How to wean from night feeding. How to wean a baby from feeding at night? Where to begin? Method for children aged two years and older

05.11.2020

Nighttime breastfeeding or formula feeding is a tiring period in every young mother's life. The constant lack of sleep sooner or later affects the condition of the woman. She becomes nervous, immunity decreases. The baby requires increased attention from the mother and during the day, because he is so active! Of course, mothers get tired and they are interested in how to wean the child from snacking at night and when the children will start sleeping until the morning without waking up.

A little about the nutritional features of the child

Wise nature has ordered that a newborn baby and a nursing baby should eat every 2.5-3 hours or even less. Physiologically, the intestines of a baby are arranged this way, because food is quickly processed, and a lot of energy is needed for development and growth! That is why he eats so often. Naturally, the child continues to eat in the same mode at night.

All moms should be aware that this diet is temporary. Children grow up and their intestines adjust to process new foods. This means that formula and breast milk will be required less and less. The introduction of new foods into the diet begins at about the age of 5-6 months and continues until the age of 3 years. Although much has not yet been tried, and some simply cannot. It turns out that at the age of 6 months you can wean your baby from night feedings?

In fact, not everything is so simple. Even if the child begins to change physiologically, he is still not ready to be weaned from night feeding. Yes, now for 10, 11 hours of sleep the baby eats only 2-3 times. But most pediatricians are unanimous in the opinion that at this age, it is too early to wean a child from night feedings... Now the baby is teething. He may experience stress, discomfort. Mom's care at night is also necessary more than ever. And also according to the vaccination schedule, the child receives vaccinations. This is a great stress for the child's body.

During such periods, there should be no sudden changes in diet. Now the future health of the baby is being laid. It is important for him to receive breast milk or adapted milk formula in sufficient quantities at night too. New products are just being introduced to the menu, but they have not become mainstream.

Pediatrician recommendations on how to wean a baby from night feedings

Pediatricians recommend starting wean off night feeds gradually... By no means suddenly! This is stressful for the child. The process should be step-by-step, gradual. AND it is better to start at the age of 12 months or more... The child is already eating well enough and varied. Shortly, 1.5-2 hours before bedtime, it is enough to feed the baby well. It can be porridge, kefir with cookies, a steam cutlet, a piece of boiled or stewed fish. The emphasis is on nutrition. A variety of tasty and healthy food during the day, moderate drinking is the basis for a child's refusal to eat at night.

Additionally, parents should create a comfortable environment for falling asleep. Ventilate the room before bed, turn off the TV, remove toys. Let nothing distract your baby. You can drink milk, water before going to bed. At the same time, pediatricians warn that parents did not teach children to fall asleep with a bottle... This child will also need to be weaned off. And this is not easy!

Some parents use a pacifier... Its use is controversial among pediatricians. Some say that an irregular bite is formed, the development of speech is slowed down. Others believe that the lack of a sucking reflex can be made up for with a dummy, so the baby will be calmer. Indeed, the baby is less capricious, falls asleep easier. There is only one unpleasant moment. You will need to wean off the nipple! In any case, it is not worth delaying with a dummy and it is advisable to stop using it when you reach 2 years of age.

Dr. Komarovsky on how to wean a child from night feedings

The popular children's doctor Evgeny Olegovich Komarovsky largely agrees with most pediatricians and believes that night feeds up to 6 months are very important for a child. If breastfeeding, then due to night lactation, a sufficient amount of milk is produced and in this case, refusal from night feedings means reducing the amount of milk and leaving the baby hungry. It's another matter if the baby is artificial. The formula is more satisfying than breast milk and easier to fill, but the baby also needs a night snack.

A child from 1 year old and older receives a variety of food, is active during the day. If there is no reason to worry about the baby's health: he is developing normally, gaining weight, eating well during the day, then you can start to wean off eating at night. Komarovsky warns that the family should first of all have a comfortable psychological environment, the conditions to which the baby is accustomed. If the family moves, the mother goes to work, the baby goes to kindergarten, then you cannot categorically introduce changes to the night mode.

At the age of 2 years, it is easier for a baby to explain that they do not eat at night. Older brothers, sisters, grandmother, grandfather, dad can help with this. They will tell you that when the sun rises, everyone will have breakfast. Someone will drink tea with a sandwich, someone will eat porridge. All adults do that. Not right away, but the child will understand and it will become a habit.

