When did your child stop night nursing?

[Bald_Bull's_Mama]

DS is 2.5 now and still nursing several times a night, up to perhaps 8 times between 8 pm and 8 am, with most of it concentrated in the early morning hours, say 4:00 on. I've tried talking to him about how we need to sleep at night, we can nurse in the day time. I've tried bringing him a sippy of water, a sippy of soy milk, a bagel. If I tell I need him to wait, he gets hysterical. Some days, he nurses nearly non-stop between 4 and 8, when he usually gets up. I can nurse him 9 times, ask him to wait on the tenth time, and he becomes hysterical. I'm for CLW for us, but I'm really for not nursing 9 times a night. How old was your child when he/she stopped night nursing on his/her own? It has to happen some time, right?

[treeoflife3]

kiddo stopped at 14.5 months however we don't cosleep so that could also be part of it. Rarely she does wake up in the middle of the night once and I nurse her back to sleep but once I nurse her to sleep and lay her in her crib, she is usually good for 11 or so hours.

[Bald_Bull's_Mama]

Yeah, we do bedshare so the access is there all night. I try to move farther away, but he always finds me!

[apmama07]

We were in your same boat until 32 months. I felt desperate for so long and couldn't imagine ever sleeping through the night again! We'd tried gentle methods for nightweaning but to no avail, DD would get hysterical and NOT calm down like I kept hearing other LOs would. I too wished I could "wait it out" until she just did it on her own, but it was taking such a toll on me and therefore our relationship and my parenting, that just wasn't working for us. Yet, we weren't willing to let her be that hysterically upset, even with us comforting her.

Finally when we gave it another try at 32 months, it just worked. We talked to her for a day or two about how we all needed to get more sleep at night and the milk would go to sleep until the sun came up (to give her a landmark). It took about 2-3 nights of DH and I tag-teaming comforting her with rocking, snuggling, walking, offering water or crackers if we thought that was the issue....And this time, she was just ready, because there was a bit of protest crying but no hysteria, and she really did get over it easily.

We've continued to cosleep and she still does some major nursing around 5 am, which is just fine with me since she sleeps easily most nights all the way through till then. I never thought it was possible! I think it helped her readiness that the last molar finally came in. Who knows if she'd at some point just stopped waking to nurse without a little prompting? For my particular child's temperament, I tend to think not.

I think you have to weigh your level of sleep deprivation and its effects on all of you, and watch/keep trying for signs of readiness in your child.

[hennaLisa]

Cuddle Mommy

Our son was 2.5 when we decided to try some gentle methods of night weaning. He would nurse between 2 and 5 times at night. I am a teacher, so we chose to do it in the summer when he gets lots of time with me in the day. We were also trying to get pregnant, so that was another motivation.

I would nurse before bed and then try to wait until daylight to nurse again. We offered other options during the night such as getting to sleep outside with Daddy (which he loves) on the screened porch - on the futon or hammock. This is like a treat for him - he loves being outside and sleeps well with the sounds of nature around him. The other option was to cuddle Mommy. He always asks to "nurse-a-mommy" so we would just say, "you can cuddle Mommy." He was much more willing to do that than I expected. He didn't cry about it, just pretty much went along with it. This is a child who has always been pretty strong willed and determined to have his way.

He started sleeping MUCH better at night after we did this. If I had known how much better he would sleep without all the night nursing, I probably would have tried to night wean sooner. At the same time, I love cuddling up to him and really didn't want to let go of it in some ways. I am a little sad that we have not let him just wean whenever he wants, as slowly as he wants... but at the same time, we are doing our best.

[dakotablue]

I just wanted to add (although I am not night weaned/ night weaning) When DS is waking a LOT and i'm over sensitive (pregnant) If I roll him over to Dh while he is is still asleep/ sleep searching and move away he will relax and sleep on Dh. I don't know if this will help you or not...

[kcparker]

DS1 started STTN at about 15-18 months of age, so we were lucky never to haev to do an intentional weaning at night. Good luck. Sleep deprivation is tough.

