Need advice on nightweaning 14mo before new baby comes in May!

[mama_mimi]

I'm sure it can be done, and my midwife gives good support to how, but with my DS waking every 2 hours to nurse, I can't imagine getting any sleep when new baby comes. I love nursing on demand even at night and love co-sleeping.

My question is what has worked, what hasn't worked for those of you in the same situation? What resources are out there for nightweaning strategies that don't include CIO. If I don't nightwean, how do I cosleep with two babies?

DS wakes to nurse and often will fall back asleep if I cover the nummies. Sometimes he will cry for them a few seconds and try to go back to sleep (which doesn't usually last long), and sometimes he will cry for them longer than a few seconds which is usually when I cave and he nurses a moment and turns away to go to sleep. The frequency of waking to nurse increases as the morning approaches. We usually wake at 7:30 if I let him nurse, and 6-6:30 if I don't. I just started this, although I've tried it a few nights here and there since becoming pregnant again. I'm giving it a week. Is that long enough?

Any advice is welcomed. I haven't truly looked into books on the topic yet. Would like to know what is recommended by similar moms (like you ).

[lonegirl]

A Nursing Mother's Guide to Weaning http://www.amazon.ca/Nursing-Mothers.../dp/1558320652 has some good tips. I did not have to nightwean as he self weaned at 2.5y but I had the book on hand as I thought he would never wean

[lifeguard]

I used the Dr. Jay Gordon method over Christmas with ds (he was 14 months at that point). It worked great for us & he was waking every 2-3 hours up until then. The biggest thing that really helped us was having a water bottle available for him - sometimes he is truly thirsty in the middle of the night.

[VeganCupcake]

I am not in your situation exactly, but we are working on nightweaning right now with my almost-18-month-old DD. We are going for a 5 hour stretch between 11 p.m. and 4 a.m. It has not been easy, and we have been working on it for two and a half weeks, but things are getting better.

My DD sometimes goes back to sleep without needing to nurse and without crying just by snuggling with me. Sometimes she cries for a few minutes when she wakes, but I am right there to snuggle, comfort, and offer a sippy of water (which she usually refuses).

It is not CIO if a loving caregiver is there to comfort. I think it may be easier sometimes if the non-lactating parent co-sleeps with the little one during nightweaning. We haven't tried that, though.

They say that if the toddler is ready to nightwean, it will go fairly quickly and easily, and if s/he isn't, then you should back off and try in a month or so. If that's an option for you, you might consider it. But I totally know the feeling of not being able to wait.