Night Weaning Help/Advice

[Lilybelle5]

DD is almost a year and I am really feeling the need to at least partially night wean her. I would be fine with even 2-3 feeds during the night or even 4, but she does WAY more than that and has since birth. I don't see this changing anytime soon. I am feeling depressed from lack of sleep and I don't feel that I am 100% there for my daughter during the day because I am so tired. I feel like at this point we need to at least try night weaning. We are waiting until she turns 1 in a few weeks to try Dr. Jay Gordon's method.

I do have a few concerns though. She is still EBF. She will occasionally taste a bite of something, but she is mostly not interested in food yet. Is it okay to night wean a 100% breastfed baby? Will she make up for the missed night feeds during the day? I am worried about her being hungry that first night! She must get a substantial amount of calories at night since she nurses so often so I am just not quite clear on how this is supposed to work. Does she really not need those feeds? (Again I am fine with a few feeds at night...just not ALL night.) Anyone have any success with this or any type of night weaning? Any tips or advice would be really appreciated! Thanks!

[To-Fu]

I don't have any experience with this (I've always just sort of powered through--though maybe I shouldn't have... still nursing my 2.5yo at night anywhere from 3-8 times).  

Hopefully someone will come along with ideas!  I just wanted to offer support--I know it's really, really hard.  Hang in there, mama!

[Lilybelle5]

Thank you so much. Support is greatly appreciated right now! It is SO HARD! 

[Spring Lily]

Lilybelle, I remember being where you are and it does not feel good--mentally or physically!

I think it's important to listen to your body when you're feeling like you need more/better sleep. There is only so much long-term sleep deprivation a mother can go through before it really impacts the kind of mother she can be during the day. When I was going through this with my kids I approached it in two ways:

1. I offered more nursing during the day. They were so busy playing in the daytime that they seemed to save up the nursing for nighttime. I offered more cuddilng & nursing breaks during the day to interrupt that routine.

2. At night I brought a sippy cup of water to bed with us and when they woke up I'd say "mommy's sleeping" and offer the water instead. If they were thirsty they'd take a little drink and go back to sleep, if they just wanted the comfort I'd just snuggle them as they cried for a couple minutes. I posted about my experience in this forum (2 years ago?) and remember saying how surprised I was that the crying was only a minute or two. I'd expected long crying bouts and lots of guilt. Just so you know, it's not always as bad as you think it will be.

I didn't do Jay Gordon's plan and can't remember it off the top of my head, but this strategy worked with all 3 of my kids. My twins are also really small so I was very concerned about the nutrition & calories part of it, but consciously increasing the opportunities during the daytime helped it even all out.

[Lilybelle5]

Originally Posted by Spring Lily 

Lilybelle, I remember being where you are and it does not feel good--mentally or physically!
I think it's important to listen to your body when you're feeling like you need more/better sleep. There is only so much long-term sleep deprivation a mother can go through before it really impacts the kind of mother she can be during the day. When I was going through this with my kids I approached it in two ways:
1. I offered more nursing during the day. They were so busy playing in the daytime that they seemed to save up the nursing for nighttime. I offered more cuddilng & nursing breaks during the day to interrupt that routine.
2. At night I brought a sippy cup of water to bed with us and when they woke up I'd say "mommy's sleeping" and offer the water instead. If they were thirsty they'd take a little drink and go back to sleep, if they just wanted the comfort I'd just snuggle them as they cried for a couple minutes. I posted about my experience in this forum (2 years ago?) and remember saying how surprised I was that the crying was only a minute or two. I'd expected long crying bouts and lots of guilt. Just so you know, it's not always as bad as you think it will be.
I didn't do Jay Gordon's plan and can't remember it off the top of my head, but this strategy worked with all 3 of my kids. My twins are also really small so I was very concerned about the nutrition & calories part of it, but consciously increasing the opportunities during the daytime helped it even all out.

Spring Lily, thanks for responding! At what age did you do the water thing?

[Spring Lily]

I nightweaned my first one at around...13-14 months. My twins were so underweight and had so many eating issues, and I was so scared they'd cry at night and wake the other one up, that I waited until they were almost 2. Had I known it would go as well as it did I would have done it much earlier.