How to drop middle of night feeding (BF'ed babies)

My twins are almost 7 mo old and have never STTN. They have had periods where they sleep longer stretches (6 hrs) but currently are only going 3 hr stretches at night. I think they got out of sync after vacationing over the Xmas holidays for 2 wks and has continued because they've had a cold for the past 2 wks. I don't want to CIO completely (I'm fine to continue the dream feed and even the 4-5 am feed) but I'd like to get them to drop the 1 am feeding again. It's occurred to me that I should try to work on the sleep even though they still have colds since I remember DD had a cold pretty much her entire 1st winter.

Any ideas on how to do this? We EBF which I think makes a difference. Obviously, I'd like to get them completely STTN but that seems like a long way away...

It's also occurred to me that maybe our daytime schedule is off and affecting nighttime sleep. So for what it's worth here's our schedule:

Awake 7 am, nurse
Solids 8:30 am
Nurse/Bottle EBM 9:30
Nap 10 am (widely variable lengths)
Solids 12/12:30
Nurse/Bottle 1:30
Nap 2:00 pm (widely variable lengths)
Bottle/Nurse 4:30 pm
Solids 5:30 pm
Bedtime routine -- bath, PJs, and nurse
In bed by 7:30 pm
Up to nurse at 10:30 pm, 1-2 am, 4-5 am

Oh that seems so much worse now that I typed it out

 

QUOTE(lucky123 @ Jan 21 2009, 09:38 PM) [snapback]1156764[/snapback]
My twins are almost 7 mo old and have never STTN. They have had periods where they sleep longer stretches (6 hrs) but currently are only going 3 hr stretches at night. I think they got out of sync after vacationing over the Xmas holidays for 2 wks and has continued because they've had a cold for the past 2 wks. I don't want to CIO completely (I'm fine to continue the dream feed and even the 4-5 am feed) but I'd like to get them to drop the 1 am feeding again. It's occurred to me that I should try to work on the sleep even though they still have colds since I remember DD had a cold pretty much her entire 1st winter.

Any ideas on how to do this? We EBF which I think makes a difference. Obviously, I'd like to get them completely STTN but that seems like a long way away...

It's also occurred to me that maybe our daytime schedule is off and affecting nighttime sleep. So for what it's worth here's our schedule:

Awake 7 am, nurse
Solids 8:30 am
Nurse/Bottle EBM 9:30
Nap 10 am (widely variable lengths)
Solids 12/12:30
Nurse/Bottle 1:30
Nap 2:00 pm (widely variable lengths)
Bottle/Nurse 4:30 pm
Solids 5:30 pm
Bedtime routine -- bath, PJs, and nurse
In bed by 7:30 pm
Up to nurse at 10:30 pm, 1-2 am, 4-5 am

Oh that seems so much worse now that I typed it out

OMG, did you assume my identity and write this post? :lol: :lol:

This is my life and my boys, although we usually have 2 night wakings (and 3 on a bad night). I swear my situation is almost exactly the same.

 

LOL!! My DH is laughing hysterically at this post..he swears I wrote it.

He says we must be doing the same thing to create this habit.

 

we're going to be starting this next week & i can let you know how it goes if you'd like - Riley currently averages about 6 - 8 minutes of serious nursing plus another 5 minutes of hanging out on the boob for her middle of the night feeding. we're going to shorten that by 2 min a night until she's down to 4 min, at which point we'll drop the feeding. then if she continues to wake up at that point we'll pat & shush in intervals till she sleeps through.

 

QUOTE(miss_bossy18 @ Jan 21 2009, 10:02 PM) [snapback]1156806[/snapback]
we're going to be starting this next week & i can let you know how it goes if you'd like - Riley currently averages about 6 - 8 minutes of serious nursing plus another 5 minutes of hanging out on the boob for her middle of the night feeding. we're going to shorten that by 2 min a night until she's down to 4 min, at which point we'll drop the feeding. then if she continues to wake up at that point we'll pat & shush in intervals till she sleeps through.

I tell you I've tried the console thing, and in my guys case it hypes them up even more.

I need to seriously consider the cutting it down slowly technique, but then again, I'm really up for hard core CIO at this point. I already them cry at 9 tonight.

 

Do you use a paci? That's my only recommendation and I know some are against them so thats' fine too!

That's how I got my other kids to cut down on night feedings, they were getting plenty during the day but just wanted to "suck" at night. I stuck the paci in a few times when they'd wake for their night feeding and they'd settle right back down. By 6 wks for my ds and 8 wks for my dd they were sleeping a 5-6 hour stretch at night, and by 3 months they were down for 8-10 hours depending on growth spurts, and teething issues..etc.

Granted my dd was WAY bigger than the average twin, she was 9 lbs 12 oz but that also meant she needed more food to stay filled up. But my ds was born at 36 wks and was 5 lbs 13 oz and was still STTN fairly early

 

One takes a pacifier but not consistently and in the middle of the night in lieu of a feeding. The other spits it out like it's dipped in poison.

The only suggestion I've gotten was to have DH give a bottle of either cold BM or water.