Reasonable expectations

[mommy212]

I am currently cosleeping with my 8.5 month old baby, and he nurses 2-4 times at night. I am expecting him to continue to need night nursing until he is 12-18 months old. I do not plan on night weaning. Is this reasonable? If you did not night wean, when did your LO stop night nursing on his own? I just want a reasonable time line so I do not get frustrated.

[Katie T]

My 2yo still night nurses. luckily it doesnt bother me. but if it starts to bother you can always night wean.

[D_McG]

Both of my kids nursed upwards of that amount at that age. I weaned them at 22 and 20 months. They were nowhere near stopping nursing at night by themselves at that age. It was purely my decision. There were tears but we comforted them through it and exhaled as we all slept more soundly.

[Peony]

My first 2 stopped waking up to nurse at 2 and 3 years of age. My almost 15m old is still nurses heavily at night. There is no average time frame of when kids STTN, they do it when they are ready, 12-18m is really young to IMO but some kids do, I wouldn't count on it though.

[LadyCatherine185]

My DS was still waking and nursing every 1-2 hours at 18 months old. I nightweaned between 19-20 months and he began sleeping 5-8 hour stretches. He still wakes up about 1-2 times a night, and sometimes sleeps all the way through at 23 months. If I had not nightweaned, I am sure he'd still be waking up a LOT. Although, every kid is different. At 8 months he was waking every 15-30 minutes. Your DS only waking 2-4 times a night is a good indication he may start sleeping through much sooner than my DS would have on his own.

[AndtheStars]

My DS is 11 mos and I was in the same place as you when he was that age. I just wanted to know when I could start the countdown to better sleep. As time has passed though, I'm glad that he wakes up 4 times a night or so to nurse. He has shown less and less interest in nursing during the day as he gets more active so I'm happy knowing that he is getting his milk at night. I'm pretty sure he would only nurse 3 times from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. if I didn't offer more frequently.

[lisavark]

I had a similar thought that until 12-18 months DD would NEED to wake at night and some point not long after that she'd start sleeping all night naturally. Now looking back, I really wish I hadn't given myself that mental countdown. Whenever I think that "by now she should be sleeping better," the nightwaking becomes torture for me. When I stop worrying about it and just accept it and go with the flow, I don't mind it so much.

She's 28 months and wakes at least every 3 hours, sometimes every 90 minutes. I'm trying to nightwean her--again--this is our fourth or fifth attempt at least. I lose track.

[D_McG]

Originally Posted by lisavark

I had a similar thought that until 12-18 months DD would NEED to wake at night and some point not long after that she'd start sleeping all night naturally. Now looking back, I really wish I hadn't given myself that mental countdown.

I had a similar experience with my son. I was just waiting for things to settle. I hit a wall and weaned him and it worked out great. With my DD though I approached things differently. I didn't wait this time, I lead. I knew how it was for my son once we stopped nursing at night. The nice, deep sleep.

It was just a different approach and it worked great for us.

[alegna]

IME it seems most kids need to nurse at night (at least off and on, for teething and the like) until around 2yrs old. Some back off around 18 months. Some need it until 2.5. My 2yr old is still going strong at night. Has had a few runs where he sttn with no nursing, but these days is back to nursing at night.

-Angela

[hildare]

our lo's are the same age. we share expectations.
i am not thinking of doing anything differently as i wohm and i think this is a reverse cycle and a comfort thing for dd. i am ok with that.

[Ktietje85]

Originally Posted by mommy212

I am currently cosleeping with my 8.5 month old baby, and he nurses 2-4 times at night. I am expecting him to continue to need night nursing until he is 12-18 months old. I do not plan on night weaning. Is this reasonable? If you did not night wean, when did your LO stop night nursing on his own? I just want a reasonable time line so I do not get frustrated.

My DD night weaned herself around 22 months. She still night nurses very rarely if sick or something, but that's maybe once every 3 - 4 months (she is 30 months). It was hard because her brother was born when she wasn't quite 18 mo. so I was night nursing BOTH for awhile but it was fine. DS (12 mo) is still night nursing several times and we are looking to help him sleep in longer stretches now (like 3 - 4 hours) but don't expect him to really night wean for awhile yet. DD is still nursing at least twice a day btw.