Gentle Night Weaning for Your Baby
Hi friends!
My name is Lauren, owner of the baby sleep agency Sleep + the City, and I’m so glad you’re here! I’ve been helping babies night wean and learn to gently self-soothe since 2014, and I have over 250+ formal hours of training, so you’re in the right place! And if you’re a Mama like me, you’ve been cleared by your doctor to gently begin night weaning, but either A. Failed after attempting cold turkey or B. Aren’t quite sure where to start. If you try Googling “gentle night weaning”, you’ll likely run into all sort of opinions and sometimes, incorrect advice.
For my Mamas with babies 0-3 months:
Your new baby will likely be eating every 2-3 hours around the clock, possibly even MORE during the witching hour. By the second month of life, or after 8 weeks, you should start to see some longer stretches beginning to develop and night feeds drop off naturally if you’re taking the steps to prioritize and monitor your baby’s nutritional intake, while encouraging healthy sleep habits. Ok, woah - that was a lot right? Get my month-by-month class here for newborns babes here, I’ll walk you through it!
For my Mamas with babies over 4+ months:
If your baby is over 4+ months, he or she should be able to go 4-6 hours STRAIGHT without a feed, woohoo!! On the blog today, I’m giving you some simple night weaning steps to try at home—that even your husband can be involved with— to gently encourage your baby to wean off night feedings that may have been causing MAJOR wake’s every 2-3 hours, and perhaps give you a little insurance plan (the dream feed) in case you have a bit of anxiety about it all while starting.
*This helpful post is the FIRST STEP in my sleep classes, so be sure to get the class or pin this post for reference later for the next steps!
Tip #1: Make sure baby gets plenty to eat during the day
Schedule an appointment with your pediatrician to go over baby’s nutritional intake in a 24-hour period, and grab some insight while you’re there on exactly how much your baby should be eating during the day. This information will empower you to feel confident that baby isn’t starving when he or she wakes up at night- and makes some gentle night weaning that much easier! Once you have a daytime feeding goal in mind, you can begin gently night weaning your baby. Here is a super handy chart to use the first nine months, even with the introduction of solids, to estimate how much and how long your baby should be feeding:
*****MAMAS!! PIN THIS FOR LATER!!****
Tip #2: Tank baby up in the evening and before bedtime
I like to keep babies over 4 months on an Eat-Play-Sleep routine, which means baby feeds after waking up from a nap, instead of before a nap. However, feeding baby after an evening catnap is pretty close to bedtime—that’s ok! Tanking baby up or “topping them off” at bedtime, even if they don’t take a normal, large feed, will help your babe go the distance at night, and hopefully achieve those 4-6 hour stretches I touched on above.
Tip #3: Try a dream feed while night weaning your baby
Here’s that insurance plan I spoke about above, so listen up! When your doctor tells you to stop feeding baby at night, sometimes it’s easier said than done, right? I don’t know any Moms that stand up and volunteer to listen to HOURS AND HOURS of crying, do you?? A dream feed can be a wonderful option for those parents looking to gently night wean. Approximately two hours after baby falls asleep at night, quietly sneak into baby’s room, gently pick them up, and offer a feed. Baby may only take about half the normal amount before falling back asleep. Once you’re done, put baby back in the crib and leave—that’s it! If baby wakes up before 4-6 hours, at least you’ll be confident knowing that hunger isn’t the cause of the night waking.
Tip #4: Start the night weaning process slowly and gradually
So often, as parents, we fall into the mindset that the only way to gently soothe a baby to sleep is through feeding or rocking. But, falling back on those “sleep crutches” prevent your baby from learning to fall asleep on their own. As with any learning process, like sleep training, be flexible, patient, and realistic. This may take you a week or so to perfect! Start the process slowly, by offering baby a little less at nighttime, and a little more during the day.
Tip #5: Enroll in the Baby Sleep Academy class to help baby learn to self-soothe.
Your baby STILL may wake up every 1-3 hours looking for some assistance to get back to sleep after you have completed weaning baby off night feedings. In the Sleep Academy class, designed for babies 5-24 months, you’ll get everything you need to tackle Baby sleep like a sleep expert with our modern Wink-a-Sleep Method. The Wink-a-Sleep Method is science-backed, and actually #momlife approved… doesn’t that sound better than the “hang on, lemme google that real quick” approach?
The Wink-a-Sleep Method in my class can help you:
✔️get your baby sleeping 11+ hours within a WEEK (yes, like only 5-7 days!)
✔️learn our signature soothing methods, to make sure baby sleeps in almost any environment
✔️survive the twists and turns that hit you hard, like the infamous 4-month sleep regression
✔️train your baby to sleep consistently, despite developmental changes between 5-24 months
Do you need more?
After reading this, are you still left with some questions? Well my friend - I’d love to answer them! This is why I started offering one on one consultations. Because parents needed more individualized time to work with a sleep expert. And if that’s you, I can’t wait to to work with you - book your consultation with an expert sleep consultant.