I don't even have to worry about warming it up and then having it go to waste.

Oh that's great she will drink breast milk from a cup! Btw my LO didn't get teeth (tooth) till 11months old and she'd been eating family food for months by then. Next one didn't appear till 14months! Once they get the hang of it the lack of teeth doesn't really stop them!

I have enough milk in the freezer to supplement her with 5 oz a day for about a month. Hopefully by the time that runs out she is eating more solid food and getting more calories that way. If I run out of freezer milk and she is used to getting an extra 5oz a day in her cup will I then have to give her formula? I have a manual breast pump but can't get much from pumping anymore, is it worth investing in an electric pump at this stage to keep my freezer stash up in case I need to continue supplementing her for more than a month?

 

[Bevziibubble]

Each baby is different. There is no guide to say that a baby should be night weaned by a certain time. My first was nowhere near ready to be night weaned by that age. My son is 6 months and I can't see he will be ready any time soon either!

 

[BunnyN]

I think 7 months is really quite early to night wean. Some babies might be fine with it but I imagine a large proportion of BF babies are still feeding in the night at that stage. I night weaned DD at about 14 months because I was pregnant again and finding it hard. OH started getting up with her and giving her water instead. By then she was fine without the feeds but it didn't make her wake any less, and it took her longer to get back to sleep so sleep wise BFing wasn't the issue.

 

[Zephram]

Honestly I don't think night weaning at 7 months will make a difference to how much she eats regarding solids. My DS2 ate basically nothing until around 7.5 months when he suddenly got the hang of finger foods. He wanted nothing to do with spoon feeding and purées and just didn't really eat until he had it all together to eat with his fingers. He's almost one now, eats like a champ and I still feed him 1-3 times a night as he demands.

He got his first tooth coincidentally (or not) at around the time he really started eating solids.

 

[Marumi]

We just had our four month appt and our pediatrician said that Sabine should be sleeping 11-12 hours a night without nursing...I sometimes think docs are full of it. Do what you think is right for your child.

Hahaha...when my first was 6 months old my pedi said to wean him onto bread because he won't get enough iron or calories from BM Docs can be so funny.

 

[noon_child]

We just had our four month appt and our pediatrician said that Sabine should be sleeping 11-12 hours a night without nursing...I sometimes think docs are full of it. Do what you think is right for your child.

Hahaha...when my first was 6 months old my pedi said to wean him onto bread because he won't get enough iron or calories from BM Docs can be so funny.

*face palm* They should invest their time in promoting delayed cord clamping after birth (which would increase iron stores in babies) rather than telling each individual woman that some how her breast milk has suddenly become useless. Iron in breast milk is a tiny amounts but it is VERY easily absorbed unlike other dietary iron.

 

[mac1979]

We just had our four month appt and our pediatrician said that Sabine should be sleeping 11-12 hours a night without nursing...I sometimes think docs are full of it. Do what you think is right for your child.

Hahaha...when my first was 6 months old my pedi said to wean him onto bread because he won't get enough iron or calories from BM Docs can be so funny.

*face palm* They should invest their time in promoting delayed cord clamping after birth (which would increase iron stores in babies) rather than telling each individual woman that some how her breast milk has suddenly become useless. Iron in breast milk is a tiny amounts but it is VERY easily absorbed unlike other dietary iron.

Sabine went from being in the 25% for weight at her 2 week, to the 42% at her two week and the 54% at her four month. I think my breastmilk is doing what is needed. He is very pro-breastfeeding too.

 

[Marumi]

We just had our four month appt and our pediatrician said that Sabine should be sleeping 11-12 hours a night without nursing...I sometimes think docs are full of it. Do what you think is right for your child.

Hahaha...when my first was 6 months old my pedi said to wean him onto bread because he won't get enough iron or calories from BM Docs can be so funny.

*face palm* They should invest their time in promoting delayed cord clamping after birth (which would increase iron stores in babies) rather than telling each individual woman that some how her breast milk has suddenly become useless. Iron in breast milk is a tiny amounts but it is VERY easily absorbed unlike other dietary iron.

I was originally planning a birth at a midwife facility for reasons like this but then had to vbac at the hospital and was positively surprised that it is standard to delay the cord clamping these days for them

We just had our four month appt and our pediatrician said that Sabine should be sleeping 11-12 hours a night without nursing...I sometimes think docs are full of it. Do what you think is right for your child.

Hahaha...when my first was 6 months old my pedi said to wean him onto bread because he won't get enough iron or calories from BM Docs can be so funny.

*face palm* They should invest their time in promoting delayed cord clamping after birth (which would increase iron stores in babies) rather than telling each individual woman that some how her breast milk has suddenly become useless. Iron in breast milk is a tiny amounts but it is VERY easily absorbed unlike other dietary iron.

Sabine went from being in the 25% for weight at her 2 week, to the 42% at her two week and the 54% at her four month. I think my breastmilk is doing what is needed. He is very pro-breastfeeding too.

Oh yeah I believe he is pro bf, just reminded me of this story. My lo was 95% for weight then and ebf, I was taking Vitamin D and Ferrous Iron... idk for what reason she pushed the bread advice on me

 

[mrsclt]

I still breastfeed my 18 month old at night. He loves his food and eats plenty, but he just loves boob. Do what bub needs, no garuntee night weaning will help her sleep more at night and eat more in the day. What ever happened to food before 1 is just for fun??? I was told by the community nurse that before 1 year most of their nutrition should be from milk, and after 1 it should be more solids with milk being a bonus. 7 months is awfully early to wean. Go eith your gut on this!