If your baby is over six months, eating three solid meals a day and still feeding at night, here are some tips to wean your baby off night feeds.
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 - Ensure your baby is getting enough day time sleep and napping well so you can be sure she isn't overtired at bedtime. An overtired baby may wake during the night and need your help to fall back to sleep. All the sleep training in the world won't be able to fix this.
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- Does she feel safe? Creating a comforting, familiar, dark environment for your baby to sleep in is an important first step so that she always feels secure in her cot. If she still doesn't settle alone you may need to look at sleep training techniques, as she is likely to continue to wake in the night if she can't settle herself. Soothing music can help.
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 - If you find this very difficult, or if your baby becomes very upset, perhaps your partner could help? Sometimes dad going in makes things easier, sometimes not. It is often a case of trial and error.
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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