Nine Steps to Wean your Baby off Night Feeds
A baby who’s on 3 solid meals a day and over 6 months old shouldn’t need to feed at night. If your baby is still waking for a night feed there are some things that you can do to wean her off.
1- It’s important to make sure your baby is getting enough food and milk in the day for her age and weight or she will continue to need a feed at night.
2- Is she sleeping enough in the day? If you want to stop your baby from waking at night for milk and you are sure she isn’t hungry, you need to address her sleep habits. By making sure she gets enough sleep in the day, she won’t be overtired at bedtime. Without adequate day time sleep your baby is likely to wake at night and need settling – sleep training won’t be able to help you!
3- Can she settle herself? It’s important your baby is able to settle herself at nap time and bedtime. If she won’t self settle you need to address the bed and naptime routines so that she knows when it’s time for sleep, and not time for milk or play! Make a routine that works for you but which is consistent and predictable so baby knows what happens next. A baby comforter will help your baby to adapt to new sleep routines.
4- You can help by creating a familiar environment for your baby to go to sleep in so that she feels safe in her cot. Being put down in a darkened room with a baby comforter will comfort your baby when you are trying to introduce new sleep patterns. Soothing sleep sounds can also help. If your baby still can’t settle herself you may need to do some sleep training before you can eliminate night feeds.
5 – Once you have established that your baby isn’t hungry and taught her to self settle in a familiar environment she may stop waking at night within a few days.
6 – For a baby of 6 months or less, try introducing a last feed at 10:00pm. You should be able to do this while your baby is still asleep and this will help her to go for longer – hopefully until morning!
7 – If your baby is still waking at night you need to eliminate one night feed at a time. Start by delaying the feed when she initially wakes to see if she will settle alone. If she doesn’t settle you can go in and comfort her whilst she is still in her cot. If your baby has a dummy you can offer that instead. Tell her it is sleep time, not milk time. Feed her next time she wakes and keep doing this every night, pushing it on a little at a time. Be careful you don’t undo your work by going backwards! Over time the feed you are trying to eliminate will coincide with the next feed. Keep doing this with all night feeds until it becomes the first morning feed.
8 – It can help to have the support of your partner, especially if you find this process difficult or if your baby gets very distressed. Dad’s help may or may not make things easier; you need to find what works for your family.
9 – Maintain the late night feed (between 10 and 11pm) until your baby is between 7 and 9 months. Then start weaning your baby off this feed too. Some babies just do it themselves by taking so little milk that it is no longer worth your while giving it to them!
These key things, if consistently followed, will let your baby know that they need to sleep at night. If she does continue to wake during the night it may be worth trying sleep training techniques. As always, there is no hard and fast rule about what will work for you and your baby so it is best to read about different techniques before deciding what may work best.
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