[Katie T]

My 2.3mo still nurses 2 to 6 times a night (between 8pm and 7am). I want to let her lead the way on weaning and she does cry if you tell her no. I do have a sippy of water for her and she will take a sip but she nurses a lot for comfort so still HAS to nurse. I keep hoping that she night weans on her own soon because I think she will sleep much better. I may night wean her (no time soon) someday if it drives me batty or she is not SO attached to needing it at night but for now I go with her flow.

The sleep loss in hard to deal with I am going on over 4 yrs of not STTN and on one side I think I am pretty used to it and on the other hand think it is really starting to get old. Hang in there and do what is right for you and your lo.

[cheenya]

The middle of te night nursing was actually the last regular nursing time that my dd gave up (both my sons still nurse at night). She was about 6.5 when she weaned. I can generally mostly sleep through the nightime nursings, so they don't bother me as much as they do some people, and in general unless there is something going on and causing them to wake more often, my children by a year old are generally only waking once a night or so. My dd is the one who woke the most for the longest, but once we found her food sensitivities and eliminated those foods, her night waking decreased dramatically as well.

[tuffykenwell]

Rhys was about 3 months
Niamh was about 3 years
Isla was about 3 months
Deirdre is still night nursing and she is 11 months

As you can see my kids were split between sleepers and eaters at night. The two who are sustained night nursers also are very distractible eaters during the day which I think is the reason they need to continue night nursing.

Steph

[Marissamom]

we moved DD into her own room at 15 months. she's 17 months now and sleeps through the night about 75% of the time. though she must be going through something that's disrupting her sleep right now, because she's woken three out of the last 4 nights.

[Shannie77]

My DD is 3.5 and if I let her would nurse many times through the night. I have a 5month old who wakes up fewer times to nurse. It is incredibly frustrating. I had so much faith that if I just stuck with it DD would night wean on her own, or at least drop down to a reasonable amount in her own good time... but that is not happening. Had I known I would be in this position I would of night weaned earlier. I am night weaning her now because I just can't take it anymore.

[tiffanymm]

DD was about 27 months old and still night nursing so I ended up night weaning. It was hard but so worth the much needed sleep that we both got.

[isabchi]

I don't remenber well, but my first somewhere between 2,5 and 3 yo. and my second is 22 mo still nursing 1-3 times at night. I never try/want to night weaning. Sometimes toddlers are so busy during the day that they don't nurse much in the day and they need cover the nursing sessions at night. For my own confort, I try to take care of myself with nutrition, exercise and rest as much is possible. I take care of myself,because I need to take of them. Also, DH is great support for me. I been nursing everynight for 5 1/2 years now, so it's exhausted. LOL

[Lovinbeinamama]

Night nursing

Hi: I'm still nursing at 23 months. A lot of it is at night...2-3 times a night. My DS is a thin bean, so I feel like he needs it, and frankly, I'm not feeling too tired most days. I'm not pushing to wean him yet. I guess it's just what you feel you and the child need, a balance of both. I think after 12 months, you can night wean if you need to. Before that, I would hesitate.

[RaeDyCo]

DS1 was mostly night weaned by 4 months -- that was when he started sleeping 10-12 hour stretches at night. The only time he nursed at night was when he was teething or sick.

DS2 still wakes up at least once per night to nurse at 10 months.

DS1 was in his crib at 2 1/2 months and DS2 was in his crib at 4 months.

[TiredX2]

Originally Posted by Bald_Bull's_Mama

Yeah, we do bedshare so the access is there all night. I try to move farther away, but he always finds me!

As a PP mentioned, if you have a partner, can you have DP sleep between you and the nursling? Then, if DS wakes he may be more likely to just cuddle in instead of going looking.

That said:
We night-weaned DD for 4-5 hours in a row (once a night) around 25 months. She did not give up night nursing until she was over 3.5

DS was over 4.5 before he stopped night nursing.

When I say night-nursing, I don't include nursing to sleep *or* nursing during the hour or so before waking up.

