I want to night wean my ten-month-old

[peainthepod]

We're out of town on business with DH and the four of us are sharing a lumpy king-sized bed in the furnished apartment his company rented for us. I've gotten maybe three hours of sleep every night since we came here in March. DD nurses several times a night and constantly wakes me up so I can re-latch her. The bed is awful enough but nursing her for hours without a break on it is just too much.

I love nursing her during the day, even though she bites and claws me, but the night nursing is making me feel crazy. I'm so sleep-deprived and touched out that I've come to dread bedtime and that moment when I have to crawl under the covers with my baby and start the hours of nipple torture and exhaustion. 

Is there any reason I shouldn't night wean her? I plan to keep nursing when we're not in bed. I just can't do this at night anymore. I mean, I can, but I really don't want to. She eats solids like a champ--definitely more than just exploration, way more than DS did at this age--and I know I can adequately supplement her nutritional needs with solid food.

Sorry if this should be in Breastfeeding Challenges, by the way. It's not really a challenge for me, because I know I can easily night wean her. I'm just wondering if it might be a bad idea since I want to continue the nursing relationship during the day.

[Nicole730]

I pretty much night-weaned my daughter at 10 months.  She would wake up once to nurse when she was teething or I had AF (low-supply), but other than that it went well.  She didn't really increase her daytime nursing either.

[peainthepod]

I'm sorry it's taken me so long to respond! It's good to hear that you were able to maintain a good nursing relationship with your DD after night weaning. I think I'm going to do it. I'm just so, so, so tired and I know she can get through the night without nursing because DH has rocked her back to sleep before when I was sick and too exhausted to nurse her.

Poor little love, I hate to do it but I'm just dead on my feet from sleep deprivation.

[peainthepod]

Well, I haven't been cutting back on nursing but I woke up with a hot, tender right breast and a generally icky feeling this morning. I've been nursing and hand expressing whenever possible and plan to rest today instead of doing my usual exercises. In a while I'll take a long hot shower and try to get the plug out (I can feel it deep in my breast).

I'm just hoping it isn't mastitis. I don't have a fever that I can tell and there are no red streaks, so that's a good sign--right?

[foreverinbluejeans]

You don't need to try and get the plug out. You can hurt your breast and make things worse. Here is some info on plugged ducts.

http://kellymom.com/bf/concerns/mom/mastitis.html 

[peainthepod]

Thanks, mama. I ended up just using warm compresses and massage and nursing as much as possible. I spent Wednesday and most of Thursday very achy and with a low grade fever. My breast was hot and tender but there was no redness and I think the infection was very mild. Thursday evening I finally broke down and took some ibuprofen, which killed the fever and helped with the pain. When I woke up on Friday I felt much better and the infection hasn't come back.

My breast is still a little bit tender but the biggest lump is gone and I don't feel any other symptoms. I think it was from wearing a sports bra when I was engorged (I was in too much of a hurry to nurse DD before a run). Oops.

[foreverinbluejeans]

I'm glad you are feeling better!