How to wean from night feeding with formula

It is easiest for mothers of children who are bottle-fed. The mixture can be replaced with water over time, first adding more of it than usual when preparing a mixture, and after 2 weeks or a month, leave only water. And just water, without jam, sugar and juice. The latter will lead to early tooth decay. Not always a man wakes up at night from hunger. Sometimes he wants to be with his mother, to feel her next to him. This is this kind of communication. The baby wants to be sure that his mother is next to him and loves him. Therefore, there is no need to rush to give a bottle. You can try to pet the child, do a simple massage.

It is more difficult to wean a baby from night feedings when he is breastfeeding. Vigorous physical activity and a balanced high-calorie diet in the daytime, a bath with almost warm water and a dinner 1.5 hours before bedtime will help put a baby to sleep without breast. Dad's help is needed. Let him rock the baby, tell a fairy tale, and for the first time mom will sit next to him. Gradually, you can transfer the child to your crib. He's probably used to sleeping with his mom! If you have a favorite toy, put it next to it. Over time, of course, he will get used to it, but parents will need to be patient.

It happens that parents send a child to their grandmother for a few days. Indeed, he is weaned from night feedings and from the breast completely. But what is going through with this! Despair, disappointment in their parents, being in a strong stress state, the baby suffers. Still, you need to try to go through the process of weaning from breastfeeding at night with mom and dad.

How mothers wean babies from night feeding

Mothers will consult with a pediatrician, read additional literature. They are so resourceful that they themselves come up with effective ways. Their experience shows how to wean a baby from night feedings. The presence of certain conditions helps to achieve the desired goals:

The process should be gradual. This is the main condition.
The baby is well fed shortly before bedtime.
Walking in the fresh air, vigorous activity is a must!

These are general requirements, but all children are actually so different. Some people switch to complementary foods faster and more easily tolerate the termination of night food. Others fall asleep quickly because they are tired for the day, and still others are overexcited. For some, a bath helps, and for some children it is refreshing and it is difficult for them to fall asleep after it. Only a mother knows her baby so well that she herself will understand when and how to wean her baby from night feeding with formula or breastfeeding. And he will apply his own methods and practices.

It will be much easier for young parents if they familiarize themselves with some proven recommendations:

Patience, love and a desire to help, not to harm, but to help will push you to choose your own method. Moms will intuitively understand what is best for the baby. How they will wean a child from night feedings is an individual process, but the main recommendations of pediatricians should be used.

Weaning from night feeding is an inevitable stage of growing up a baby. Experts disagree on when it is appropriate to do this. Someone talks about six months, someone thinks that it is not worth removing night feeding before the first birthday.

That is why, if you decide to wean your baby from feeding at night, first of all, consult a pediatrician. Most doctors agree that at the age of 6-8 months, a baby is able to sleep 11-12 hours without supplementation. However, this only applies to babies who are developing well and gaining weight well. If the baby is recovering slowly, it is impossible to deprive him of additional food intake.

Babies who are breastfeeding usually find it harder to wean themselves from nighttime snacks. Remember that you can change the regime for such children only when the baby has begun to receive complementary foods. Artificial workers experience deprivation of night feeding easier. Some babies, getting enough calories and nutrients with the formula (and for this it is very important to choose a high-quality formula with a balanced composition, for example, Valio Baby - it is made from fresh cow's milk and is as close as possible in composition to breast milk) may stop asking for a bottle at night already at the age of 3 months. We will not tire of making a reservation - all children are individual. Quite often, night feeding is not caused by hunger at all, but by the need to feel the mother's attention and her love.

How to wean from night feedings

Increase the portion / calorie intake before bed

Most children sleep better if they eat well at night. A high-calorie mixture or porridge takes longer to digest, the baby has no reason to wake up and ask for food. However, some babies sleep more restlessly because of a full stomach.

Feed your baby more often during the day

It is necessary that during the day the child receives a sufficient amount of food, then he will not try to "get" the calories he needs at night.

Replace bottle or breastfeeding formula with water

First, you can go for the trick and dilute the formula or breast milk, increasing the percentage of water each time. The kid will not be interested in waking up to drink.

