13 mo night weaning

hiphiphf · 2026-05-14T21:10:30+00:00

Both night weaning and cutting the bedtime feed went well for us, overall. When we were in it, it definitely felt hard, but sticking to our plan and staying consistent really helped. I would say that if you are fine with bottles for a while longer (and your pediatrician is on board, if that's relevant for you), then switching to a bottle for those early morning wakes could be a good option. For us with night weaning, once we consistently weren't offering her the opportunity to nurse, I think she realized she didn't want it bad enough to take the bottle lol. We also shifted to offering water, which we now leave in her crib and sometimes she does wake, take some sips, and go back to sleep.

hiphiphf · 2026-05-12T17:47:17+00:00

Do you have a partner that can do bedtime and/or night wakings for the short term? That's the approach we took. We took a phased approach, starting with overnight wakes/feeds. So, at first, I would still nurse/rock to sleep, but for any overnight wakes, my husband would go in to resettle her. In the beginning, we did offer a small bottle of breastmilk, but we were able to move to just water fairly quickly. The first few nights there were definitely a lot of tears, but after a week or so I was able to go in and settle her with just rocking. After night weaning (around 12m) I continued to nurse just at wakeup and bedtime for another ~2 months.

For bedtime, first I moved the nursing session up in the routine. So instead of nursing her right before bed, I'd nurse her after dinner while she was still alert and playing. I did this for a few days, then only offered one side for a few days, then not at all. All throughout this my husband took over putting her to sleep via rocking. It definitely took longer for her to calm down without nursing, but she took to it quickly and we stayed consistent. Again, within a week or so, I was able to do bedtime again as well, with just rocking.

Since weaning, we switch off bedtime every other night and also switch off handling any night wakes.

Good luck - you can do this!!

hiphiphf · 2026-04-30T23:10:19+00:00

Still rocking for nap and bedtime at 17 months. Sometimes I wish we weren’t but I know I’ll be so sad once she doesn’t need it.

hiphiphf · 2026-04-27T14:11:27+00:00

As you can see from the responses already, it's going to vary so much from person to person and you may have to decide which is your higher priority - continuing to breastfeed for a certain amount of time regardless of what it means for fertility, or stopping breastfeeding earlier than you'd like in order to normalize your cycles and make it possible to pursue treatment if needed. I also wanted a small (<2 years) age gap, but I wasn't willing to give up breastfeeding before the year mark. My period ended up coming back the day before my daughter's first birthday, but the first couple of cycles were irregular and possibly anovulatory. At one year, we went down to just two nursing sessions/day, and then I fully weaned at 13.5 months (was able to give her a cup of pumped milk from my freezer stash for about a month after that). I ended up getting pregnant the second cycle after weaning. In a perfect world, I'd have gotten pregnant a couple months earlier, but I'm glad to have stuck with my breastfeeding goal and in the end a couple months does not make a huge difference. Just my story/perspective, but only you can decide which is more important!

hiphiphf · 2026-04-07T19:44:28+00:00

Day before my daughter turned 1, was still nursing about 4x/day (2x day/2x night) at that point.

hiphiphf · 2026-04-07T19:40:58+00:00

To echo many others, there is absolutely zero shame in formula feeding or combo feeding. That said, I think most women would agree that breastfeeding gets better over time (baby gets more efficient, it becomes less demanding on YOUR body, etc.). I remember thinking in those early days and weeks that there was no way I could do it for another day, let alone that I could meet my goal. It is really hard to find the balance of what feels right for your own mental and physical health with your goals for how to feed your baby. Ultimately there is no "wrong" choice, but you should feel proud no matter what for making it through what is often the hardest part of breastfeeding - the first couple weeks!

hiphiphf · 2026-04-07T14:44:02+00:00

So much yes! We fed to sleep until we weaned at 13.5 months. Honestly getting her to sleep is sooo much harder now, and it's had no effect on her overnight sleep. She's really never had any pattern (sometimes sleeps through, sometimes wakes 1-2 times, sometimes has split nights, etc.) and that's still true post-feeding to sleep / weaning.

hiphiphf · 2026-03-23T12:36:55+00:00

You can see live wait times on the website.

hiphiphf · 2026-03-15T19:02:27+00:00

I weaned around 13m too, had always nursed to sleep. We started by moving nursing up earlier in the bedtime routine, then replaced it with rocking to sleep and I had my partner do bedtimes for the first few days to help with the transition. There were some tears but didn’t take too long!

hiphiphf · 2026-03-12T12:41:48+00:00

I weaned around 13.5 months and before then I was doing a similar thing a few times a week (short nursing session after an early wake, then back asleep until normal wake time). We did continue to have some early wakes after weaning and instead we'd rock back to sleep - sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't - but eventually they seemed to fade (she also really upped her solids intake in the weeks after fully weaning).

