Nursing all night

[sgmom]

This was my doing, but now I need some undoing. 

My almost 7 month old sleeps in my bed. He was born with multiple VSD's, so I decided that nursing a lot at night was a good idea to ensure that he was big and strong for surgery. Our last visit showed that all but one of the holes have closed and surgery is no longer necessary. This is great news, but I'm having a hard time weaning him from breast to soother (or helping to teach self soothing techniques), as he gets mad when I try to introduce it (he has taken a soother in the past, but only when he's still half asleep - now a soother will wake him). He wakes up a lot, and wants the breast for comfort. It starts with the saddest little cry (a step above a whimper), but if I ignore him, he'll crawl on me. If I ignore some more, or if I refuse to offer the breast, the sad cry turns into a real cry. 

Does anyone have any suggestions? I don't mind night nursing, but laying on my side all night is really putting a strain on my neck and upper back. 

[ShwarmaQueen]

I think it's just a matter of time. I'd cut back letting him "comfort suck" just a little at a time- like after you know he's asleep, let him suck 5 min extra for a few nights, then 4 for a few nights, then 3, and so on until you can pull away. I don't remember what age DS let me flip to my back, but there are always night when he wanted it (sick, teething, growth spurt, etc) even though we'd made progress. You just have to keep trying little by little, and find what works for you. Hugs

[Louisep]

Originally Posted by ShwarmaQueen 

I think it's just a matter of time. I'd cut back letting him "comfort suck" just a little at a time- like after you know he's asleep, let him suck 5 min extra for a few nights, then 4 for a few nights, then 3, and so on until you can pull away. I don't remember what age DS let me flip to my back, but there are always night when he wanted it (sick, teething, growth spurt, etc) even though we'd made progress. You just have to keep trying little by little, and find what works for you. Hugs

Really agree with this advice. It's just going to take time. How frequent is the nursing? Do you support your back with pillows? That helped me. I never thought my back would recover, but we night weaned ds at 12 months and he self-weaned totally at 14 months and my back is now fine. 7-11 months were the hardest for me with wakings every 1-2 hours. It's all a distant memory now - time passes quickly and you'll make it through and never regret those nighttime moments

You're doing a great job!