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Attachment Parenting
Weaning and sleep
I've decided to wean DD (she nurses a lot and it's getting to be too much for me). Since we've always nursed on demand I've been cutting out nursing sessions by time (as in I don't nurse from 3PM to 6PM). I have to refuse to nurse during this time as she usually asks. My problem is that she has been sleeping worse and is trying to nurse all night. I offer her WCM when she isn't nursing and have added a snack time around 4PM.
I get the feeling that she's nursing more for comfort than nourishment. It's very confusing about what to do since she has always had sleep issues. We bedshare half the night. I was planning on night-weaning last since she was doing pretty well: only 1 or 2 night wakings to nurse, but now I'm not sure this is a good plan. I'm feeling pretty discouraged with the weaning. I really want to be done (or significantly decreased), but I know she's not completely ready.
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Re: Weaning and sleep
Bar tab = $156,000, Bus to Foxwoods = $0, Puking in the Stanley Cup = Priceless
Sorry for the confusion, after re-reading it, it is a bit rambling.
My ideal nursing relationship would be only nursing a few times a day, but right now she is on and off A LOT. It's difficult to even determine what counts as one nursing session, which is why I've been weaning by time rather than nursing session. There are a few sessions which are more defined (like right away in the morning), but most aren't. I guess what I'm really having trouble with is nursing completely on demand to nursing more on a schedule and I'm not sure if I have to change this to wean. I sometimes think I wouldn't mind nursing so much if it was more schedule-based, but mostly I'm just ready to be done.
I wasn't planning on night-weaning right away since she wasn't nursing much at night, but once I started cutting out feedings she wanted to nurse more at night (which I haven't stopped her from doing). So not I'm not sure if I should work on that before cutting out more daytime feedings (I've been increasing the time that I don't nurse by an hour each week) I'm obviously not very far into it since I'm only up to 3 hours. I'm not sure this was a great strategy, but since her feedings aren't defined, I wasn't sure how to cut out "1" feeding.
I'm sure this is still confusing, as I'm rather confused by it myself and I'm a little sleep-deprived :S
Honestly I think you need to decide exactly what you want, because even after your second post, you sound wishy washy. Think about what your perfect nursing relationship looks like, and work on making that happen. It makes sense that since you nurse overnight, that your DD will want to nurse more, since you are restricting her during the day.
I will tell you from experience, that once I stopped bedsharing (I do bring DD to bed after 6am), night weaning was a breeze. She also started eating more solids, since she wasn't nursing all night long.
How old is your DD? Is she eating 3 good meals of solids a day? When you refuse to nurse, do you give her a snack & sippy to "replace" the nursing and distract her?
Thanks for your replies, it really helped my think things through. My hesitancy to wean has been mostly for her sake; she really enjoys nursing, but I don't most of the time.
DD is 13 months and eats well (3 meals 1 snack). I always offer her WCM when I'm not nursing.
I guess I got discouraged because DD rarely cries or fusses and knowing that I'm causing her to do so (even if it's for the best long-term) was distressing to me.
I'll continue to decrease my feedings and see where it goes from there.