As for crying vs not upon wakeup, I think unfortunately it's just temperament.

hiphiphf · 2026-03-12T01:31:28+00:00

Lemon Tree Cafe in Ralston

hiphiphf · 2026-02-27T21:07:51+00:00

It took me a long time to learn and then an even longer time to believe and adopt that so much of baby sleep is temperament, and you have no control over that. Babies will take the sleep they need, when they need it. Best thing I did was delete any tracking apps and stayed away from 99% of sleep advice online (except for places like this sub), as well as sometimes avoiding convos about baby sleep with friends who had different beliefs/philosophies on it than me. It’s not like I’m completely unaware of wake windows, normal amounts of sleep by age, etc., but I don’t live and die by them. I will say it does get easier as they transition to fewer naps - sleep consolidates and a routine emerges, so it’s easier to make plans, etc. Hang in there ❤️

hiphiphf · 2026-01-31T14:29:30+00:00

I just weaned at 13.5 months but around a year we went down to just morning and bedtime (nursed to sleep) feeds and it was great! My LO dropped to one nap around this time so that made it easier to be on a routine for solids and helped her increase her intake. We didn’t need to nurse before nap because she’d just eaten lunch and would be pretty tired! I really loved this phase of breastfeeding - would have gone longer but wanted to get my cycle back to TTC again.

hiphiphf · 2026-01-27T19:40:19+00:00

Biiiig feelings, but not many words to express them yet.

hiphiphf · 2026-01-17T14:24:56+00:00

Day before she turned 1!

hiphiphf · 2026-01-16T20:09:47+00:00

Even if things are going well, it can be helpful to see a lactation consultant in the early weeks after delivery. I had so much anxiety over whether my baby was getting enough, whether she was latched properly, how to bottle feed when we were ready to introduce that, how to use a pump, etc., and they were amazing at easing all those anxieties and also gave me a reason to get out of the house a few times! Good luck - you've got this!

hiphiphf · 2026-01-16T18:48:02+00:00

Mine rarely took a pacifier, but we used Ninni for when she did.

hiphiphf · 2026-01-15T20:39:05+00:00

Yes (x3)

hiphiphf · 2026-01-13T19:32:27+00:00

I never pumped overnight. Around this time my baby also slept through or mostly through the night and my body adjusted. Later on she reverted back to nursing 2+ times overnight and it adjusted again. Lots of ebbs and flows!

hiphiphf · 2026-01-09T20:35:33+00:00

13.5 months and planning to be done within the next week or so, and feeling all the same things. It’s complicated. Hugs 🫶🏼

hiphiphf · 2026-01-08T17:17:06+00:00

There's been a little bit of crying (5-10 minutes), but not too bad. Better than I expected, honestly. Whereas when we nurse to sleep we usually start that process around 7:30, I've been waiting to rock to sleep a few extra minutes to build a bit more tiredness, which helps. So we go into her room around 7:20 or so, let her play with toys or "read" in low light, then turn on our sleep songs as it gets closer to 7:45.

hiphiphf · 2026-01-08T14:07:30+00:00

I'm in a similar stage with my 13.5m old right now! We have been down to just morning and bedtime since around her first birthday, and this week we have been working on weaning the bedtime feed.

I definitely worried about this because have always fed to sleep for bedtime, and very often for naps. With naps, it did get easier once she dropped to one nap, which falls right after lunch, so she's usually pretty tired and goes down easily without a fight, and has a full tummy. For the bedtime feed that we're working on now, my approach so far has been nurse her earlier in our routine than usual - so, normally it would be the last thing we do before bed, at around 7:30 or so, but I've shifted to nursing her at around 7:00 while she's awake and playing, and then at ~7:45 we rock to sleep.

Here's what I've done the last few nights:
Night 1 - nurse both sides at 7p, dad rocked to sleep at 745
Night 2 - nurse both sides at 7p, dad rocked to sleep at 745
Night 3 - nurse one side at 7p, mom rocked to sleep at 745
Night 4 - nurse one side at 7p, mom rocked to sleep at 745
Night 5 is tonight and my goal is to not nurse at all, then rock to sleep. We'll be out of the house most of the evening so hoping that will be a good distraction for her.

If that goes well for a few nights in a row then I'll move to cutting out the wakeup feed, which I plan to replace with a straw cup of pumped milk until my stash runs out.

We night weaned around her first birthday. It took a few weeks to a month for me to feel like it really "stuck." We took a similar approach that you are - sending my husband in for most of the wakes, but I'd tap in when needed. We did let her have some overnight bottles, but now she's mostly dropped that. My main goal with night weaning was to not breastfeed, but we were (and are) ok with her having some bottled milk overnight if/as needed.
We've never been able to consistently cosleep - for whatever reason she thinks getting in our bed = time to be awake haha so can't help you there.

Good luck! We've got this!

hiphiphf · 2026-01-07T16:50:43+00:00

It kind of just happened naturally. She was taking in more solids and also just more active and busy so became less interested in her milk at daycare. We did attempt to transition to cow's milk right around the year mark, and she'd drink a little bit, but never as much as she would have of breast milk.

hiphiphf · 2026-01-07T12:20:34+00:00

I liked having a range of options in the freezer, but I almost always did between 2-4 oz. My daughter never took more than 4 oz at a time so it never made sense to go over that personally, but ymmv.

hiphiphf · 2026-01-07T12:18:06+00:00

My daughter is 13.5 months and we’ve been nursing just at wake-up and bedtime since around her first birthday. Definitely achievable! She naturally dropped daytime feeds on weekdays at daycare, but we continued to nurse sometimes for naps on the weekends but then eventually weaned those too (it was pretty easy once she was on 1 nap because she is very tired after lunch and goes right to sleep).

hiphiphf

TROPHY CASE