i've been breastfeeding on demand (infant led breastfeeding) for the past 12 months. Bubs dropped all but a night and morning feed a few weeks ago, but then during the flu season increased his feeds and started waking up for feeds in the night again. Now I'm feeding him 3 times a night and 2-3 times during the day which my CHN says is way too much.
I admit I'm not sleeping or eating well enough to cope with this demand and would like to drop some of the nightfeeds.
How do I do this?
Or am I in the wrong forum to ask for this advice?
12 mnths - that's fantastic! Your baby is behaving pretty normally. So, if you are OK with it, there's not problem, despite what the health nurse says. However, if you do want to drop a feed you need to help her to learn another way to go back to sleep. Has she been sick? Have you been sick as well? It can sometimes take a little time - even after they *seem* well again, to regain their usual routine. Is she eating well during the day? Where does she sleep? You will probably need to enlist your partners help - often they will have more success in resettling the baby without a feed than you will. You might want to offer her a drink of water in a sippy cup at night - a cold can be drying on the throat. Try gently reassuring her it's Ok to go back to sleep. Patting her, or holding her hand til she drifts off can help.
Let us know how you go
Regards
Barb
My DS and I had the flu at the same time and with me being dehydrated and him not wanting to feed, my supply plumeted. It took me about 2 months total to get my supply back to where it was before we got sick. My DS is 11 months old, and he also feed a fair bit.
it varies a little but roughly we have 4 main feeds, Wake up, morning tea, arvo tea and bed time. He occasionally wants more fees during the night, The time of the first feed can vary greatly, and sometimes an extra one is sliped in somewhere along the way.
We did have night feeds like you mentioned and I didn't mind feeding him, but I just kept getting sick because I was getting no sleep, so I decided they needed to stop. I set myself some little rules. First I decided that it didn't matter what happened I wouldn't feed him between 12am and 3 am. Then I extended it to 12 am-5 am. Sometimes I did break my rules, still stuck to trying to increase the time between feeds.
Another thing we started doing was set up a bed in his room, so that if he woke up lots, one of us could camp in his room and tend to him (hopefully catch him before he woke too much) and the other could have a good amount of sleep. This in particular has done wonders!!!
weaning
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