Give your child more attention during the day

As we already mentioned, children often wake up at night to get a portion of their mother's affection, and not food at all. This happens when mom went to work early or is simply too busy during the day. Try to do everything so that the baby does not have this daytime attention deficit, then he will be calmer at night.

Limit access to your breasts

This advice is reasonable if you decide to end breastfeeding. Put your baby to bed separately so that he cannot reach the breast at any time. It is better for dad to calm down the baby at night - so that the baby is not embarrassed by the smell of milk coming from mom.

Be mindful of your sleep routine and hygiene

In order for the baby to sleep soundly at night, you need to follow a number of rules: do not practice too long daytime sleep, provide a comfortable atmosphere in the nursery (ventilate the room, do not overheat it, adjust the humidity), bathe the child before going to bed, do a relaxing massage.

If weaning from night feedings is difficult, the baby is capricious, does not let you go a step during the day, or, on the contrary, is angry, repulsive, it means that he is not yet ready for such changes. Be sure to listen to your child and adjust your parenting

There is not a single mother who would not ask herself the question - how to wean the baby from nightly banquets. And is it really necessary to do this: after all, if a baby wakes up, it means he is hungry, once he is hungry, he grows, and once he grows, he must eat ...

But children are actively growing up to 18 years old, so now what to set up another (or more) late dinner for the next couple of decades ??? Let's figure it out.

We assess the situation

Before deciding that a child should be weaned from night feedings, you should definitely consult a pediatrician.

On average, pediatricians report that many babies are ready to sleep 11-12 hours without supplements at 6-9 months of age.

However, we are talking about healthy, well-developing children. Babies who, for one reason or another, are not gaining weight are forced to eat in smaller and more frequent portions - with such children, the opinion of the observing specialist is especially important!

The next step is to look at your baby's behavior during night feedings. Assess how and how much your child wakes up at night. If a baby is breastfed, is he really eating? A child who wakes up for food is actively sucking and you can hear intermittent swallowing. The duration of feeding, which is aimed at satisfying hunger, should not be shorter than 10-15 minutes. If the baby is simply sucked in for a couple of sips, and then quietly falls asleep, wakes up more often 1-2 times per night after reaching 6 months of age and his awakening becomes more frequent in the morning - then this is not about hunger. Such a baby has formed a negative association between sleep and feeding, in other words, he does not know how to fall asleep without breast, and that means it's time to teach him this. And in the process, the crumb itself will stop waking up at night.

If the baby is bottle-fed, or drinks milk or water, then you can see huge amounts of liquid / formula that the baby consumes per night.

Mothers with children came to me, drinking up to 1.5 liters of compote per night !!!

This seriously interferes with the restorative sleep of both the child and the mother (who still has to spin around the house all day). Moreover, it loads the kidneys, urinary system and the digestive tract of the baby, which must rest at night. If you are familiar with this situation, then again it needs to be changed.

Another factor that is often encountered in situations where night feeds become intolerable is replacing daytime meals with nighttime meals. In other words, for various reasons, the child does not eat enough during the day and is forced to add the necessary calories at night. In this case, the mother urgently needs to work on identifying the reasons why the child is malnourished during the day, eliminating them and properly organizing the feeding regime - sleep will follow by itself.

By understanding the underlying causes of frequent nighttime snacks, you can make the right plan to overcome them. And remember that not all adults can survive 12 hours without going to the refrigerator, so the last night feed may well be delayed up to 12 months.

Breastfed babies

For breastfed babies who have formed an association between feeding and falling asleep (the norm is up to 4 months, but not for older babies), it is important to understand that they themselves can fall asleep perfectly without the help of the "magic" mother's nipple. To do this, divide the laying and feeding process so that the baby does not fall asleep on the breast, for example, feed, change the diaper, and then lay. Your task is to ensure that the crumb, having eaten, falls asleep by itself. When feeding at night, turn on a dim night light to make it clear that eating and sleeping in different environments, and if possible, do not feed in the sleeping area at all. If the baby is still small, and you understand that he needs one or two feedings, but the available six are already too much, then determine the time at which you are ready to feed fully.

