How did you night wean your LO

[Mama4life14]

I'm trying to prepare myself for night weaning my DS when he's around 22-23 months. Right now he only nurses to sleep and lots during the night. Same for his nap too. He doesn't nurse any other time of day.

How did you night wean, and how many sleepless nights were there for you? Would you have done anything differently?

Please share your experience so I can get some ideas! Thanks

[kdescalzi]

Hi there,

I recently nw my dd at 22mos. She was and still is a complete nurse-aholic!! She nursed all night long........I mean she stayed attached to me all night long. If I got up to pee, she cried! She was an extreme night nurser and it was quite easy to nw her. She was old enough to understand my words and I explained one day that milk goes to sleep when the birds and the sun go to sleep. Of course she didn't love the idea but she understood it. She would nurse with me and then go brush her teeth and we would lay in bed and sing and snuggle. The first two nights it took almost two hours to get her to sleep...........she simply didn't know how to fall asleep without sucking. She protested but I stayed very calm and loving and she accepted the new rule. Everytime she woke up, me or dh would tell her we are here but milk is still sleeping...as soon as the birds wake up, so does milk. She woke up every morning at 5 am to nurse back to sleep, but that was ok with me. Now, a few months later, she will last until 6am or so. She still wakes up a lot for all sorts of reasons but never asks to nurse. HTH!

Nightweaning did not cut down on her night waking......it simply gave me my sanity and my body back!!!!!!!

[whozeyermamma]

I'm planning on nightweaning my 14 month old soon. He's nursing every 2 hrs and I can't take it anymore!

I'm going to use some of what this guy says:

http://drjaygordon.com/attachment/sleeppattern.html

It's basically an approach where you cut them off gradually, and stay with them and soothe them to sleep even though you're not nursing. The thing that I liked that he said was that your babe will be angry and upset that he's not nursing but he won't be afraid, which is the difference between this and CIO.

Good luck. I am so desperate for more than 2 hrs of sleep in a row ...

[gitanamama]

Thanks for that link whozeyermamma! I'm trying to work up the nerve to night wean my 16 month old and this looks like the most gentle approach. Here's hoping we all get more than two hours of sleep in a row...very soon!

[Mama4life14]

Thanks for your replies! I actually started weaning my son 2 nights ago (he was only night nursing and we decided we were done) The first night he was really upset and woke up every 2 hours screaming and kicking but he would eventually give up and go to sleep on my chest (we bedshare). The second night was better but worse at the same time. He went to bed easy, and slept for 2.5 hours, but then woke up every hour after that, and kicked and screamed for 5 minutes and would fall asleep on my chest after giving up again. I'm hoping that this won't happen for too many more nights. He understands me when I say "Mommy's milk is all done" and usually throws a tantrum right after I say it. But here's hoping that there won't be too many more nights before he gets the point!

My plan was to use Dr Jay Gordon's method, but certain circumstances made me decide to do a cold-turkey style weaning.

[remymom]

Hi everyone,

I just read up on Dr. Gordon's nightweaning method and found it quite interesting. My son is 7.5 months and I was looking for solutions to get him to sleep more than 4 hours in a row. However it seems from readings on this forum and Dr. Gordon's site that this is only recommended after 12 months. I'm wondering why this is? Will I need to stick this out another 4.5 months? 

[hennaLisa]

Our son was still nursing multiple times per night at 2. We let him still nurse to sleep and nurse in the morning. But during the night, we had him start sleeping with Daddy in the guest room. It worked pretty well. He did wake sometimes, but seemed to accept the idea that he couldn't nurse since he didn't see me there. It did involve some crying but I reminded myself that he had Daddy soothing him, and it was only a few nights and not all night or anything like that. Just a few wakings with some tears on some of the wakings.

Eventually we transitioned to cuddle-Mommy at night instead of nurse-Mommy. He became big on cuddling me, which was sweet, though not entirely great for a solid night of sleep. We were weaning because we wanted to get pregnant and weren't having luck. I did get pregnant after night weaning, and continued to night-cuddle all through the pregnancy. We also continued to nurse to sleep and on waking. I noticed that he actually slept much better once we night weaned - far fewer wakings and even less crying at night - which was great.

