How to wean your baby off night feedings

Should I feed my newborn at night?

It has been scientifically proven that it is important for a baby’s body to receive milk or formula on demand. Feeding a newborn in the dark also activates the synthesis of prolactin, the hormone responsible for the production of milk in the mother. The more often you feed your baby at night, the better lactation will be during the day. In addition, while eating, the baby is in maximum contact with the mother. Tactile contact has a positive effect on the baby, on its psycho-emotional and physical development. Feeding is especially important when teeth are cutting, the child begins to crawl or walk, or the environment changes.

Number of night feedings by age

When can you wean your baby off night feeding?

Most pediatric doctors advise starting weaning from night feedings when the baby is already one year old. Psychologists are of the opinion that you need to wait until the baby reaches two years of age. Doctors' advice:

1. Up to three months of age, infants should be fed at least three times during the night.
2. Starting from 3 months to six months - teach to take the breast or bottle once.
3. From six months of age, begin complete weaning from feeding during night sleep.

Remember that an individual approach is important for a child; there is no clear algorithm here. There are general signs that indicate that breastfeeding at night is not necessary:

1. The interval between meals during the day became longer and the number of feedings decreased.
2. The baby eats a variety of foods; the diet with complementary foods contains vitamins, minerals, and microelements.
3. The baby stops waking up at different times at night.
4. The increase in height and weight corresponds to the norm or is ahead of it.

During weaning from night feeding, monitor the general condition of the baby. If there is lethargy, activity has decreased, nervousness has increased, then it is better to wait until weaning. The optimal period is ten days after the baby’s condition has stabilized.

When can you wean off?

Some parents, especially experienced ones, easily tolerate feeding their newborn at night. Others try to stop late-night snacking as soon as possible for various reasons. It is the latter who are actively interested in at what age it is better to wean a child from feeding in the dark.

There is still no consensus on this issue among breastfeeding experts, pediatricians, psychologists and lactating women.

• Most often, experts advise eliminating night feedings when the child turns 11 months or a year old. After a year, babies almost completely switch to “adult” food, so the nightly “snack” of mother’s breasts is more of a psychological habit.
• Women who are coping with two or more small children at once tend to wean their babies early - after 6 months. GW consultants do not condemn, but also do not approve of such a decision.
• Psychologists assure that stopping night feeding of a child is rather a psychological problem, so this process should be carried out only after the second year of life. For children of the sixth or eighth month, feeding at night is not just to satisfy hunger, but a desire to be close to their mother. Stopping feeding your baby too early can cause stress.

Thus, there are no specific recommendations at what age you should stop night snacking. The time of refusal depends on whether the child is breastfed or bottle-fed. In addition, you should not dismiss the individual characteristics of the baby.

If a nursing woman is ok with night feeding, this process can last until the fourth year of life. However, usually new parents get tired of lack of sleep within a year, so advice from experts on breastfeeding will come in handy.

How to wean yourself off night feedings after a year

Tips for breastfed and bottle-fed babies:

1. Put your baby to bed well-fed, but not overfed.
2. Create a nutritious and healthy diet for him (closer to the year, gradually introduce cereals, vegetables, eggs, dairy products, meat and fish into complementary foods).
3. Normalize daily feedings, make larger portions (if necessary).
4. Don't play active games in the evening.
5. Swimming before bed is mandatory. They relieve muscle tone and calm the nervous system.
6. Feed and put your baby to bed after water treatments.
7. If the child wakes up at night, provide him with tactile contact - stroking and rocking. Give me some water. If this does not help, then put it to your breast or give it a bottle.
8. Reduce the amount of food you eat during night snacks (maximum 150 ml).
9. Have as much contact with your baby during the day as possible to reduce the need for skin-to-skin contact with your mother at night.

When breastfeeding and co-sleeping

1. Limit access to your breasts by wearing covered items at night. It will be more difficult for the baby to reach the breast; he will not be attracted by the smell of milk.
2. Increase the distance. Add a bed without a side to your bed.
3. A child over one year old can be put to sleep in another room.

Artificially fed

Artificial food contains more calories than natural food. The processing process takes longer, so the baby does not wake up as often. It is easier and faster to wean an artificial dog from night snacks. To do this, you need to gradually dilute the mixture with boiled water until you completely replace it. Over time, the child will wean himself from getting up at night to quench his thirst.

To wean or not?

Over time, night feedings become a real problem for many women. Dreams of a restful sleep without interruption never leave any mother of a small child. The desire to sleep becomes so strong that women are ready to do anything so that the baby does not ask for a breast or a bottle after falling asleep. But attempts to introduce a feeding regime that is convenient for the mother do not always find understanding with the baby. Is it really necessary to wean your baby off night feedings?

