Middle of the night weaning.

Jbosarge85

DD just turned 1, and she is still waking up every 2-3 hours to nurse. I'm so exhausted. How do I get her to sleep longer without waking up so often to nurse?

ncbelle

You might look at the Jay Gordon night weaning method (google it for a summary).  The No Cry Sleep Solution has some good suggestions as well.

Emerald27

Is she sleeping with you or in her crib?

My suggestion would be to have Daddy take one of the night wakings. He can try to console and get her back to sleep (rocking, carrying her around, rubbing her back - you know, whatever works), and only if she is truly inconsolable do you go to her and nurse to sleep. After a few days, she'll probably become used to Daddy helping her get back to sleep, and since the boob isn't readily available at that waking, she may begin to sleep longer stretches.

Jbosarge85

Emerald27 said:

Is she sleeping with you or in her crib? My suggestion would be to have Daddy take one of the night wakings. He can try to console and get her back to sleep (rocking, carrying her around, rubbing her back - you know, whatever works), and only if she is truly inconsolable do you go to her and nurse to sleep. After a few days, she'll probably become used to Daddy helping her get back to sleep, and since the boob isn't readily available at that waking, she may begin to sleep longer stretches.

She is still sleeping in the bed with us. The only problem with Dh taking a waking is he works 3 nights a week so it's just me. Last night every time she started waking up I shhhhed  and patted her back, that seemed to help she only woke up twice. Would it help just to rock and walk with her when she wakes up instead of just giving her the boob right away? 

Emerald27

Well, if it's you trying to settle her, and not DH, I'd hesitate to jostle her too much because then she might wake up enough to strongly insist on the boob. If DH is doing the settling, there's no boob right there! Kids expect different methods of soothing from different people, and mom has built-in soothers.

Since you're bedsharing, I think the approach you're taking is perfect. Make offering the breast a last resort, and try rubbing her back and shushing her or humming (whatever works for you two!) first, and if she goes back to sleep, yay! If not, nurse her back to sleep and try again the next waking.

It will take some time, but it will pay off. That is a very gentle approach to helping her fall back asleep without nursing, and it doesn't withhold nursing if she truly needs it. Good luck!