Putting the boobs on lockdown

lwsnake · March 2012

Hi all,

I bed share with dd and I am trying to get her to night ween with the eventual goal of transitioning her to her own bed at around a year. Problem is I barely wake up when she eats in the middle of the night and sleepy me has zero willpower to convince her to go back to sleep without nursing.

So I was wondering what others have done to limit access while bed sharing? Tshirts, tank top, etc are all too easy for me to manage without fully waking. I would still nurse her if she really needs it but I'd like to be a little more cognizant of when I'm doing it KWIM?

Thanks!

sucredee · March 2012

I can't help you on the bed sharing but I was just wondering why you want to night wean and move her to her own bed? My DD has always been in her own crib since she was born but at 21 months still isn't completely night weaned and I am OK with that so I am not pushing it. She went down to about 1 waking per night around 12 months and around 13 months she started waking 2-3 times a night and needed to be nursed back down. After a bunch of travel finally at 17 months I worked on getting her down to 1 night nursing session around 4am (she goes to bed at 7) and for the most part she sticks with that with the occasional night where she wakes up 2-3 times. She is on the 5th percentile for weight (of course this is not the WHO growth chart for BF babies) and 50th for height so I don't feel like I am overfeeding her. Plus we both enjoy it.

I am not saying you shouldn't night wean but if you want to do it just because everyone else feels you should then I wouldn't. If you are not bothered by it then who cares. I would probably work on getting her into her own bed before I would night wean as it would seem that might be easier then trying to do it when she is right next to you. Then again, I never bed shared so I certainly have no experience with this. BF is also a nice tool to get them though the night when they are teething and looking for comfort. I am not sure when I will night wean completely. At this point she is still nursing about 5 x a day and I am letting her lead the way. I might change my mind on that once we get closer to 3 and she does not appear to be anywhere near weaning....Good luck with whatever you decide Smile

lwsnake · March 2012

Maybe night weening isn't the right term? I'd still feed her if she is hungry and persistant but I'd like to stop her from comfort sucking for 2 or 3 minutes every couple hours to fall back to sleep. What would that be called?

I *think* she's waking up probably 4-5 times a night but I don't actually know because I really don't wake up. I think it would be easier to cut nursing sessions before cutting snuggling but if anyone has a different suggestion I'm open. I want to get her in her crib before we start to try for #2 in 6 months or so.

Thanks for the quick reply

jcsumm0 · March 2012

What about a sleep bra and a long t-shirt? I think having to pull up a tshirt and unhook a bra would wake me up.

katlizabeth · March 2012

I'm lurking, but do you use a pacifier? It sounds like comfort sucking which, if you're interested, you might be able to transfer to a pacifier.

AprilDrew04 · March 2012

Are you ready to transition her to her crib now? Or maybe put her in a side crib or other next to the bed. I think space will help the most. I used a time limit of no more than 15 minutes of crying/fussing before giving in to night feedings...this was easier with DD in another room. A plus is it will teach her to self-sooth, an important skill for her to learn.

Just what worked for me. Also DD never took a paci - which is probably why she tended to use me as one.

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Putting the boobs on lockdown

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