[sunnygir1]

Originally Posted by remymom 

Hi everyone,

I just read up on Dr. Gordon's nightweaning method and found it quite interesting. My son is 7.5 months and I was looking for solutions to get him to sleep more than 4 hours in a row. However it seems from readings on this forum and Dr. Gordon's site that this is only recommended after 12 months. I'm wondering why this is? Will I need to stick this out another 4.5 months? 

I think it's because babies (should) get most of their nutrition from breast milk until 1 year of age.  At that point, the scale will tip in the other direction as they begin to eat more and more food.  They can go longer without nursing after that point.  7.5 months is very early to night wean, in my opinion.  The baby may be hungry or thirsty, and I think breast feeding is a vital part of general soothing, nurturing, and development at that age.

[Viola]

I bed weaned first, before night weaning.  So I got her to sleep in her own bed, but she'd wake up and cry for me.  I'd hear her on the baby monitor and go in and lie with her, and one night I decided not to offer the breast, and she went back to sleep without it.  She just wanted me there, I guess.  She'd still nurse to go to sleep, that was the last thing to go, but she stopped working in the middle of the night.

[gitanamama]

Viola--how old was your daughter when you bed weaned? Just wondering because we're considering it.

[angelandmisha]

This s not what I ever intended to do for night weaning, but it really worked. I bribed my child. He was about 3 1/2 and I just couldn't take it anymore. I wasn't getting much sleep because he was nursing all night and keeping my nipple in his mouth driving me crazy.

Finally one desperate night I told him that if he would nurse and fall asleep, then let mommy's nipple out of his mouth and sleep until it was day, I would buy him a train. Yu cannot believe how well it worked. He began talking about what he was going to earn each night before bed and he decided he wanted to do it. I would allow him to nurse at night if he wanted to but I would remind him that he wouldn't earn a train if he did. And then he would choose. Sometimes in the morning when he would ask me if he had earned a train and I told him no, he would cry, but it didn't take long before he could do it easily. It was a godsend for me. No crying really and he chose it each night. It got expensive and I didn't plan very well how I would stop buying trains, but I was so happy to have my body back! Each night I reminded him what he should do- nurse to sleep, take nipple out of mouth, sleep until day- and he would proudly say, "I'm going to do it." he started sleeping more soundly and so did I. It was really nice. I had been so worried about the crying in te middle of the night that I expected with Dr. Gordon's plan.

So that's what worked for me, I know that's not for everyone, nor is it really what I think is a great approach, but it did get results with no backsliding.

Good luck!

[dogmom327]

With DS we night weaned in about 3 nights when he was 18 months.  Lots of cuddling, lots of talking, lots of explaining we would nurse when the sun came up, etc.  It was hard, I won't deny that.  I was very desperate though.  I was pregnant and very very sick.  The lack of sleep was causing an amazing amount of damage to my system and my MW (who is very pro-cosleeping, extendend BF, etc.) really encouraged me to do it.  At the time I felt so torn.  I felt like a terrible mother but then I also seriously couldn't do it any longer.  I tried.  I couldn't function.

The first night I think we were up for hours, pretty much all night.  The next night I think was 2 hours and the third night was just a few minutes.  

With DD I honestly don't remember.  I think she stopped nursing at night when we found out she was celiac when she was 15 months and got rid of the shampoo containing wheat protein (we were already eating gluten-free).  I don't recall any traumatic process being involved.

[Mama4life14]

My son is successfully weaned now, and I couldn't be happier with how well the process worked for us. (Cold turkey night weaning, he was only nursing at night) It took about 3 nights before he would just go back to sleep. He's a huge cuddler with Mommy now!! Which is awesome :) He lays on my chest while I sing him a song to fall asleep every night. He sleeps soo much better now, usually a 7 hour stretch before he wakes up, then I just cuddle him back to sleep. He doesn't even cry! I'm happy with the time that I had breastfeeding, 21 and 1/2 months. I am also loving my uninterrupted 7 hours though! I wouldn't have changed a thing, I still would have breastfed that long. We just knew it was time. And judging by how well it went, it was time for my son too.

Thank you for all your replies!  It's nice to know that I'm not the only one :)