Why child led weaning? - Page 2

[amy mama]

rainsmom-

I swear there were nights that I seriously fantasized about sticking Jade in her carseat, outside in the car, and coming back inside to sleep by myself. There is no one on earth who can convince me that feeling like that every night, and being sleep deprived and bitchy all day, is somehow GOOD for my child. And nightweaning was for us, pretty painless. Surely no more of a nightmare than the all night nursing, in fact, pretty pleasant compared to that-at that point for me. So, if you would like any tips on how to gently nightwean-pm me and I'll be glad to offer any help I can.

[earthmamafor3]

Amymama
I would love to hear more about HOW you night-weaned.
I checked in here today b/c my 18 mo old dd is driving me NUTS!!
I have two other kids who did NOT nurse like her and she is the first one I ever even thought about weaning and putting in her own bed!!! I wouldn't do that, I honestly believe in the family bed and child led weaning, but whew!!.....She is rough and rolls around and kicks,even at night. My nipples are always sore and I have decided that I am willing to nurse more during the day to get some sleep. I truly find my ability to mother is in direct correlation to how much sleep I get!! Anyway, she really fussed for about and hour last night when she woke up and I wouldn't nurse her. I held her and rubbed her back and rocked and let her roll around all over me and she did finally go to sleep...she has many times in the past for whatever reason, so I know she can. Anyway, she is nursing NON stop today..and that worries me that she may be somehow "traumatized" by my refusal last night. Sighs....Yet I feel strongly that nursing a toddler/older child is a two way street and a choice that individual mama's must make for themselves. My feelings about my body DO matter, as much as my baby's. Often as the adult I can choose to put aside my needs and handle it and Indie cannot do this developmentally at 18 mos.
Sighs again....
Mallory- I have a great story about my ds who is now 11, but he completely self-weaned sometime after age 3. When he was almost 3 he got a terrible vomiting/diarrhea flu with high fever. The Dr who was shocked we were still nursing, also said it was the reason my ds didn't have to be hospitalized like all the other kids.
He was a joy to nurse..most of the time. He was great and incredibly independant, which was great to dispute those who accused me of making him a "mama's boy". He was a real risk taker, active, go getter. He is now a loving sensitive young man who thinks nursing toddlers is NORMAL!
Hope something helped and that someone is still out there checking this thread!!

[amy mama]

I don't want to hijack the thread-mabye a mod will move this-but here, earthmamato3, is how I nightweaned Jade. For us, nightweaning started during the day. By that, I mean I didn't just spring it on her one night-I talked during the day about daytime/nighttime-what we do when the sun is up, what we do when the moon is out. Use words you think she can understand. I would say things like "at night, mama goes night-night, Jade goes night-night, and e.b. (her word for nursing) goes night-night. Everyone goes night-night when the moon is out. When the sun comes out, you can have e.b." I would repeat things like that throughout the day. Then at night-I would nurse her right before bed, I would bring a sippycup of water into bed, and when she woke up, I would say "mommy's night-night. eb's night-night. You can have some water, then you go night-night." I would offer her the sippy cup, cuddle with her, and just keep whispering "it;s night night time. mommy's night-night, eb's night-night, etc..." It really only took about a week. Yeah, she cried-but not as badly as I thought she would, and I was able to comfort her, and she did go back to sleep. In the beginning, she would wake up super early for her, like 6, and I would say, it's daytime, you can have eb, and she would go back to sleep. Eventually she slept later and later. And I noticed a difference in her during the day immediately-she was much less cranky-she also needed the restful sleep. Without the availability of nursing-they start sleeping through the night pretty quickly, maybe waking up once in a while for a sip of water. Also, if you sleep naked, like me, cover those puppies up!

Whew, that was a long post-pm if you have any questions.