Night Weaning does or does not equal more sleep????

[JanineRivera]

Can anyone speak to me about the ups and downs of night weaning? We night weaned our 19 month old dd about 2 weeks ago and overall it went pretty well at first (to my great surprise).

The first few days she still woke quite often and slowly woke less until she slept 8 hours straight for 4 nights in a row, yahoo!!! Except last night was a total nightmare; she woke up 2.5 hours after going down and was up every hour or two throughout the night, crying for milk!!! Needless to say, I got very little sleep and ended up with a headache and not feeling well, ugh!

What happened? Is this to be expected? Will there ever be a day that I can relax and KNOW that I will get some uninterrupted sleep???

Now, granted I know that it is possible that this is due to teething since she is getting her two top eye-teeth but I just can't explain the "sudden" shift?? Was the 8 hours of sleep a fluke or is this constant waking again a small bump in the road. I think I need some perspective here.

Please let me know this is normal and that it will get better again and one day stay better???

Thanks Mamas,
Janine

[Altair]

For us nightweaning alone didn't mean more sleep, I had to teach him how to put himself back to sleep (w/o CIO) in his crib (we had bedshared all night before that). I did a very slow process of laying him down in his crib (attached to our bed) more and more awake, rubbing his back, putting him back down with a kiss every time he stood up... this took a few hours the first few times. I would just read a book quietly next to his crib in my bed.

[laohaire]

Nightweaning meant more sleep for all of us, but no, it didn't mean that she was never sick or teething or having an off night ever again.

But generally - yes, nightweaning definitely meant more sleep. Lots more.

[Halfasianmomma]

For me, it did. DD used to wake every 2 hours to nurse, and after I nightweaned her (solo, I might add), she stopped doing that, except in periods of high stress where she wakes from a nightmare. Generally though, she nurses to sleep around 8 p.m. and doesn't wake until 5 a.m. I honestly don't know or don't remember how I managed to work full-time while I was still nursing her every 2 hours. I was a zombie.

[spirit4ever]

Originally Posted by Halfasianmomma

For me, it did. DD used to wake every 2 hours to nurse, and after I nightweaned her (solo, I might add), she stopped doing that, except in periods of high stress where she wakes from a nightmare. Generally though, she nurses to sleep around 8 p.m. and doesn't wake until 5 a.m. .

This is us too!!! Dd will wake usually between 5 and 6. nurse and fall back to sleep for a while longer. She still does occasionally wake up, but usually its cause she is looking for me, as soon as she feels me, she snuggles back up and goes right back to sleep!

[Peony]

My kiddos nightwean themselves eventually, for the first one she started sleeping through the night, not the case with DD2. It took another year and a half for her to stop waking up so much, but she still does.

[_betsy_]

DD1 began to refuse to nurse in the middle of the night (I swear, no prodding from me!) at 15.5 months. By 16.5 months, she was done night nursing and rarely waking, by 17.5 months, she was sleeping long stretches - and by that I mean that she slept 6 hours straight for the first time in her entire life.

Give it a few more weeks, and I'd guess you'll be getting more sleep.

[Aka mommy]

Depends completely on the child. DD#1 nightweaned at 14 months, she didn't sleep through the night til about age 5. DD#2 nightweaned at 12 months, she slept like a rock with in about 4 weeks of weaning.

[JanineRivera]

Thanks Mamas for your input. It seems that it varies quite a bit depending on the kiddo. I guess we just need to give it more time; it has only been two weeks. We will see where we are in another week or two.

Thanks again,
Janine

[lifeguard]

Nightweaning definitely improved the amount of sleep we were getting but it was a gradual progress. Before nightweaning ds was waking every 2-3 hours, immediately he dropped that to every 3-4 hours & now 3 months out he is only waking once a night.

BUT he most definitely has rough nights when he's sick or teething where is back to waking frequently or just being really restless all night. I swear it's harder to deal with those few nights then it was dealing with the constant nights like that 'cause it catches you so off guard.

[Baby_Cakes]

Nightweaning here meant a little bit more sleep, but we still have some night wakings. We decided to night wean when nursing through the night wasn't helping DD fall back to sleep, and it was keeping me up. Once we switched to rocking/singing back to sleep, DD didn't like waking up very much and learned to resettle herself by either rolling over, or crawling on top of me or DH and snuggling up with us. Its been 6 months since beginning the nw'ing process, and she (on average) wakes 2-3 times per night, but doesn't need any "help" getting back to sleep.

But I probably wake 2-3 times per night to roll over, too. She just needs a little reassurance that somebody is still there, and needs a hug.

I think what you're experiencing is a small bump in the road. You guys are very early on in the process. Teething changes everything. You might get some really good nights, and some crappy nights. It's all a crapshoot. You aren't doing anything "wrong" or missing any key to a good nights sleep. It's all par for the course.

[JanineRivera]

I think you are right lifeguard, that it is harder now to endure the waking after getting nights of more sleep than we are used to ... lol.

Thanks Baby_Cakes for you words of encouragement; I find myself often wondering if we are doing something "wrong" when things change or get worse

[NJKim]

We nightweaned about 6 weeks ago, DS is 22 months now. He's had about 6 or 7 nights where he'll do a 4-5 hour stretch but then wakes a lot between 2am-6am so I feel like I'm getting less sleep because it's harder to get him back to sleep without nursing. This whole time has been through teething the canines though, his last one is about to cut through and I'm really hoping it gets better after that!!!

[jecombs]

Originally Posted by lifeguard

Nightweaning definitely improved the amount of sleep we were getting but it was a gradual progress. Before nightweaning ds was waking every 2-3 hours, immediately he dropped that to every 3-4 hours & now 3 months out he is only waking once a night.

BUT he most definitely has rough nights when he's sick or teething where is back to waking frequently or just being really restless all night. I swear it's harder to deal with those few nights then it was dealing with the constant nights like that 'cause it catches you so off guard.

This was my experience, too. My DD is now nearly 3 y.o. and still wakes-up once a night. But that's much better than the 3-4x a night she used to wake to nurse! DD was also had a rough night a couple of days ago. The moon was full and it was really bright outside and shining right in her window. I think it really threw her off. You just have to expect rough nights from time-to-time, no matter how old they get.

[JanineRivera]

NJKim- Thanks for your post here and on the other thread My dd also wakes a lot more it seems in the early hours of the morning; it is like she knows we are getting close to wake up time, therefore nursing time!! She is also getting all her canines in, oh what fun Nice to know i am not alone

jecombs - i wonder if our crazy night was the night of the full moon?? I think it was; that would explain some things ... thanks for that I think that I have this (maybe) unrealistic hope that once she sleeps through the night that will be it and we will finally get some sleep but I do need to remember that sleep always ebbs and flows!

Thanks ladies,
Janine