Can I nightwean if we all sleep in one room?

[MCPM]

Our whole family (mom, dad, 5 yr old and 15 month old) sleeps in one room. (It's a pretty big room.)

I'm thinking about when it's time to nightwean. It inevitably involves some fussing and shushing. How can I do that when we're all in there together without waking the others?

[Lisa1970]

I am not sure if it is possible. I am sure someone will tell you anything can be done, but from my experience, when I was in the same room, the baby would not give up. We started trying maybe at 18 months to night wean.

[Baby_Cakes]

I would take him/her out of the room to shush/rock and then once back asleep, put him/her back down and go back to sleep.  You're bound to disturb people a bit, but once baby completely night weans, everyone will get more sleep.   Worth it, IMO, for a few weeks of disrupted sleep!

[blumooned]

I night-weaned DS around 20 months.  He sleeps in the same room as us.  He cried at night a couple times, but it wasn't too bad.  I just explained that the milk was resting too & he could have some when it was morning/light out.  Yeah, he woke up DP a few times, but he was able to go right back to sleep.  We did not have another child in the room, though, that might be a little more difficult.

Could your DH & older DC "camp out" in another room for a couple nights?  I'd think 2-3 nights might be enough.  A spare room or even the living room couch might work.  Just a thought . . .

[mckittre]

Is it mostly the 5 yr old you're worrying about?  How does he/she do with baby wake ups in general (assuming you guys have been doing this since the younger was born)? 

I think it should be possible.  At least I hope so.  My family of 4 (2yr old and 4 month old kids) lives in a 1 room house, and it's worked fine for us so far.  They're used to non total silence when sleeping.  But we nightweaned the older before the second was born, so haven't quite been in that situation yet. 

[crunchy_mommy]

Yes it is possible!! I (partially) nightweaned DS not long ago and we didn't change our sleeping arrangements at all. DH slept through it for the most part (I'm not sure how your 5yo sleeps though?? we have only 1 kiddo so didn't have to deal with that...)

It helped that I waited 'til DS was completely ready. It still took us a while (a couple of weeks) due to his unique needs... but if I had tried it even just a few weeks sooner, it wouldn't have worked. For us, me sleeping in another room would have been a disaster, because DS needs to be in frequent physical contact with me and panics if I'm not there.

[MCPM]

It's true that we're used to having less than total silence. I guess I'm just worried because the older one weaned (night and day) at 2.5 years and I'd kind of like to do it earlier with baby no. 2! But it was a pretty loud experience...

[acupuncturemomma]

We started nightweaning DS about ten days ago, but had to give up because he got sick. Just wanted to say, though, that there was no way my 4.5 y.o. DD could have been in the same room! It would have been too disruptive, because DS was loud. DD and DH have been sleeping in our guest room, and will continue to do so for a few more weeks, as I plan to try nighweaning again in a couple of days.