I have found that all of my six children went through something around 15 to 16 months where their night waking was frequent and they wanted to nurse for extended periods of time. I usually can sleep through nursing until they reach around one year old. Then their suckle starts to change and after that I cannot sleep through it. Still, it is usually not too bad... until they reach this age. With most of them I have been able just to bear through it and by around 17 or 18 months the nursing would wind down to something I could manage better. However, there were a couple where i had I to wean them just enough so that I could handle it -- this was usually when I was pregant. There are various things I tried, most of them suggested in books like "The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding," such as making sure there is water near the bed and offering them a drink first, trying to make sure I offer them some kind of snack or food before bedtime, and sometimes even having a snack ready. Kicking up the nursing during the day... and other things. I also found LLL nursing toddlers group and asked for suggestions from others there who had the same experiences. Sometimes I just had to rely on my husband to take them out of the room for a bit and offer the drinks/snacks in the kitchen because as long as they were still in bed, they just wanted to nurse. Then, after they had eaten, they would come back in and maybe nurse a little, but not much longer than 10 minutes or so so before going back to sleep. I also implemented a count down. I can't remember how I first introduced this, it's been so long, but I would start saying to my baby before he latched on, "Ok, we're going to have nana's now, but only a little bit because mommy needs to (get some water, take a break, go to sleep, etc...). I would look them in the eyes and get an aknowledgement. Then, I would nurse for as long as I thought was good for whatever was going on. At that point I would say, "Ok, just one more minute...." wait a small break and then say," Ok, ten seconds.."wait for a few seconds.." five seconds, 1-2-3-4-5!" (and sometimes make that into a little tickly game or something fun) and then break the latch with a hug and a kiss and start getting up for whatever it is I needed to do. I did that a few times during the day just to get it introduced, but I really mainly have only used it at night when I needed more sleep. The first times I used it at night I did not necessarily get the sleep I needed because they would get off and wait maybe a minute or two before asking for more. Then I would put them off once or twice saying, "Ok, just a minute. Let mommy finish my break." And then after a couple of minutes we would go through it again. However, as the nights went on they became more and more contented to wait so the break in between would get longer and then eventually they would even go to sleep for a bit in between. I would do this until we got into some routine that I could handle. For me, I didn't mind if they woke up every 2 to 3 hours to nurse as long as it was only for 10 to 15 minutes or so. Longer than that or more frequent than that and then I would begin to be a zombie -- at least when I was pregnant. You will have to determine your threshold. In any case, some of these ideas might work if you really can't handle it right now.Â
