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How do I wean my baby off night feedings?
Last reviewed: 04.07.2025
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How to wean a baby off night feeding? This is an important question that almost all mothers ask themselves sooner or later. Most children sleep well at night approximately 8-9 months after birth. At this time, the baby can easily withstand a break of approximately 7-8 hours at night. Previously, he woke up to eat. Now the feeling of hunger is not so strong. But how to wean a baby off breastfeeding so that he feels psychologically comfortable?
How to comfortably wean your baby off night feedings
When a child falls asleep hungry, he will not be able to sleep for long and will definitely wake up to ask for food. Therefore, before going to bed, he needs to be fed food, but not heavy, but light. For this purpose, it is best to take porridge. Porridge made from buckwheat, oats, rice in water or milk will be a great way to satisfy the child. This is an important component of the child's psychological comfort before weaning him at night.
There are two main methods of weaning a child from night feeding. Both can be successfully applied. But the mother herself can choose what to do and how exactly to wean the child from the breast at night. It is important to take into account that both methods were developed by psychologists for a more convenient, stress-free weaning of the child from night feedings.
Gentle Weaning of Baby from Night Feeding
When gently weaning a child from the mother's breast at night, you can reduce daytime feedings and supplement the child with porridge. And then the child will eat normally, more than with milk. And after that, the child will no longer ask for food at night and will fall asleep.
The advantage of this method is that the baby falls asleep calmly and peacefully, and the mother's milk supply decreases due to the reduction in the number of feedings. This is called gentle weaning.
The disadvantages of this method are that the mother may not adhere to the new schedule, may break down, and may not always calculate the feeding and supplementary feeding hours correctly. In addition, it will be necessary to find out what kind of porridge the baby likes. He may like rice and not like buckwheat, and vice versa.
Another disadvantage may be the child's reluctance to take supplementary feeding - he may only demand the breast. Therefore, the mother must be very courageous to solve this issue correctly. She will have to fight the child's pressure, his whims and irritation, when the baby simply does not understand why it was possible to feed on mother's milk all the time before, but not now.
When a child weans from the mother's breast, the mother must show the baby that she loves him. She must pay more attention to him, stroke him, kiss him, hug him, play games with him, talk. Then the baby will know that the mother is not abandoning him. And if the mother pays more attention to the child, it will not be so psychologically uncomfortable for him to wean from breastfeeding at night.
Method #2 – Instant Weaning of the Baby from the Breast
This method is used when a woman needs to wean her baby off night feedings quickly, if she is not getting enough sleep, when she needs to go to work or leave for a long time.
This is what they do when they stop feeding the baby at night right away, but you need to somehow sweeten the pill and give the opportunity to endure this stress. After all, at night the baby can wake up not only because he is hungry, but also because he can be tormented by fears. And the mother's breast is the best and most reliable means of calming the baby.
The advantage of this method is that the mother saves time on weaning. The disadvantage is that the child feels anxious when the mother's breast, which was previously familiar to him, is now inaccessible to him at the most anxious time of the day. This is stressful for the baby, so it is important to approach the process of weaning from night feeding with understanding.
Night feeding and lactation
The more night feedings, the more milk is produced in the mother's mammary glands. Therefore, reducing night feedings will also reduce the mother's milk. This means that the baby will not suckle enough. And will definitely switch to supplementary feeding with a bottle and a nipple. It has been scientifically proven that the hormone prolactin is the hormone that helps produce milk. This hormone is produced by the body most during night feedings. To reduce milk production and gradually wean the baby off breastfeeding, it is important to reduce and then completely stop night feedings.