Another night weaning question :)

[intrepidmother]

So.... how did you do it? I want to start night weaning and I don't know which method is most effective/gentle.

Option #1: Choose a time (11pm-3am) where I don't nurse AT ALL and slowly increase the no-nursing time.

Option #2: Nurse whenever, but not let DD fall asleep while nursing, try different methods besides nursing to sleep and THEN, eventually, stop nursing all together at night.

I don't know. Thoughts anyone? What did you do? How old did you night wean?

Thanks, in advance, for your thoughts!

[alegna]

How old is she? I think techniques vary greatly depending on the age of the child.

-Angela

[Shanny2032]

I agree that age plays a big part in how. DD was about 21 months (6 weeks ago-ish). She rarely falls asleep nursing so that was not an issue. She nurses and I lay with her until she falls asleep. We had tried before to either do partial or full nightweaning and it was always worse than the constant nursing. This time I was a little more determined to stick it out, mostly because I really thought she was ready. After her bed time nursing (usually around 8 pm), I do not nurse her until at least 5 am, but my goal is wake up time, which is usually closer to 7 am. I allow myself to give in anytime after 5for sanity and more sleep. I bascially just started saying no when she would wake up and cry for milk. I used key phrases over and over but basically "we don't have milky in the night time anymore". She seemed to "get it" really quickly and easily this time. She still wakes and sometimes still asks to nurse but the moment passes quickly and we have had night where she sleeps 8+ hours straight! I didn't worry so much about using a particular method at her age as opposed to if I had tried when she was younger. She's a smart girl and she knows when I mean no so as long as I stuck it out those first few nights I knew she would knew I meant it.

[intrepidmother]

She is 14 months old. Even we could cut down on the amount or nursing at night- right now it feels constant and I just can't sleep that way.

Thanks for your thoughts!

[curious&eager]

Oh, I didn't answer some in these questions in my pm. Option one, I chose the times we would nurse. If it was a nursing time I would nurse, if it wasn't a nursing time, my husband would put the baby back to sleep. In the beginning there were more nursing times, then less times.

Option two, we did not let the baby fall alseep nursing. I used the NCSS technique and when the sucking slowed down and he was almost asleep, I'd take him off and then he'd roll over and go to sleep. Then he learned to let go and roll over and go back to sleep himself.

When he was younger and taking more naps, I flipped his routine and did the sleep, eat, wake, sleep cycle. Then, he didn't go to sleep nursing. It worked, but then he would never fall asleep nursing, not at night, nor the middle of the night, that's what lead to our night weaning, I'd nurse and then he'd want to play for 2 hours afterwards in the middle of the night every night.

Night weaning and any changes in the sleep routine is a lot of work and a lot of lost sleep, but totally worth it. I couldn't have done it without my husband helping me because I give in to whatever's easiest after two nights of any change.