8 month old still nursing 2 times per night -- need your suggestions!

My daughter is nearly 8-months-old and is still up twice a night to nurse. She wakes up and cries and if I nurse her she will go right back to sleep but if I don't she screams/cries until she falls asleep in a puddle of mucus and tears. I am exhausted and haven't slept through the night in over a year. I really want to get her down to one feeding a night (or none!) but don't know where to start.  She expects to get some of her food during the night and I don't know how to remove a feeding while still nursing her once in the night. I am afraid it will be traumatic for her if I stop nursing her all together at night. Do any of you have suggestions?? Please help!

[Me2mommy2b]

Stacey, does she eat anything other than breast milk?

[Stacey44]

Yes she is eating solids during the day. Rice cereal, oatmeal, banana, applesauce, peas, carrots, etc, etc...

[Me2mommy2b]

Ohhh, then I'm hoping someone who dealt with it can chime in.  DD was waking up nights around same age as well and that's how I knew breastmilk only wasn't good enough for her anymore.  Sorry I'm not much help.  Good luck

[AndiJ78]

I didn't do solids much at all during the first year. CJ still woke for feeds and fed him. At about 12 or 14 mos it stopped one day. I have always felt they eat when hungry and part of the territory with nursing.

It doesn't mean the breast milk isn't good enough, on the contrary, it is so good they digest it all rather than it sitting like a rock in their belly ;-)

[Me2mommy2b]

by "good enough" i meant she wasn't satisfied with breast milk only

[jenstam]

My 10 month old son still nurses several times throughout the night. We have tried Daddy rocking him, trying to soothe him back to sleep, cuddling with us but the only thing he wants is Mama's milk, so it's what he gets. Been trying to slowly wean him but those night time feedings are still so important to him. I think it will be months before I am able to wean him of the night time nursing. Just wanted you to know you're not alone.

[mami1323]

Just a question - do you think that your children wake up for those night time feeds because they are hungry or they just like the bonding time?  This answer might might help the OP, that's why I'm asking.

[jenstam]

I think it's mainly comfort but may also be associated with hunger. I'm never quite sure. Brody isn't very fond of solids still, at 10 months so I think he needs those extra nursing sessions but the problem is that we try to give him the bottle and he refuses so that makes me lean a bit more towards the comfort and nurture. He takes the bottle better during the day. At night he really only wants to nurse.

[deanne11]

I believe both.

Jake woke up for bonding and hunger.

But I'll be honest.  I think when I first went back to work...it was strictly bonding time.

Because just one day a few weeks ago, he decided....I'm not waking up any more...and nothing has changed.

I remember being in her shoes....Stacy44 - try bottle feeding at night.....I know how you feel.  Do you work outside the home?  Do you pump?  I always used my pumped milk at night for Jake....well, not always.  But when I did it turned a corner for us.  Once the pumped milk in the bottle was being used....he stopped waking as much.

It appeared he wanted Momma....once Dadda started night time feedings....it wasn't as fun.

[girliegrl1723]

i didn't breastfeed and my munchkin woke up various times during the night until just before his first birthday and since his birthday, he is sleeping through the night for the most part although there are still some days when i need to get up with him. when he was waking up during the night, sometimes it was 3 times, sometimes 2, and rarely ever would it be just one time. i always got up with him though, and offered a bottle. right or wrong, thats what i did and eventually, he grew out of it. i never knew if it was that he was hungry or that he just wanted me and, it didn't really matter. he would almost always take a bottle and almost always go right back to sleep. i thought it was craziness, that he would not sleep through the night and had people with all kinds of opinions telling me what i "should" be doing but believe me, i know my baby and id he was left there to cry, he would not calm down, he would only get more upset. now, like i said, he is 16 months and goes to bed at 8 pm without a problem (most of the time) and sleeps until 6:30/7:00 without waking up (most of the time) unless there is a teething issue. good luck to you. i hope you get some good rest soon!

[Stacey44]

I don't pump much anymore, since I stopped working that is. She doesn't get many bottles now, only a couple a week. I believe she can go through night w/out eating and that she doesn't NEED to eat at night - she is big enough and old enough - but she is just in the habit of doing so. My dr agrees. Still I have no idea how to transition out of this phase. I am in dire need of getting some straight hours of sleep, though!!!

[ma2isiah]

Where does she sleep? Where do you feed her? My dd 10 months was waking up 2-3 times and my husband was bringing her from her crib to our bed to nurse. Then I started about a month ago going into her room to feed her and she started only waking up once. One other thing I did was try to feed her shorter amount and only on one side at night.  Before that I was trying to fill her up so I would do both sides for a long time. Now she just gets up once between 2-3am and feeds on one side for about 5-10 min. Whos to say if those things changed her habit or if developmentally she was ready to feed only once at night.

[Chel125]

my trick is to never take them out of there room have no toys in there so they know bed time is bed time it might be a long few days or weeks but she is big enough to be fine all night with no food just feed her a big meal about 30 min before bedtime, she also might be teething and if that is the case then she is probely eating because it fills good on her gums. try a binkie if she doesn't take one then try teething tablets or a cold paper towel (get it wet then freeze it make sure it is a good quality one that dosn't fall apart or just use a wash cloth sometimes they just need to suck, hope that helps it works for me my son is 2 now but still takes 4 hour naps and sleeps from 10 -12 hours a night all night :-)

[Stacey44]

She sleeps in her crib and there are no toys in there. She eats on only one side, goes right back to sleep afterwards. She could be teething but don't they teeth for upward of 2 years total, regardless?

Any suggestions on how to eliminate a feeding?
Thanks to all for your previous posts...

[tiredbuthappy]

dd is 10 months old. she's on formula now (had pumped breast milk til almost 7 months). even after switching to formula she still needed at least one feed during the night. now, at 10 months, she still needs it most nights. our solution was to do a "dream feed" around midnight. it works for us because DH is a night owl and goes to bed late. he gives her a bottle right before he goes to bed, and she doesn't even wake up for it. it's only 4 ounces instead of her usual 6 oz, and it almost always gets her through the night. if DH is tired and doesn't do the dream feed, she'll often wake and need it anytime between 3 and 5. it's also nice because when she has the dream feed, she wakes up happy and playful in the morning, and can play for up to an hour before needing the first bottle.

so, it's not technically eliminating a feed- just making it a bit more convenient for the rest of us. don't know for sure if it would work for you, since your dd wakes for comfort as well, and all the feeding falls on you. are there any other comfort items? for a while dd used a binky. now she uses a cloth diaper. as long as the "raggie" is by her, she snuggle and sniff it and put herself back to sleep.

[deanne11]

We did the same thing tiredbuthappy suggested.  We fed DS when it was convenient for us.  Usually around 10:30-11p was our time.  I would go to bed then and he'd be up at 1am....so I decided to go in and feed him before I went to bed....it worked like a charm.  He'd sleep until 5am...and we get up at 5:30a so that was fine with me.

Within weeks of doing it this way....he began sleeping through the night.

Of course....I do work full time and he goes to daycare....he is always busy there watching and playing with the other babies...so that may have also helped us.