For breastfed babies, night feedings are a natural part of their development. A little person in the first year of life needs constant contact with his mother, not only during the day, but also at night. For the little ones, feeding at night is a vital necessity. Babies under 6 months are not able to withstand long periods without breast milk. They just want to eat - so they wake up every few hours throughout the night. For children under 6 months of age, this phenomenon is considered completely normal and does not require any correction.

Night feedings are important not only for the baby, but also for the mother. It is known that it is at night that breast milk is produced and its quantity is laid down for the entire coming day. If your baby does not nurse at night, your milk supply will inevitably become less and less. This is why it makes no sense to wean a baby under 6 months old from late-night snacking. The risk of disrupting the normal production of breast milk and ultimately leaving the baby on a starvation diet is too great. Is it worth the risk or is it better to wait until the age is appropriate to stop night feedings?

Formula-fed babies usually feed on an hourly basis. In this sense, it is somewhat easier for parents of artificial babies, because they have the opportunity to adjust the approximate feeding hours. But at the age of up to 6 months, children who are bottle-fed are just as hungry at night as infants. There is no point in deliberately limiting the baby and creating a feeding regimen that is not appropriate for his age.

Dr. Komarovsky about night feedings

A well-known pediatrician advises stopping night feeding of a newborn abruptly after six months, and making a separate sleeping place for a one-year-old baby. It is important to adjust the daily feeding schedule and the air condition in the room where the child sleeps. How to prepare your baby for bed according to Komarovsky’s advice:

1. Take late baths in cool water (not earlier than 11:00 p.m.).
2. Before the water procedure, feed the baby, but so that he remains hungry.
3. After the bath, let him eat his fill.
4. Adjust the humidity in the room to 40–70%.
5. Maintain the air temperature in the nursery no higher than 18 degrees Celsius.

The room where the baby sleeps should be cool and humid. Dryness and warmth awaken thirst, and the baby wakes up to drink, but demands the breast. To avoid this, you should not give it to your child. Even if the baby cries, you need to distract him and switch his attention, rock him, give him something to drink. Wait 3-5 nights for the night feeding problem to resolve.

Replacing night feedings

To prevent the child from experiencing stress when night feeding is canceled, mothers resort to tricks.

1. Change breastfeeding to artificial.
   Swap the breast for a bottle of formula when feeding at night. The baby will feel less hungry and will sleep until the morning.
2. Breast milk is replaced with tea or water.
   The child quenches his thirst and will gradually stop waking up at night.
3. Swing in your arms or sing a song.
   It is likely that the baby does not wake up due to hunger. Having received attention, the baby will fall asleep without night feeding.

When canceling night feedings, prepare for the baby's unpredictable reaction. Don't get stuck on one method, use different approaches.

Weaning off night feedings using the Sears family method

This married couple raised seven children. While they were growing up, mom and dad developed a unique method for weaning babies after one year. Recommendations:

1. While feeding, stroke the baby. It is important for him to feel his mother’s warmth and energy during night sleep.
2. Before the mother goes to bed, the baby needs to be fed and watered. This will reduce the number of night feedings.
3. If your baby falls asleep in the crib, try putting him in a hammock or stroller. Changing habits will promote weaning.
4. If a child sleeps with his mother, then he should cover his chest with clothing as much as possible.
5. Buy a crib with a removable side that can be removed. Place the child's bed next to the parent's bed.
6. After a year, the baby can be put to sleep in a separate room.
7. Shift the process of calming a crying child to the father. He must rock the baby to sleep and give him something to drink. This must be done for 10 days.

How not to act

It is important to choose the right time to wean off night feeding. Reasons why discontinuation of breastfeeding should be abandoned:

1. The baby's development and weight are behind the norm.
2. There is a stressful environment in the house, changes.
3. The mother has no contact with the child during the day; she works.
4. The process of moving or adapting to kindergarten is underway.

What not to do:

1. React to ostentatious hysteria. Children are natural manipulators. If the child defiantly screams and bursts into tears, demanding the breast, switch the baby’s attention.
2. Give the baby to relatives. Parents use the help of grandparents, leaving their grandson for one or two days so that he can wean himself off the breast. This has a bad effect on the child’s psycho-emotional state, he experiences stress, anxiety, and his trust in his mother is destroyed. But this is a controversial issue, since pediatricians believe that this method of weaning works best.
3. Combine the process of quitting breastfeeding with unpleasant moments. Teeth began to cut, an illness developed - weaning should be canceled for 2-3 weeks.
4. Zelenka, bitter juice or other means with which the mother smears the mammary glands are not suitable. This method is effective for children aged 2–3 years, but is not recommended for children under one year old. They can get poisoned when trying to latch on to the breast.

How to wean your baby off feeding at night

Feeding a baby with breastfeeding or formula at night, their frequency and duration is one of the burning topics of concern to mothers. How a mother gets enough sleep determines her mood and well-being, and therefore the well-being of the baby. How to wean a child from night feeding if it has become a burden, or even unbearable?

What should you consider before eliminating night feeding?