Alternatively, you can gradually shorten the length of feedings at off-hours, but in practice this is not very effective. And do not rush to run to a baby older than 5 months at the first squeak, it is very possible that you yourself will wake up a baby who just whimpered in a dream, wait a few minutes. Usually, if the mother is determined to the result, then it is visible after a couple of nights, although they can be difficult. However, remember that food is food for the body, so sleep is food for the brain and its importance is in no way inferior to food. And the more restful sleep at night, which you will get in just a few days, is worth the effort.

Bottle-fed babies

Infants on artificial feeding often, contrary to popular belief, sleep no better than babies. And this is just a confirmation that not only hunger wakes up children at night. Moreover, it is especially important for artificial people to observe the feeding regime so as not to overload the digestive system with a more slowly absorbing mixture. Again, decide how many feeds your baby needs. With the remaining feeds, you can reduce the amount of formula in the bottle by 20-30 grams each night until you get to 30-50 grams, where you simply stop offering food if the baby is still waking up.

Alternatively, you can gradually dilute the mixture in a larger proportion with water until you get some water - the kids themselves refuse such a "delicacy".

If age allows, discard the bottle and switch to a soft-spout sippy cup.

"Adult" children after 18 months

If your child has grown up, but still drinks endlessly water-tea-milk-compote at night, then you are dealing with a negative association, the nature of which I described above. More often, such babies drink from a bottle and the focus of their awakenings is not in thirst, but in the nipple. Sucking on the nipples reproduces to some extent breastfeeding and powerfully helps to relax to the point that babies get used to relaxing into sleep only in this way. The first thing to do is to replace the bottle with a sippy cup, its spout is very different from the nipple and this will be enough for many babies to stop "wanting" to drink at night. If you drink compote or tea, then it makes sense to dilute them a little. This way you will reduce the amount of sugar that is harmful to very delicate teeth. When it comes to older babies, it is worth putting the cup next to the crib and explaining that they themselves can reach it and drink if necessary.

Caring parents often worry about whether they need to feed their baby at night. They wake up the child, wanting to quickly give food. Don't do that. A child's need for sleep is as important as food. A hungry child will let you know about it himself.

When the baby stops needing night feeds

The exact age at which it is time to stop feeding your baby at night has not been determined by pediatricians. The decision is made by parents who are tired of a night's sleep. It makes no sense to feed children at night for more than 1 year. A child at this age is able to receive a sufficient amount of nutrients in the daytime.

With breastfeeding stop feeding at night at 7 months. At this age, the child manages to get the necessary calories per day.

With artificial feeding stop feeding at night before 1 year of age. Dentists say the bottles harm baby's teeth.

Do not stop feeding your baby abruptly. After 5 months, the child develops a regimen, breaking which, you risk causing stress to the growing body.

Replacing Night Feeding

So that the child does not experience stress when canceling night feeding, mothers go to the tricks.

Change breastfeeding to artificial. Swap your breasts for a bottle of formula when feeding overnight. The baby will feel less hungry and sleep until the morning.
Breast milk is replaced with tea or water. The child quenches his thirst and will gradually stop waking up at night.
They swing in their arms or sing a song. It is likely that the baby is not waking up because of hunger. Having received attention, the baby will fall asleep without night feeding.

When canceling night feeds, be prepared for unpredictable baby reactions. Don't get hung up on one method, use different approaches.

Weaning a child up to a year

The best method of weaning babies under one year old from night feeding is the right regimen.

Change where the baby sleeps. If this is your bed or nursery, use a stroller or sling.
Go to bed with clothes that cover your chest. Don't sleep closely with your baby.
If the child continues to be capricious, let the father or another family member sleep with him. At first, the baby can react sharply to changes, but then he gets used to it and realizes that milk has become unavailable at night.
Refuse your baby to feed at night. This variation is considered harsh. But if after the first two such nights, the baby is capricious during the day, use sparing methods, do not irritate the child.

Weaning a child over a year old

Night feeds can be stopped after 1 year without harm to the child's health. Children already understand what is happening around. They are influenced in other ways:

They do not put the baby to bed on their own, it is done by another family member.
Explain to the child that children sleep at night, but they can eat only during the day. It is not easy to give up night feeding in this way, but the child will stop being capricious.
With patience, they calm the child on the first night. Stand firm on your own. Tell a story, read a book. Give your baby water.

