Selecting your age will allow you to adjust your baby’s sleep preferences to suit your own individual needs.
What age do babies stop nursing at night? Different experts have different numbers, but generally speaking, night weaning starts at about 3 months old and ends around 5 or 6 months old.
Dogs, too, will gradually cut down on the number of feedings they make at night. This is in part because they’re trying to rid their bodies of the excess bilirubin they produce. After the 5-6 month mark, many parents report that their dogs no longer get enough bilirubin or B12 from their diets.
Many parents also report that their baby no longer wakes up during the night because their baby no longer gets enough feedings during the day. This may be because the baby has become accustomed to less frequent night feedings or because her placenta has become accustomed to more liquid.
Beyond these obvious changes, there may be other factors contributing to decreased night waking. Many parents report that they’re unable to discontinue night feeds or night shifts when their baby shows signs of vulnerability.
What age do babies stop nursing at night?
All babies are different, and every mother is different. Some mothers just get on with their lives at night, taking in as much as they can at once. These are usually mothers who have options – they can continue to breastfeed for as long as they like, or they can continue to make choices about when to wean. For example, many mothers choose to continue to breastfeed their babies at night, even if they have decided to wean. These are mothers who can still support their babies in the best interests of their children, by continuing to give them the best start in life.
Other mothers choose to wean their baby at different ages. Some mothers decide to stop feeding at six months, so that their child can focus on motor skills. Others decide to stop feeding at 10 months, so that their child can concentrate on brain development. Still others decide to keep feeding at night, so that their child can continue to eat solid foods.
Whatever your decision, you will probably find that your child grows as the years go by. There are no rules on when is the ‘right’ time to wean, but most experts agree that it’s usually not when children are born. The key is consistency.
All babies are different; breast cancer is different for girls and boys, and sleep is different for babies and mothers. Some mothers have larger storage capacities than the other way around; this means that as their baby grows, she will need to make more milk at night. For example,
Juliet might have a capacity of 25 ounces or more but need to sleep at least 5 hours at a time to get the 25 ounces she needs at night. Babies with a smaller capacity will need to sleep longer at night (by my count, about an hour longer than that).
How much longer will she need to sleep at night? That depends on several factors, including breast size and breastfeed frequency.
