Attachment Parenting
KCKappa
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If you don't nurse to sleep...
KCKappa
member
When is your last nursing of the day? (I realize this will vary quite a bit depending on LO's age.) I'm thinking about trying to stop nursing our 14 mo DD to sleep for naps and bedtime (since everything about her sleep situation seems to be in flux right now!), but I'm not sure when to move the last nursing to. Right now we do dinner around 6, play for a bit, bath, story, then nurse to sleep around 7:30ish while rocking or while lying together in her floor bed.
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Re: If you don't nurse to sleep...
I'm on my own in the evenings with two little ones so that partially dictates our routine. My daughter has very little interest in nursing to sleep. Every once in a while she nurses to sleep if she's over tired but normally she prefers to be rocked.
I set my son up with a cartoon on my iPhone and nurse the baby around 7. Then I change her and get her in pajamas. Once she's ready for bed I'll stand and rock with her until my son's show is over. Sometimes she falls asleep then, but otherwise it just gets her sleepy. I put her down in the crib and start getting the boy ready for bed. It takes maybe 5-10 to get his teeth brushed, diaper changed and pajamas on. After that we sit on the floor of their room and read books. If the baby is fussy I will bring her on the floor with us and offer the boob again, just in case, but she usually isn't interested. If we get home late for some reason I skip the earlier nursing session, get them both ready for bed and nurse her at this time only, but her attention span for nursing when there are books is limited. If she's still awake when we're done reading books I turn off the lights and rock her until she's asleep. She's usually asleep by 8:30, 9 at the latest.
To sum up, the last nursing session is frequently around 7, and falling asleep sometimes as late as 9. She doesn't tend to have a solid meal in the evening yet and I think it'll be a while before we start that, we tend to snack in the afternoon instead.
14mo is a totally normal time for suck flux!!
I think around 18mo, DD decided not to nurse to sleep. We get into bed, she nurses, I say the milk is going to sleep after she's nursed for 20 minutes or so (both sides), and I lay with her, no. Using, until she falls asleep.
I have 4 children and I had them naturaly, with no medications, they all co-sleep and all breastfeed. So I think I am a very natural attachment parenting person. My 1 1/2 yr old son still wakes up 2-3 times a night and I co-sleep most of the time. I think he just needs comfort and closness as I STILL breastfeed him.
What you need to ask is WHY do you want to wean? Breastmilk is still a very important food no matter if he already started solids. You should breastfeed right before giving the solids as breastfmilk is still the MAIN source of food until age 1 yrs old. You should breast feed 1 to 3 times at night, babies need more then 3 meals a day. If you ask a docter or just read parents magazines they all say breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, snack so that is about 6 meals a day.
Your baby is so young to he may just want to cuddle with you and be comfortded. Babies don't stay young or little forever. He will outgrow it, but try to cuddle/hold/breastfeed him while you can. I know its tough, but you will get used to it, I have and I breastfeed all 4 of my kidsI've never really nursed to sleep. I usually try to lay LO down drowsy. I tend to feel that the very basics should be allowed to be independent early (sleep, food, potty). I'm currently giving leaving nursing out of the bedtime routine a shot although it may not be something I can handle, I've only tried it for a few nights and I'm missing it, but LO hasn't seemed to mind.
Sorry, anyway, we've been feeding a solid meal between 5 and 6, nursing around 6:30 to 7:00 and then starting the bath/snuggle/read routine at about 7:15 or so and laying her down at about 7:45.
DS1 stopped nursing to sleep around 10 months of age. He'd nurse before eating dinner (solids, obviously) and then take a bath and we'd cuddle/rock (I would always offer the breast, but he never took it) and then he'd go to bed around 7:30.