What are the negatives to nightweaning?

[StoriesInTheSoil]

My son is almost 18 months old and as always, a fabulous nurser. I want him to do 100% child-led weaning and I am willing to allow him to nurse for as long as he wants. The only time I find his nursing actually bothersome is the middle of the night sessions. I have no idea how many times he nurses in the night as I have a feeling I just sleep through a few (family bed) but the one that happens between 2 and 4am is REALLY irritating to me.

If DP removes DS from the bed for a few minutes, he goes back to sleep without nursing and comes back to bed for the night and doesn't nurse again till around 8 but we've only done this a few times when I just couldn't deal and was totally exhausted.

So, my question- are there downsides to nightweaning or partial nightweaning at this age? Is it going to be detrimental to the natural CLW process if we try to cut out that session?

TIA, mamas!

[lifeguard]

My understanding is that for a child that really isn't ready it can affect their days as well as nights making them clingier & upset during the day. We just nightweaned ds (well partially really 'cause after 4:30 he can bf) & it has been nothing but positive for us, but I decided beforehand that if he was negatively affected or really resisting I would stop & try again later.

[zinemama]

Didn't have any negative effects at all. Nightweaned at around 18 months and he nursed till 3.5 years.

[blizzard_babe]

Originally Posted by tinyactsofcharity

If DP removes DS from the bed for a few minutes, he goes back to sleep without nursing and comes back to bed for the night and doesn't nurse again till around 8 but we've only done this a few times when I just couldn't deal and was totally exhausted.

When DS started doing this, we decided it was time to (mostly) nightwean. We got him down to one nursing at about 5am; it was late summer in AK, and it's not HIS fault the sun was coming up way too early. As the hours of darkness increased, his early morning nursing just gradually turned into a first-thing-before-we-get-out-of-bed nursing.

It hasn't been perfect. He's been waking up at 4am-ish lately. He doesn't want mum-mums (though I think he'd take them), just comfort. It's nice though... DH and I can take turns. Whoever gets up with him in the middle of the night gets to stay in bed when he's ready to get up at 6:30am.

[Carlyle]

Originally Posted by tinyactsofcharity

If DP removes DS from the bed for a few minutes, he goes back to sleep without nursing and comes back to bed for the night and doesn't nurse again till around 8 but we've only done this a few times when I just couldn't deal and was totally exhausted.

If it's that "easy" for you (as if getting out of bed in the middle of the night is easy, I know, I know...) I don't see any drawbacks. We nightweaned dd when she was almost 2 because I was pregnant and couldn't handle it--I was becoming a horrible person day and night. For us, it took several (many?) nights with my dh lying with her while she screamed for a long time each time she woke up at night (I still nursed her to sleep). It was awful. She wasn't alone and adores dh, so we were able to do it without feeling like total abusers (plus it really wasn't working for us to keep nursing at night). I don't think we would have done it if I wasn't so at the end of my rope.

But anyway, finally she settled into the routine of nursing when the sun comes up and it has been lovely since. We had settled into it so much by the time I miscarried that we decided to keep the "policy" anyway. Even though it was so hard, I don't remember any extra clinginess during the day (although if there was, it was worth it for us since I had more energy to deal with it--and was happy to give extra nursings during the day). She's still happily nursing now at 3 years + (although she still occasionally asks to nurse at night too, but will settle for a binky in a pinch)

[sarahtdubb]

From your few experiences with it at night, it sounds like your babe is ready to go back to sleep without nursing during the night... and if you give it a try and follow your instincts, you'll know if he isn't ready.

We nightweaned by 2.5 year old a few weeks ago because I'm about to have another baby and wanted him to have a little more flexibility at night. He's done great at it, but our only downside is that he often wakes in the night HUNGRY. He is a real busy body and it's hard to get him to eat in the evenings, and it seems he was really used to getting those calories at night. now he often wakes sometime between 1-3 am and needs to eat a banana before going back to sleep. its kinda weird and a little annoying, but oh well.