How do you know if it's time to wean or just a sleep resettling issue?

[99redballoons]

Hi all, dd is 18wks and is a very big baby (she's a second baby & hasn't been weighed that much so I'm not sure, but she's definitely a high %tile). She's been pretty much sleeping through 5/7 nights a week since 6wks (9pm-4am), but for the last two weeks has been waking twice a night. Now I'm not sure if this is her cold, the fact she's started to fall asleep off the breast (previously would use her thumb/hand) or that she's genuinely hungry (she does take alot of milk when I feed her in the night and then isn't that hungry between 8-11am).

I weaned my ds at 4.5 months cos he too was a big baby. With the new guidelines advsing to wait as near to 6 mo as possibly I didn't really want to wean her just yet (wished I'd waited a little longer with ds). So now I'm stuck. Is she waking cos she's hungry, or has just started to rely on the breast to get back to sleep?? (I know you won't be able to answer this, but I just need to get it off my chest!).

I guess I should stick with the two night wakings and wait a few more weeks before solids.. Any advice? Thx.

[BonyM]

Hi - in my experience, starting weaning had no effect on night wakings at all. Tend to think it is a developmental issue.

I honestly don't know anyone who has solved a sleep problem by starting to give solids. It's worth bearing in mind that breast milk actually contains more calories than any "solid" food that a baby could have at this age.

My dd2 was still feeding once at night up to 10months (and I started weaning just a week shy of 6mths).

If your dd has a cold that will almost definitely be disturbing her sleep and she will also want to feed more often.

HTH.

[VeniVidiVickiQV]

Could be her cold. If you think she is more hungry, give her more milk - it has more calories in it than baby rice etc.

As BM said - there is no research that backs up early weaning or weaning indeed as fixing night wakings.

would increase the amount of milk in her feed and perhaps up the number in the day in the short term.

[99redballoons]

Hi, thanks for the comments. Yes, I'm sure you're right, will up the feeds for the time being. It's so hard to know what's right, especially as my ds started sleepig through on solids at 4.5 months... They're both so different though I'm not banking on dd being the same!! Night wakings are just sooo hard though, aren't they?!

[CorrieDale]

Also, weeks 17-18 are often the start of short-term sleep problems. There are loads of threads in Sleep along the lines of 'my baby is 4 months and his sleep has gone pear-shaped'. Lasted for 7 weeks with us.... solids at 26 weeks didn't help at all.

[VeniVidiVickiQV]

Night wakings are really tough arent they?

I agree that two babies can be totally different.

My DD (1st child) started sleeping through at 11 weeks. I started weaning at 26 weeks.

My second, my DS, has only just started sleeping through at 10.5 months. I also started weaning at 26 weeks.