weaing while co-sleeping

Re: weaing while co-sleeping

• vvvvvfee member

  December 2013

  everyone seems to swear by dr. jay gordon's night weaning method.
  
  can you have your partner be the one to comfort her when she wakes? this is what i do with DH when DS (16 months) wakes up- DH pats him and tries to settle him, and if he gets fussier and won't go back to sleep after a couple of minutes, i nurse him.
  
  i would like to really work on night weaning, and i will use the dr. gordon method, but DS has been teething and sick for the last 2 months, so i am trying to wait until he is well again before i really focus on it.
  

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• KateLouise member

  December 2013 edited December 2013

  I've done the Jay Gordon method really successfully with my eldest.

  
  

  With my youngest, she was waking through the night, and it was obvious that she was just nuzzling to get back to sleep, and not really drinking. She was just swapping back and forth between breasts and grabbing and pulling at me. It was awful, and I felt comfortable to go cold turkey with her.

  
  

  She was 19 or 20months old, I think.

  
  

  When she woke, I told her it wasn't time for milk, it was time for sleep. I'd say to her, "if you're thirsty you can have a drink of water (I always had a sippy cup by the bed), or Mummy's right here if you want a cuddle."

  
  

  The first night she cried when I said there was no milk, cried even louder when I offered water, and then when I offered cuddles she flung her arms around my neck, nuzzled into my face and went to sleep. It lasted maybe three minutes and she woke maybe 4 times.

  
  

  The second night was similar, but she didn't wake as often.

  
  

  The third night she just sat up, but didn't get upset, and I snuggled her back to sleep.

  
  

  Then I think we had around 4 or 5 days of her waking once a night, sitting up and looking around, and me snuggling her back into me. She may have woken more often but she only disrupted my sleep once.

  
  

  Then we were done and she was STTN.

  
  

  For me, because I was comfortable that she wasn't really drinking any milk, but just trying to nuzzle and be comforted, I found it easiest to focus on letting her know that I was close, but that I didn't need to be "in her mouth" close. Rather than reducing the amount of milk she was drinking being an issue.

  Also I was comfortable that she wasn't teething or sick (she had been teething. I think some of that discomfort and comfort nursing had built a bit of a habit for her because it takes her a month to cut a new tooth and she'd done three in a row so we'd had 3 months of understandable comfort nursing in the night)

  
  Elizabeth 5yrs old Jane 3yrs old

  
  

  
  
  

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