A week later, the child adapts to the regimen.

The opinion of Dr. Komarovsky

Children's doctor Komarovsky is convinced that after 6 months, the child does not feel hunger at night and night feeding is no longer necessary. Mothers who feed children older than this age overfeed them. The doctor gives tips to help avoid overfeeding:

Feed your baby in small portions during the day, increasing the portion of the last meal before bed. This is how the maximum feeling of satiety is achieved.
Bathe the baby before bed and feed it. If after bathing the baby is not hungry, do gymnastics before bathing. Fatigue and satiety will prevent your baby from waking up at night.
Don't overheat the room. The optimum temperature for baby sleep is 19-20 degrees. To keep the child warm, warm it up with a warm blanket or insulated pajamas.
Don't let your child sleep more than he should. The daily sleep duration of children under 3 months is 17-20 hours, from 3 to 6 months - 15 hours, from 6 months to a year - 13 hours. If a child sleeps more than normal during the day, it is unlikely that he will sleep soundly at night.
From the birth of a child, observe his regime.

Popular mistakes when weaning from night feeding

Parents often see the problem not in themselves, but in their children. Don't fall for childish provocations:

Pity for the baby... The baby can ask for a breast, both in an affectionate and in a flashy manner. Be patient, stop feeding at night, and stay on top of your goal.
Inappropriate discussion with the baby about feeding time... Mothers try to convey to their children what to eat at a certain time, because this is how “a brother or sister eats” or so “everyone eats”. This technique works, but from an early age in the kid, the understanding is laid that one must be "like everyone else."
Cheating... Do not tell your child that mom has breast pain or that the milk is sour. When raising a baby through deception, do not demand the truth from him when he grows up.
Complete cessation of night feeding at one moment - this is stress for the child and mother. Wean your baby from eating gradually at night to avoid the baby's vagaries and chest pain.

Scientists have been conducting research for more than one year in the field of the correct development of the child, upbringing and feeding. They are looking for the most comfortable and natural ways. In the first months of life, a little baby does not have very great needs and features in care. All you need is proper hygiene, proper feeding, love and affection. Over time, in addition to the simple need to get enough, the child develops the habit of frequent contact with the breast. For him, it becomes a way of calming down. Any discomfort - and the child begins to search for the chest with his lips. The baby becomes warm in his mother's arms, comfortable when he hears the beat of his mother's heart. This is the sound that the infant has become accustomed to over the nine months in the womb.

Activity phases and baby nutrition

The crumbs sleep restlessly at night, often wake up. The phases of activity and sleep in the early stages of life are short. Often night feeding is used to put the baby back to sleep. After six months, the sleep phase begins to level out. The child wakes up less often at night. No need for night feeding. But recently, cases of hyperactivity of children have become more frequent. Six-hour night breaks are not allowed.

After six months, pediatricians recommend reducing the amount of breastfeeding. Complementary foods (juices, mashed potatoes, cereals) are introduced into the child's diet for full development. Night feeding overloads the baby's body. They offer to refuse him, and moms wonder how to wean a child from eating at night.

Desire to calm down

The main thing here is to understand the reason why your baby asks for a breast at night. Now we will look at the main ones. If the baby is not hungry, but just wants to calm down, then there are several methods on how to wean the baby from breastfeeding at night. You need to try in different ways to put your child to sleep. Walking in the fresh air is one of the methods, although, probably, a few mothers will be delighted with night walks. A more suitable method is pumping, stroking, singing songs. You need to put your child next to you so that he can feel your warmth, smell and hear your heartbeat. Ask your dad for help. Let him walk with the child, shake, tell a story. The main task is to teach the baby to calm down and fall asleep without sucking on the breast.

Hunger

Does your baby suck in milk and fall asleep again? at night? It is necessary to increase the number of daily feedings. It is necessary that during the day the baby is fully satiated. Feed your baby well before bed. Let dinner take longer. A well-fed baby will no longer want to ask for supplements at night.