[durafemina]

I night-weaned dd when she was 15 months old - something I never imagined I would do. At the time I was pregnant and she had gone from sleeping 3-4 hour stretches in the night to breastfeeding every hour, or even staying attached all.night.long.

We were both getting pretty strung out and I was hating breastfeeding her!

Dd is very strong-willed, and often would get quite worked up at bedtimes anyway - sort of seemed like she needed to have a bit of a meltdown to get herself transitioned to sleep. I also suspected that since my supply was low, she was not truly getting satisfied with a good tummy-filling feed. She would nurse, thrash, bite, nurse some more, go on and off half a dozen times. . . repeat.

So - I breastfed her in bed, and then left her with Dp (she was used to being put to sleep by him when I wasn't home - I was on-call for births as a midwifery student) and she cried and thrashed a bit, but eventually went to sleep. I never felt she was super distressed - but then again, I was pretty desperate, so maybe not the best gauge. . . .

After about a week? maybe even less? she would go to sleep quite quickly, and - surprise! stay asleep all night. At times she would spend the night sleeping draped over me, but she wouldn't wake until early morning. I hadn't really intended to 'night-wean' - jsut cut down on the falling-asleep-nursing-marathon, but it seemed to re-set her body so that she wasn't constantly fixated on the breast all night. After that, she and I were a lot more rested in the morning.

When ds came along 5 months later, she went back to occasionally night nursing. Most of the time it was fine, and sometimes I asked Dp to take her instead. Then as she got older, say 2.5 we started talking about the milk needing a rest at night, and that she could have milk again when the sun came up, and to my surprise, she was very amenable to this idea. Even if she woke during the night, crying for milk - I would gently remind her the sun would be up soon and offer her a cuddle and she'd accept and go quickly back to sleep.

Ds is 16 months now and I've made no moves to night-wean, but he's a very different nurser - much more laid back and only wakes 1-2 times a night to feed as a rule.

So, no hard/fast rules I guess. Just working with what you've got in the moment. . .

[LizzieRed]

Originally Posted by Shannie77 

My DD is 3.5 and if I let her would nurse many times through the night. I have a 5month old who wakes up fewer times to nurse. It is incredibly frustrating. I had so much faith that if I just stuck with it DD would night wean on her own, or at least drop down to a reasonable amount in her own good time... but that is not happening. Had I known I would be in this position I would of night weaned earlier. I am night weaning her now because I just can't take it anymore.

My DD just turned 2 and I am in the same boat.  She wants to nurse all night and has started to suck for comfort more and more as she has gotten older. If she had her way completely she'd sleep latched on all night every night.  I am sleep deprived and starting to get very resentful.  She was a much more independent sleeper when she was smaller, so having her in our bed was easy.  Had I known her nighttime nursing needs would grow between the ages of 1 and 2 instead of scale back I would have night weaned, or moved her to her own bed, much earlier.  Now that she is 2 she is very strong willed and throws serious tantrums when I refuse her milk at night.  She'll scream and kick and hit me if I turn my back to her at night and actually cry until she throws up if DH tries to soothe her instead of me.  We're trying every month or so to night wean using "no cry sleep solution" methods, but we haven't gotten very far.  At this point I have HUGE regrets that we did the co-sleeping thing!!

[goldenwillow]

Originally Posted by isabchi 

I don't remenber well, but my first somewhere between 2,5 and 3 yo. and my second is 22 mo still nursing 1-3 times at night. I never try/want to night weaning. Sometimes toddlers are so busy during the day that they don't nurse much in the day and they need cover the nursing sessions at night. For my own confort, I try to take care of myself with nutrition, exercise and rest as much is possible. I take care of myself,because I need to take of them. Also, DH is great support for me. I been nursing everynight for 5 1/2 years now, so it's exhausted. LOL

I appreciate this post. 

DH and I have had a lot of pressure from family to start weaning because DS is 16 months, also his Naturopath recently stated he will have more cavities by nursing more at night, we just are sure to brush often .  Personally, It just doesn't feel right to me.  I too take care of myself through nutrition, exercise and rest and feel DS will lead the way.  Thank you for your post.