Thoughts on Night Weaning... :(

[mamafever]

Hello! I am a mama to a high need 22 month old boy who is super sensitive to my presence. I could nurse him to sleep and wiggle away from him while he is totally out, but instantly when I start walking toward the door to leave he wakes up! ah! Nursing is the only way he can fall sleep. Did I do something wrong? SHould I have introduced other ways for him to fall asleep so that he was not so reliant on me. I don't mind nursing him to sleep, but every once in a while it would be nice to have another option. I don't know if I really like the idea of weaning at all and we have really enjoyed co-sleeping, but we have gone through periods of time where he is nursing all night! And we are in one of those times right now. And I think it is just out of habit...like it is the only way he knows to fall sleep. Everytime he evens sees a pictures of something sleeping or laying down he says, "nurse,"- so i know that he assoctaites them as the same thing, or that you must nurse to fall asleep. If he knew that he could fall asleep by himself wouldn't that help him in the middle of the night when we wakes up?...to know that he can fall back alseep with out my boob. Any advice? I just don't want to be robbing my son of any breastfeeding benefits if he really needs them. Do you think night-weaning him would be the answer?And if so, How in the world do I get my 22 month old who has nursed to sleep everyday of his entire life to learn how to fall asleep by himself?

[simplemama32]

Have you looked thru past discussions on MDC about night weaning? There's a good article about it on Dr. Jay Gordon's website, too.

We've gradually transitioned from nursing as the only way to go sleep, to a combination of nursing, rocking, and soft music. Sometimes DS will nurse before bed, but he'll fall asleep rocking (but not nursing), and then when I put him in bed he'll wake up again and want to nurse for a minute or two. After that, though, he usually sleeps pretty hard. I *highly* recommend using music or white noise to cover the sound of your retreat once your child is asleep.

You've supported your child's needs, and have done nothing wrong, IMO. It can be hard on the mama, but a lot of this is basically waiting for our DC to grow older and need us less. It will happen, but I know it's small comfort when you're sleep-deprived...BTDT!