Need advice on weaning & sleep training

BridetobeEm

I feel so confused about weaning.  For the past 2  weeks I've been nursing my son only 2-3 times during the day; usually around noon and then 7pm, with an occasional morning feeding time as well.  At work, I've been pumping twice a day, but am wondering if I should cut it to once a day. 

To add to my confusion, my son still gets up and nurses 2-3 times in the night.  I know I should probably cut those nighttime feedings first, so do I start sleep training now in order to eliminate them?  And if so, do I cut all nighttime feedings right away?  I tried following the HSHHC book before and after 12 days I still had a crying baby, so I stopped.  But it's now been over a year of sleepless nights and I am seriously going to jump out of a window if I don't get 7 hours straight of sleep.  Anyone have any suggestions on weaning, sleep training or both?  Please!?!

Artslvr

I can't imagine doing that for over a year, you are a superhero!  Sakes alive!

I'd definitely start by cutting out the night feedings - he certainly is old enough to sleep through the night without food.  I suspect he gets up now because of habit and just for comfort. 

2vthokies

I have no advice, but I want to say that I could have written this post.  The things that stinks for us is that my DD slept through the night, 6 pm to 6 am with only one night feeding at 9 pm, starting at 3 months and did it basically until she was 10 months old.  I had to get up at 3 am to pump because I was so full I couldn't sleep, so I never got a full nights sleep.  Then it all fell apart and at 13 months old I have no clue how to get my baby to sleep.  I have cut my pump sessions some and just started introducing hemp milk (she is MSPI) this week so I can start weaning from the pump altogether.  Soon we'll be down to just nursing when we're together and I'm hoping that will help the situation.  I am interested in hearing what others have to say.

Lamber

Hi - longtime lurker here who should just introduce herself  - Hi my name is Katie!

 Anyway, I just went through this and have some thoughts. My DS is in daycare and for a long time, I breastfed in the morning, at bedtime, and once overnight and pumped twice a day. Around 11 months, I called my pediatrician and asked if I could start switching my DS to whole milk slowly. She said go for it.  So the first week, I replaced one of his daytime bottles (he only got two at that point) with whole milk in a sippy cup (he may have had half bm/half whole milk for a few days?). He took to it like a champ.  I also got rid of one pumping session that week. Then the second week, he had two sippy cups of whole milk and I dropped both pumping sessions but still fed the morning and night (and middle of the night unfortunately).

Then the next week, the little bugger decided he wasn't going to nap at daycare AT ALL!  This meant he was exhausted when he got home so we did a quick dinner and I was able to put him to bed without nursing him (this wasn't my plan but it worked out this way). Then the following week, I got rid of the morning feed fairly quickly because he didn't miss it and was excited about a big breakfast.

 All that is to say...once I stopped breastfeeding him, he FINALLY slept through the night (7:00 p.m. - 6:30 a.m.) and the middle of the night feeding went away on it's own. We had a week or two of where he'd sometimes fuss in the middle of the night and we'd either let him cry for a few minutes (and he'd fall back asleep) or my husband would go in to comfort him.  Those nights were tough but it didn't take him too long when I look back on it. 

So my advice is to wait on the sleep training and start the daytime weaning first.  This may affect his sleeping and you may not have to do as much training?  Plus, once you start having success with dropping the daytime feedings, you may feel better about dropping the night ones.

And FWIW, I was totally confused about weaning before I started. But I set a goal for myself to be completely weaned (DS was spending a week at Grandma's at the end of the month) and then worked backwords to set up the schedule.   

Good luck and hang in there!

barkers4jmm

Emily,

I don't know what to do either.  I tried all the sleep training books several months ago, but I quit after a month because I couldn't take all the crying.  Sometimes she doesn't want a bottle, she just wants to comfort nurse.  I've stopped pumping.  I just nurse her when I'm home.  So no help, just empathy.

 

RiverPlate

Sophie used to wake in the middle of the night, and I'd bring her into our bed to feed her, and we'd fall asleep and I wouldn't put her back in her crib.  When I started feeding in a chair instead of the bed, and putting her back in the crib when she fell asleep (instantly), I guess she figured the gig was up and started sleeping through the night again.  She's always been a decent night-time sleeper, though.  It's naptime that makes me want to cry.

barkers4jmm

RiverPlate:

Sophie used to wake in the middle of the night, and I'd bring her into our bed to feed her, and we'd fall asleep and I wouldn't put her back in her crib. 

I started doing this about 2 months ago because Ferber, Weisbluth etc failed and after 10 months of staying up half the night I was just too exhausted.  It has been going well, until this morning. 

I woke up and SHE WAS GONE!  Hysterically I scrambled for my glasses.  She was on the floor at the foot of the bed with the dogs playing.  So she fell off the bed and was unsupervised for I don't know how long so she could have gotten into anything.  I'm so upset.