It so happens that the baby wakes up after midnight from hunger, while he eats well. There are several ways to stop feeding your baby at night:

Before going to bed, wake up the baby and feed. The baby can suckle and sleepy. Then he will not wake up at night from a feeling of hunger.
Transfer complementary foods to the evening. Feed the child with porridge, give kefir or drink milk mixture.
If you fed the baby well during the day, but the habit of waking up and eating at night remains, then during a late meal try giving milk diluted with water in a ratio of 1: 3. Water feeding can be gradually replaced. This will help avoid overeating.

All of these tips are suitable for breastfed babies.

Artificial feeding of the child. Weaning the baby out of the night reception

Bottle-fed babies receive nutritious milk from a bottle. What to do with such kids? Artificial moms often wonder about being at night. Trying to get your toddler to part with the bottle is not easy. Children with tears beg for their favorite bottle. Sucking from the horn, as well as from the breast, gives the child pleasure, satisfies the feeling of hunger, helps to calm down and fall asleep.

Use a sippy cup for feeding at night, not a bottle. It is similar in shape to your favorite bubble, but, in fact, it is a mug. You have to drink from it while sitting. The baby will lose the association with sucking, as well as the sensations that it caused. If the baby does not feel hungry at night, then soon he will refuse to eat at this time of day. Feed your baby more satisfyingly before bed. It can be porridge or kefir.

Glass of milk at night

You see that your child is growing, sleeping well already and eating almost independently. But after a year, many children develop the habit of waking up at night and drinking a glass of milk. The problem is that cow is not at all useful for children under three years old. It can cause a calcium deficiency in the growing body and provoke an increase in nervous excitability. How to wean a child from drinking milk at night? Try offering your baby water.

If the child drinks it, it means that he is tormented by thirst. If he refuses, then this is already a bad habit. Begin to gradually dilute the milk with water until you completely switch to the latter. There is also a radical method - to distract the child and switch his attention. Try to calm and lull the baby to sleep without giving anything.

The child is over a year old. How to wean from night feeding?

If you were not puzzled by the problems of night feeding for up to a year, then by one and a half years this problem will already need to be fought. Eating at night can turn into a persistent bad habit. You start looking for a solution to the problem and think about how to wean your child from eating at night. Here it is already useless to understand the reasons. We need to solve the problem. But in addition to the fact that some children are used to eating at night, they begin to have their own preferences. Let's look at some of them:

How to wean a child from eating candy at night? Give a healthier substitute (dried fruit, candied fruit, pectin marmalade without sugar). Encourage you to put the candy in the stash and eat it in the morning. Play on children's mercy. Offer to give the candy to your grandfather, grandmother, or other loved one.

How to wean a child from eating buns, cookies, waffles at night? Prepare delicious and healthy breakfasts. Examples include banana pancakes, fruit muffins, and milkshakes. Let him get used to the fact that desserts can be eaten in the morning. Do not take everything at once, but act gradually. More often say, "We don't eat this," or "Our family doesn't eat cream cakes because they are awfully sweet." Let the little person get used to the fact that your family has its own way of life.

The children's pediatrician wrote that a baby can be weaned from anything in three days. The essence of the problem is not that important. The main thing is that the parents have strong nerves. How to wean a child from eating at night? It's hard to withstand the cry for three days, but the result will be a full sleep. The diet will also be restored.

The main thing is not to approach the child and not try to persuade. Only a polite and categorical refusal. There is no need to explain that this is harmful. All the same, a child at this age will not understand your explanations. You can even harm them. For example, if you start scaring a kid with scary tales about fat children, this will only help create a bunch of complexes. Don't forget that a child's psyche is vulnerable.

All parents want them to have smart and obedient children. And besides the question of how to wean, you should be no less concerned with how to teach. We must teach your child to obey you. Such a moment is often missed. But this is the foundation of education.
The technique for helping your child develop a listening habit is simple. You need to start with elementary things and gradually move on to more complex and difficult ones. The path from simple to complex is easier.

The basis of education is laid from two to twelve years old. A 12-year-old child should already be well-mannered, obedient to your helper and friend. After this age, your work should already be aimed at self-development and improvement of a small personality. A great life path opens before the child. You are a guide for him. Your care, attention and great patience will help grow your personality.

Conclusion

Now you know how to wean your baby from feeding at night. We hope that our recommendations will help you and you will be able to cope with this problem. Good luck!