Night weaning advice

terri_doula2010 · February 2012

Does anyone have any advice/links/books for night gently night weaning besides Dr. Gordon's stuff?

We don't cosleep all night, but usually when DS wakes up he comes to bed with us to nurse for a while. When I wake back up or once he is asleep again, we transfer him back to his bed.

The problem is that I'm pregnant and my nipples are KILLING ME and I can't even tell if he is chewing more due to his 2nd year molars coming in or if I'm just super sensitive. My milk is going away anyway and due to the pain I don't think I can handle dry nursing him throughout pregnancy if that is what he wants (with his personality...that is kinda what I'm expecting). During the day it is far easier to limit the time he nurses, redirect some of the times he asks, etc, but at night it is like he doesn't have any logic at all..it is often either panic cry or nurse. When we try to keep nursing from him it usually means we are all awake for 1.5 hrs or so. We've done this for weeks at a time with no significant improvements.

jshf · February 2012

We weaned DS1 at 18 months. What we told him was that my boobs were broken. He cried a little the first few nights, but we slept together and just cuddled. He stopped asking after the 3rd night. Unfortunately he thought they were broken all the time and didn't want to nurse during the day either. I figured it was long enough, so didn't push the issue. GL!

lkstor · February 2012

We just told DS1 that milk went night night. He could have milk when the sun came up. He fussed a little for the first night or two but it wasn't nearly as bad as I expected. GL!

mmmhilary · February 2012

At one year we night weaned due to my medical issues. Besically, DH took over night wakings and things soon improved, but DS would still wake a couple of times. DH just got put on graveyard (DS is 15 months) and I physically could not do the walking that DH did, so the first night when he woke up, I went in, gave him a hug, told him that I was here and he didn't have to be scared, and then sat on a chair in his room until he went to sleep. The nights got better and better and now he STTN most of the time, and if he does wake, he usually goes right back down. GL!

asliceofawesome · February 2012

I was so in the same boat not too long ago.

What worked for us was to slowly increase the amount of time between his last nursing session of the night. We started out nursing right before bedtime at 7:30 and then wouldn't let him nurse again until 8:30 the first night. That was pretty easily achieved. We then nudged it by small increments whenever he was successful for three nights (not getting upset). If he made it longer than the goal one night, we would try to get him to that time instead and see if he was okay. If he woke before the goal, we'd offer cold water (kept by the bed) and snuggles.

We had tried a similar method earlier and we had a few regressions so we gave up for a little while but something magical happened at 23 months that it worked really well. He did go through a crazy nursing every hour all night long spurt the week before that.

Hopefully something works for you, mama! I feel your pain...very much so!

terri_doula2010 · February 2012

Thanks, ladies. I'm hoping it is an age thing and eventually it will just click for him. I'm telling him throughout the day that he won't get to nurse at night, but he still wakes up and flat-out panics unless he gets breast. We've tried offering water and soymilk, but in the end it is the comfort he wants. A few months back we kept it up for weeks and it never got better. It is just so exhausting! Especially since now if I get up and go to him (DH does and brings him to me) I get nauseated and have to at least eat, which makes it even harder to get back to sleep.

He does generally only wake up once or twice a night at least. To make matters worse, the night before last he had a bad fall. We had to get xrays taken of his shin yesterday and from the way the doctor was acting I think he was expecting a fracture. We were lucky and it is just badly bruised, but he is limping all day and in lots of pain at night, so even with pain meds it is so much harder even to get him back to his bed after a night feeding, and he is that much more panicked when he is awake and not attached to me.

terri_doula2010 · February 2012

The weirdest thing? A few weeks ago he stopped nursing before sleep. During the day if we're home he nurses first thing in the morning, before and/or after his nap, and then maybe right before dinner. If we are out and about it is usually just morning and evening. He just has no interest in nursing as part of his bedtime routine anymore. I'm sure it has to do with my tanked supply from pregnancy, but I sure do wish it would translate into less night feedings!

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