A mother can start with night weaning when the baby is of 4 or 6 months old. Babies generally have a habit of getting up many times during the night for feeding. This is tiresome for both the kid and the mother due to lack of sleep.
Once the baby grows, he requires adequate amount of sleep to remain healthy. Even the mothers need full nights sleep to remain fit and healthy. A lot of patience is required to get the child out of the habit of night feedings. Night weaning is one of the methods that can help in training the child to sleep.
Few of the most useful tips for night weaning are given below:
- Try to feed the baby with less breast milk during the nights. The amount should not be lessened suddenly. This has to be done gradually. If the kid is used to the bottle then the pour only some amount of milk into it and reduce the quantity day by day. This way he may start feeding less during the night times.
- Try to feed after very long intervals. Slowly increase the time of interval everyday.
- Feed more during the day time so that he does not feel hungry during the nights. Feed more during the evening times and before going to the bed.
- Increase the rate of dilution every day. Slowly add more water to the milk. Continue the process until the whole milk is replaced by the water. The kid may drop the idea of getting up just for the sake of water. This way he can get rid of this habit.
- Try communicating with the kid when he cries for feeding. Soothe him and lull him back to the sleep instead of feeding. This may help in training the baby to sleep.
