Falling asleep without nursing?

[sunflwrmoonbeam]

My 23 month old has fallen asleep at the breast every single night of her life, and I've been just fine with that until recently. The past 2 nights have been really hard on me. Last night it took an hour of nursing to get her down, and tonight 45 minutes. Usually it's 15-20 tops. I just don't have the supply or energy reserves anymore for an hour long nursing session, and if this keeps up I'm going to cry. A lot.

Bed time right now is that DH changes her, brushes teeth, and does story, and then I come in and nurse her until she falls asleep, with the eventual goal being that DH can get her to sleep by himself. We cosleep, and have never done CIO, and never will.

I'm thinking of trying nursing her down to almost asleep and walking out, but I'm scared that it will just prolong the bedtime. Has anyone been in this situation? How'd you resolve it?

[maptome]

We started nightweaning last night and that's exactly what we did.  DD is 22 months.  I nursed her, said goodbye, and left her with DP.  She fussed for about 5 minutes, tried playing with daddy, and then just went to sleep.  It took about 20 total minutes.  It was also taking us 45 min to 1 hour of constant switching side to side, trying to grab nipples, etc.  (I'm in my first trimester, so things have changed a bit for us around here.)

[Annie Mac]

I did this last night! I actually got my LO to sleep without nursing! First time ever! I don't know if it was a fluke or what, but here's what we did. I lay down with her, same as always, in her darkened room. I nursed her for a bit, then she popped herself off and started playing. I thought to myself: "oh lord, no, please, I am exhausted!" In fact, I was so exhausted I just let her play while I myself lay quietly. Eventually, she started flopping down on the bed, lying still first for 2 seconds, then 5, then finally, she just fell asleep! I couldn't believe it. It was totally accidental, but I'm going to try the same thing tonight.