Expert: Sally Wendkos Olds - 11/25/2008

Question
I have a petite 12 month old daughter who loves to nurse.  I have offered her
solids since she was 6-7 months old, but she has always preferred nursing.  
She does eat small meals and snacks throughout the day.  My question
pertains to her nightly eating schedule.  She still wants to nurse 2-3 times
during the night.  Should I continue nursing her at nights, or would it be
better to begin breaking her habit of wanting multiple feedings?  My fear is
that I would be depriving her of necessary nutrition if I quit feeding her at
night.

Answer
Dear Leah,

First, congratulations for giving your daughter the best start in life by breastfeeding her!

Now, as you seem to realize, it's time to help her develop an age-appropriate nighttime sleep schedule. At one year of age your daughter does not need night feedings of breast milk for nutrition. Of course she enjoys them! But she doesn't need them.

I'm attaching an excerpt from my book (see below), with suggestions that might be helpful. Many of them are for younger babies, but the list should get you thinking about how you can help your daughter to give up her nighttime feedings and how everyone can get more sleep.

I just heard of one mom who, after trying various ways to help her baby give up night feedings, slept in a hotel for three nights while the baby's father and grandmother took care of him and went into him during the night. Worked for this family.

Good luck!

Sally
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Sally Wendkos Olds
Author, THE COMPLETE BOOK OF BREASTFEEDING: Eiger & Olds, 3rd edition 1999, published by Workman Publishing & Bantam Books, and available in most public libraries, bookstores & La Leche League chapters. Now in revision for a fourth edition, with pediatrician Laura M. Marks, M.D.
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Encouraging a Baby to Give Up Nighttime Nursing
If you don’t really mind getting up at night, there’s no age by which your baby has to sleep through, so you can just wait until he gives up night feedings himself—and try to catch up on your own sleep by scheduling a nap during the day.
  But if your doctor says your baby is growing well, if he is nursing often and well during the day, if he’s at least twelve weeks old, so your milk supply is well established, and if getting up with him leaves you exhausted and irritable, you may be able to encourage him to sleep for longer stretches at night. (Some anthropologists say that human beings in various cultures regularly sleep in two shifts, with an hour or two of wakefulness in the middle. Seems that young babies have read these textbooks.)

Still, if you want your family, young and old, to follow the typical western sleep schedule, sometimes one of the following will help:
• Try nursing later at night, maybe at midnight, to see whether this will hold your baby till early morning.
• Let your baby fuss (not scream) for five or ten minutes when he wakes during the night; if he’s not too hungry, he may go back to sleep.
• If your baby sleeps in a separate bed, let your partner go to comfort the baby, maybe by rubbing or patting her back or speaking softly to her. From a very early age, your baby associates your looks and your smell with feeding. If you go to her side, she’ll expect to nurse. This is why the father or someone else is often more successful in getting her back to sleep.
* If the baby cries when you leave, go back every few minutes so he can be reassured by your (or your partner’s) presence. If you sit with the baby in the room, stay quiet and look away so he won’t think it’s playtime.
• If your baby is on a “night shift,” sleeping during the day and up a lot at night, reorient him by waking him up and nursing him every two to three hours during the day, and keeping him awake by taking him out, bathing him, playing with him, or sitting him in an infant seat where he can see interesting things and people.
* You might also teach your baby day from night by keeping the lights on during the day, even during naptime, and not making an effort to be quiet.
• Although some parents feed their babies solid foods in the belief that this will help them go longer between nursings at night, there’s no evidence that this does any good. The AAP recommends breast milk alone for six months, but some pediatricians do suggest starting solid foods at about four months, depending on individual needs. (Suggestions for starting solids are given in Chapter 18.)
• Offer a pacifier, if your milk supply is well established and your baby is at least twelve weeks old.