If we are talking about breastfeeding, then mother’s milk is not a burden on the child’s gastrointestinal tract either at 6 months, or at 7 months, or even at 2 years. Eating at night is natural and physiological for children, especially very young ones. Over time, children's sleep becomes deeper, the ability to quickly become saturated with milk increases, therefore, after a year, children eat less often than in infancy. According to research, night feedings in themselves do not provoke the appearance and progression of early childhood caries.

However, the reason to stop this practice may be the mother’s desire to get enough sleep, due to fatigue from lack of sleep, inability to rest during the day, and other reasons. If it was not possible to establish an acceptable regime, then the question arises of abandoning night feeding.

Adapted formula has more calories than breast milk and is harder to digest, so it would be advisable to transfer the bulk of formula consumption to the daytime. In addition, bottle feeding at night is often more difficult for mom. And here the question of how to wean a child from eating at night becomes relevant. Fortunately, many babies on IV stop waking up at night to feed before they reach 8 months.

Until what age do children usually eat at night?

Each child is individual. It is generally believed that artificial babies sleep all night from birth without waking up. This is not always the case; some children on IV continue to ask for food at the age of 9 months, at 1 year and later, because the pacifier satisfies the sucking reflex, but does not satiate. According to modern concepts of demand feeding, this is not a problem for the baby, but can be tiring for the mother.

Infants are usually fed more often during their sleep, since mother's milk is quickly and easily absorbed by the body. In addition, breastfeeding at night most contributes to the production of prolactin, the hormone that causes milk production in a woman. Therefore, if a mother wants to feed for a long time, you should not completely stop feeding at night, but you can try to reduce their frequency and duration.

Emergency, rapid weaning

There are situations when you need to stop feeding urgently. This situation is unusual and is associated, for example, with the urgent hospitalization of the mother. Usually, it is not possible to urgently stop only night feedings in babies under one year old, so in such cases breastfeeding is completely curtailed. However, it can be resumed after the end of treatment, which will be difficult with a very young child, and much easier with a child after a year.

If you urgently stop feeding, the mother must monitor her well-being and also express her breasts if the volume of milk absorbed by the baby was significant. This method rarely takes place without crying and stress for the child, so if a woman has chosen this decision, she needs to be patient and, if possible, have the support of her family who can calm and console the baby.

It is not often said that abrupt weaning affects the emotional state of the mother due to changes in hormonal levels. In such moments and hours, you can remember your love for the baby, which does not decrease with the cessation of breastfeeding night and day.

Gentle refusal of night feedings

A gradual, smooth reduction in night feedings is optimal for both the mother’s body and the child’s psyche. When the baby gets used to not having night feedings, motherhood can become easier for those who couldn't get enough sleep while latching in the dark. But we must remember that with the natural cessation of breastfeeding, nighttime and early morning applications are the last to go away, which means that a conscious change in this pattern will require some effort and perseverance.

Cancel night feedings without stress: recommendations

1.Feed your baby more often during the day. The sucking reflex is strong even at 1.5 years, and if it is not realized during the daytime, the baby will certainly suck at night.

2. Try not to combine giving up nightly breastfeeding or bottle feeding with other new, unusual situations, changes in the family’s lifestyle: adaptation to kindergarten, moving, etc.

3.Remember the importance of hugs and kisses, do not move away from the child so that he does not have a need for tactile touches at night.

4. Offer alternatives. When waking up, pat the baby on the back, sing a lullaby, give him some water, take him to the toilet, whisper in his ear, rock him in his arms.

5.Talk about the fact that people and animals sleep at night, mother’s breasts sleep, the baby also needs to sleep, and it’s better to eat during the day.

6.Take help from your dad, grandma or other loved ones. In the absence of mother, it may be easier for the baby to accept a new, unusual way of falling asleep.

7. Separate the sleeping areas of mother and child. Sometimes children sleep worse separately from their mother, but some find it easier to fall asleep on their own without feeding in their crib or children's room.

8. For IV, you can use this trick: dilute the mixture with a small amount of clean water, gradually increasing the percentage of water. The child will become uninterested in waking up just to drink some water.

9.Share food and use other techniques to fall asleep. That is, do not deny the baby a breast or a bottle, but after them read or tell a fairy tale, sing a song, lie with the baby, no longer giving him food. This also needs to be done gradually, after feeding the baby well in the evening.

At what age is it best to wean off night feedings?

The optimal age for each mother-child pair will be different. A one-year-old baby learns to walk independently; for some, learning this skill occurs at 10 or 11 months. Often, learning something new is accompanied by a kind of setback in development, and a baby who has already stopped eating at night may again begin to ask for a breast or a bottle. In addition, until at least 2 and a half years of age, children undergo the process of teething, which may be accompanied by restlessness at night. But the later the refusal of nighttime reinforcement occurs, the easier it is to come to an agreement with the child, and at 1.5 years old it will be easier to teach a baby to sleep without food than at 6 months.

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