I was recently asked this question by Julie, mom of a 12-month-old. She wrote:
“Will night weaning actually improve my baby’s sleep?
Why go through the process of night weaning my baby IF he’s still going to wake at night?
I’ve tried other comfort measures like patting, shushing and singing and they take AGES to calm him (if they even work at all!) Feeding is quicker.
But I’m just too tired to keep feeding him throughout the night.”
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Does Night Weaning Actually Help Babies Sleep Better?
The short answer is—>YES!
Night weaning will improve your baby’s sleep.
(As in they’ll sleep longer stretches at night, and at a certain age they’ll sleep through the night)
…but only IF you do 2 things:
Feed your baby often during the day
and don’t replace feeding with another sleep crutch.
#1: Feed Your Baby Often During the Day
If your baby has gotten used to feeding throughout the night, then their stomach has gotten accustomed to getting refueled then too. So you need to shift your baby’s feedings so that they happen during the day, rather than at night.
If you weaned your baby at night, but didn’t change their daytime feedings, they would start eating less overall. Which we don’t want.
The way that you do this will depend on how much your baby eats at night and I walk you through this, step-by-step, in my sleep training program 21 Days to Peace & Quiet.
[FUN FACT] Babies that aren’t into solids or just don’t want to eat much during the day are often feeding a lot more at night than their parents may realize. (This applies to breastfeeders, of course.)
I’ve worked with lots of Moms of “picky eaters” or babies that refuse to eat much solid foods and once we night weaned….. their baby’s appetite soared during the day.
Suddenly they loved solids. Voila!
# 2: Don’t Replace Night Weaning with another Sleep Crutch
If your baby is used to being fed or nursed to sleep (even if it’s just comfort sucking) then they have learned that sucking is the way to fall asleep.
And over time, your baby becomes dependent on sucking to fall asleep. They now need to suck every time they want to fall asleep.
(Don’t blame yourself. Most Moms feed their babies to sleep at some point, because it works. Until it doesn’t….)
So when you decide to night wean your baby (to reduce or stop feedings at night) you’ll have to teach them a new way of falling asleep.
But Here’s the Trick:
You have to teach your baby a new way of falling asleep that doesn’t depend on YOU getting up in the night and DOING SOMETHING.
For example: If you get your baby used to falling asleep by rocking, rather than feeding, they’ll still wake up and need you to rock them back to sleep when they wake at night. Probably just as often as before.
The reason is that they have replaced one sleep crutch for another.
Instead of feeding, your baby now needs rocking to fall asleep. You see, they still need something external in order to fall asleep. They doesn’t know how to fall asleep on their own.
BUT if you teach your baby how to be comfortable and happy falling asleep without your help, you’re also teaching them how to resettle back to sleep in the night if they wake up.
And, by the way, your baby will continue to wake throughout the night. We all do! We might change positions, adjust our pillow and then fall back asleep. We just don’t remember it.
Your baby will slightly wake between sleep cycles, like we all do, and fall back asleep in the night without a fuss.
This happens because they don’t need to do something like suck or be rocked. And they’ll sleep longer stretches at night.
Plus, because you’ve night weaned your baby, you won’t worry about them being hungry in the night. They are now used to going all night without needing to eat.
(This can start as early as 6 months for some babies. By 9 months, most babies can go all night without eating.)
If you’d like step-by-step guidance on weaning night feeds and getting your baby sleeping through the night, join my trusted program here.
It’s created by a Lactation Consultant and Neonatal Nurse (me!)
[Important]
When done the right way, night weaning does NOT compromise breastfeeding.
You can still breastfeed your child (during the day) as long as you wish.. years even!
(I night weaned both my babies at 7-9 months and breastfed them 2 years and have helped thousands of other Moms do the same.)
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