Night waking/night weaning questions

eden/averymum · #1 (**permalink**) 12-31-2005, 07:11 AM

My girls, getting near 11 months, sleep fromabout 7pm to about 7am, but still wake about every three hours to nurse. I know they don't need to do this and am getting really worn down with it.

They sleep in their own cribs, in our room, their is a curtain dividing us though, so they can't see our bed from theirs. WE did CIO for naps a few months ago and had great sucess, they go to sleep on their own at nap and bed time with maybe about 25% of the time a few minutes of fussing and crying. They do very well with solids and sippy cups, but I don't know if they get all the calories they need during the day. they only nurse first thing in the morning, before naps and at bedtime during the day, they could nurse more or better, or eat more or better. I don't think they are maxxing out on available intake during the day. They are VERY active, also their father and I both ahve high metabolisms, so I just worry that they are actually still hungrey at night. They are also very small for their age, they were just barely 14lbs each at there 9.5 month visit, and there growth was tapering off so our doctor said to start really pushing high calorie, high fat, high protein foods. This just kinda made me nervous to stop feeding them at night. So I still haven't.

I don't mind nursing once, or even twice at night, like around 10pm or so, around 4 am or so. Is there anyway to sleep train/night wean and still keep a feed or two? Is it totally counter productive? How do I know that they really aren't hungry? Or even if they are hungry, do I just say, tough luck and they will learn to eat more in the day? Is there a concern with them smelling the milk? Should I wear a sweatshirt or something to bed, leave some potpouri like lavender between the cribs?

I know my husband and I can't manage a straight out CIO all night. WE are debating either the Ferber method, or the method where you sit quietly at the bedside, no interaction at all. Either way, they are really just going to be crying, no real consolation, but they know we are around and things are fine. How long does this sort of method take usually?

kristi · #2 (**permalink**) 01-01-2006, 10:39 AM

I wish I had the answer. My DS still eats during the night twice and we refuse to feed him more often. We set-up times when it was okay to feed him and outside of that time we CIO or comforting in another way. I am way too tired to do it more than twice a night. I also noticed if I feed him more often at night, he just cuts down on his meal time during the day, which I do not want. I have read you can start by cutting down on the time of the third feed or all of them. I am pretty sure they are conditioned to eat during the night and they need time to start eating more during the day.

eden/averymum · #3 (**permalink**) 01-01-2006, 04:50 PM

yeah, we are starting a ferber thing tonight. I'll wake them for a 10pm feed for now and then nothing but ferber until 6am. They don't eat too much in the day and could definately eat way more.

poulinsj · #4 (**permalink**) 01-16-2006, 11:35 AM

How is it going? My DD is 8.5 months and i'm struggling with night weaning. She wants to eat at night and i'm ready to wean at night.

Just wondering how your sleep routine is going?