Thinking of night weaning, what would you do?

[anomaly13]

I have a 14 month old ds and am 3.5 months pregnant. I also have a 3 yo who weaned himself, by force I guess because I was pregnant with ds2, now 14 months, and my milk just dried up about 5 months into the pregnancy. I really do not want to lose my milk with this pregnancy because I know my baby needs it and last time ds1 didn't want to nurse anymore once my milk came back in after the baby was born. So I am thinking of night weaning, ds only nurses 5-6 times during the day and only for a short time, mostly to fall asleep. But at night he seems to nurse all night long. We co-sleep, or rather share a bed as I don't seem to be getting much sleep. I used to be able to sleep through his nursing but now it is really painful and he always wants to squeeze/pinch the other nipple so there is a constant fight I am just not up for all night long. He eats a lot of food during the day so his night nursing seems to be for comfort mostly. He also just got his top molars and ds1, who night nursed until about 20 months, has horrible decay on his top two molars which the dentist blames on night nursing. I do know if I buy that theroy completely but I would not like that to happen to ds2 so if that means weaning at night so be it. I guess a big reason for wanting to night wean is strictly for myself, getting more sleep before the baby comes in spring and the painfulness, and I am having a had time convincing myself that it is worth it.

Would you do it? If so how? I am thinking of cutting out one nap during the day, ds2 takes 2 right now, or cutting down on the length of the naps, but is that ok to do. I know babies need their sleep but I am thinking he will make up for lost naptime at night. Also would you add another milk to babies diet? right now he just gets breastmilk and I am thinking we need to add another milk for the fat but we dont do cows milk/dairy, ds1 drinks some goat milk and was thinking coconut milk and/or hempmilk for ds2

[paulamc]

I think if I were pregnant, I would consider night weaning. DS is 13 months old now, and I may night wean sometime in the next 6 months or so. If I were pregnant, I'd do it earlier rather than later I think, at least given all I've heard about pain when nursing during pregnancy. I could handle nursing pain during the day, I think, but I hate it when nursing hurts at night.

From everything I've read here and in the family bed forum, I believe night weaning is likely to be more effective than cutting back on the naps, if you're looking for longer stretches of sleep. That said, my DS has transitioned to one nap, and he seems to be sleeping later in the mornings as a result. He still wakes up in the night as frequently as before, however - about once every two hours these days. It seems to depend on teething more than anything.

Good luck!