Nightweaning my 23-month old DD was so easy!

[wagamama]

DD has been nursing 5-6 times a night since she was born. A few times I halfheartedly tried to nightwean her, but she always cried and I always gave in. But this month, her last incisor came through, so I decided to give nightweaning another try.

Before going to sleep, I simply told her that *bibi* (her word for my breasts) were going to sleep, and that they would not wake up until the morning, so she would not be able to nurse until the morning. She seemed to understand. I nursed her to sleep as usual. She woke several times during the night, and I whispered to that that *bibi* were sleeping. To my great surprise, she didn't cry at all -- I cuddled her a bit and she went back to sleep. When the morning came, she got up, didn't ask to nurse, and had much more breakfast than usual! Finally, around 11 am, she finally asked to nurse.

We've been doing this for a week now, and she's waking less and less. Maybe i will soon actually get to sleep through the night -- for the first time in four years! It's been a long and crazy journey!

[Katielady]

OOh, this is very encouraging to hear! My 1yo still wakes quite a lot at night, and eventually I may decide to try to nightwean. It's great to hear such a positive, loving story.

[3girls1boy]

I did something similar with my kids--I had a nightlight set on a timer that went on around 5:30 a.m. and I told my kids that "kay-kay" was sleeping until the light went on.

[ishyfishie]

Wonderful! We had the same experience with my dd--she was nursing literally every 1-2 hours all night every night from 4 months old to 23 months and I expected it would be really rough on us to nightwean based on our previous half-hearted attempts. It was really necessary by that point, though, because I was pregnant and really feeling the effects of so little sleep. When we finally said, "Okay, tonight's the night," I just told her the nursies were going to sleep too and wouldn't be up until morning. NO TEARS! Our "morning" started out at 4 am and gradually increased to 7 am before she stopped nursing in the mornings, but man...I was in shock. It felt SO GOOD to know that she was really ready for it to happen.

[wagamama]

Yes, and i just wanted to add that I read about the "technique" here in this forum, so thank you MDC!

[LeahG]

I am so thrilled for you. We are seriously considering night weaning. I am just too tired to do anything about it. It is good to know that you can still nurse to sleep, I just don't think DD is ready to soothe herself to sleep yet.

Thank you for giving us all hope

[Ygle]

Oh, gosh, I am super jealous. I've been trying to night wean my 29mo and it has not gone well at all. He screams and screams and screams and punches me and pulls my hair. It's been a truly horrid and traumatizing experience for us both. I just don't know what to do, but I'm falling apart a bit honestly. I'm just so worn out all the time from the repeated wakings and then my energy is so drained from all the nursing I'm living in a miserable haze. One night in the last few years he didn't wake to nurse and that day I had so much energy and the kids and I all had so much fun and I got so much done... it breaks my heart to realize how much better life could be. I tried telling him they were going to sleep but then when he wakes up and I tell him that he just screams and screams and flails about kicking me and swinging his arms at me and clawing me and pulling my hair as I mentioned and then I feel stuck because I already told him and I worry if I gave in it would encourage that behavior and I can't even try to rock him or walk him around because he is flailing about so much and he just tries to get in position at get at my breasts so that I can't even hold him (not that he wants to be held) and he screams so much he starts to hyperventilate. I just don't understand why this is so much easier for everyone else or why he gets so violent and so hysterical about it. I would not even bother trying to night wean because of this, but I'm barely functioning anymore and it's really effecting the rest of the family.

[wagamama]

Originally Posted by Ygle

Oh, gosh, I am super jealous. I've been trying to night wean my 29mo and it has not gone well at all. He screams and screams and screams and punches me and pulls my hair. It's been a truly horrid and traumatizing experience for us both. I just don't know what to do, but I'm falling apart a bit honestly. I'm just so worn out all the time from the repeated wakings and then my energy is so drained from all the nursing I'm living in a miserable haze. One night in the last few years he didn't wake to nurse and that day I had so much energy and the kids and I all had so much fun and I got so much done... it breaks my heart to realize how much better life could be. I tried telling him they were going to sleep but then when he wakes up and I tell him that he just screams and screams and flails about kicking me and swinging his arms at me and clawing me and pulling my hair as I mentioned and then I feel stuck because I already told him and I worry if I gave in it would encourage that behavior and I can't even try to rock him or walk him around because he is flailing about so much and he just tries to get in position at get at my breasts so that I can't even hold him (not that he wants to be held) and he screams so much he starts to hyperventilate. I just don't understand why this is so much easier for everyone else or why he gets so violent and so hysterical about it. I would not even bother trying to night wean because of this, but I'm barely functioning anymore and it's really effecting the rest of the family.

OMG, I'm so sorry! I was expecting that kind of reaction from my DD. I guess I was really lucky. Having said that, I can totally relate to you as I have been night nursing for the past 4.5 years -- basically haven't had a decent sleep since DS was born. I have been so sleep deprived and yes, it has affected my relationship with my kids and husband, as well as harming my health. I do feel some regret -- wish that I had found a way to sort out the sleep issues much earlier. Sigh. We live and learn!