Night weaning

tlynnus

I know every baby is different but...

For those of you who BF past one year and did not actively wean night nursing, when did your LO stop nursing at night?

I really looking forward to this because DS still nurses 2x per night (4x if you include bedtime and waking up for the day) but I don't want to actively stop him because I'm concerned about him not getting enough nutrients during the day and I'm too lazy to deal with it! LOL

BabyMama1979

Still waiting...DD(14 months) is still nursing 2-4 times a night. What worked for us when we tried to cut down nursing when she was about 9 months, was DH getting up with her. It wasn't really fair since he had to work the next day, but after a week we cut out half her night feedings. If I get up with her she wants to nurse, but if he got up he could rock her to sleep. Speaking of "too lazy to deal with it"...at 10 months she was in our bed all night. She can nurse when she wants and I barely awake.

tlynnus

Yeah, we bedshare too. So, it is totally easy to just roll over and go back to sleep. It is way more work to try to get him back to sleep in some other way. I guess I'm looking for reassurance that he really will stop on his own if I don't push the issue.

Lotte134

Still waiting here as well.  DS generally wakes twice each night to nurse.  However he does all right if I'm not around so I think he would be fine if we night weaned.  I just need to suck it up and do it. 

Angela814

I night weaned when she was 26 months old. Once we made it to my goal of 2 years, I figured I didn't have to worry about her weaning early if I night weaned. We talked about it, and I told her the milk needed to go to sleep at night too. I nursed her before bed and then around 6am. She had been nursing 1-2x a night up to that point. She still came into our bed when she first woke up. I just didn't nurse her until morning. It still took months before she stopped asking to nurse in the middle of the night.

tlynnus

Angela814:

I night weaned when she was 26 months old. Once we made it to my goal of 2 years, I figured I didn't have to worry about her weaning early if I night weaned. We talked about it, and I told her the milk needed to go to sleep at night too. I nursed her before bed and then around 6am. She had been nursing 1-2x a night up to that point. She still came into our bed when she first woke up. I just didn't nurse her until morning. It still took months before she stopped asking to nurse in the middle of the night.

Did she fight it? Or was it more like she logically understood, "Oh, okay. The milk is going to sleep. Got it."

If she understood, do you think that she would have understood earlier? We are planning to TTC#2 when DS is about 18 months. I really would like to wean around that time so that I can have a break between the two kids.

Angela814

tlynnus:

Angela814:

I night weaned when she was 26 months old. Once we made it to my goal of 2 years, I figured I didn't have to worry about her weaning early if I night weaned. We talked about it, and I told her the milk needed to go to sleep at night too. I nursed her before bed and then around 6am. She had been nursing 1-2x a night up to that point. She still came into our bed when she first woke up. I just didn't nurse her until morning. It still took months before she stopped asking to nurse in the middle of the night.

Did she fight it? Or was it more like she logically understood, "Oh, okay. The milk is going to sleep. Got it."

If she understood, do you think that she would have understood earlier? We are planning to TTC#2 when DS is about 18 months. I really would like to wean around that time so that I can have a break between the two kids.

She fought it. I think she understood, but that didn't mean she liked it or was going to stop demanding. I think it was close to 6 months before she stopped asking, and I never once gave in. She never dropped a feeding on her own during the day either. I initiated each one. She probably would have nursed until 5 years or later if I hadn't started weaning. As it was, her last time nursing was at 3 yrs 2 mos.