when do they child-led nite wean?

[Shenjall]

*she asks while yawning...*

Dd is 2 years old and still nite nurses. No biggie as we feel its obviously a need so we let her have it.

But I'm wondering, on average, when do they wean themselves from the nite nursing?
When did your babies wean themselves at night?

[GoldBerry]

My Dd #1 was almost 2 when she quick her middle of the night feeding.

My Dd #2 is only 7 months and loves to nurse at night, but I'd love it if she self weaned earlier!

[velcromom]

I have no idea!!! My ds still nurses at night, he went thru a phase where he'd wake only once several times a week recently and boy was that nice.. now we are back to twice a night not counting the wake-up nursing session. Molars, maybe...

But I do have this on file:

Armstrong KL, Quinn RA & Dadds MR. The sleep patterns of normal children.
Medical Journal of Australia 1994 Aug 1;161(3):202-6.
“It is not until after 24 months that regular night waking (requiring attention) becomes much less common.”


It has at least given me hope that this year things will continue to improve, I don't *hate* nursing at night but it sure is nice when he sleeps thru.

[UrbanPlanter]

DS is almost 34 months and still wakes often at night to nurse.

This is when he nursed last night:
9-9:30pm
11pm
12:30am
fuzzy period - not sure
3:30am - 5:30am when I finally said "no more" but he fussed and cried.
6:30am - nursed before he got out of bed
7:30am - came back to get me and nurse
8:45am - right before going to school
1:00-1:30pm - down for a nap

prediction:
3:30pm - when he wakes up
5:30pm - just when I want to make dinner
maybe once more before going to bed around 8:30pm, when I nurse him to sleep for at least 30 min.

[Chele]

my ds is almost 17 months and he is going strong nite nursing. I would love it if he only did maybe once or twice, which actually happened for a short time, now I know I look at the clock 3,4, or more times at night while he is nursing. It sounds like absolute heaven to sleep non stop for 8 hours, I used to be such a sound sleeper before becoming mama. I just can't even imagine that now. I do try to just rub his little bum for a few moments to see if that will be enough to settle him back in, it works sometimes. I don't know about you all but I feel I can hang in until he is 2, after that I just don't know.
I am glad to hear that others are going through the same thing.

[spirit4ever]

My ds is 32 months (3 in May) and still wakes at night to nurse...however he's just finished getting his 2 yr molars (was waking a lot) and is already sleeping better. Last night he was up at 3...then again at 5:30, which he then nursed on and off till 8 when he was up for the day.

[Shenjall]

So it seems we have a way to go yet.....
I guess its time to pick up that coffee drinking habit

I have to say, its comforting to know others are in the same boat (tired boat that is....)

Lets all hang in there mamas!

[foreverinbluejeans]

A good minimum age to expect is 3 years.

[Cranberry]

I agree. My ds was over 3 when he stopped nursing at night!

[Shenjall]

I can handle that

[UrbanPlanter]

well, it's only two months away........ I guess I can wait

[be11ydancer]

Our 18 month old nursed hourly the last two nights. She also has 4 teeth about to poke through.

My guess is that when the kid finally has all their teeth, they stop waking up so frequently. Darn those teeth.

My 4 year old still wakes up a couple times per week. Otherwise, she sleeps as soundly as a ferret.

[UrbanPlanter]

nope....... getting all the teeth didn't change a thing for us.

[MamaMonica]

Originally Posted by AdrianneWe

DS is almost 34 months and still wakes often at night to nurse.

This is when he nursed last night:
9-9:30pm
11pm
12:30am
fuzzy period - not sure
3:30am - 5:30am when I finally said "no more" but he fussed and cried.
6:30am - nursed before he got out of bed
7:30am - came back to get me and nurse

This is pretty much the night pattern for my 35 1/2 month old- with a few nursings in the "fuzzy period."

I heard 3 1/2 is when they start to night wean. Hoping three years is a magic number for cutting back on the night nursings.

[UrbanPlanter]

Originally Posted by monnie

This is pretty much the night pattern for my 35 1/2 month old- with a few nursings in the "fuzzy period."

I heard 3 1/2 is when they start to night wean. Hoping three years is a magic number for cutting back on the night nursings.

OY OY OY!

I need uninterrupted

Since November 2001 I have not slept more than 3 continuous hours in a night.

ETA: usually much less than 3 hours.

I used to sleep a solid 8-10 hours on a good night before pregnancy.
OY.

[MamaMonica]

Adriane- I so relate. I used to love to sleep a good eight hours and DREAM. Now I never get deep enough to dream. I know this isn't the place to say it, but I have been laying on my belly and making him fuss to make sure he REALLY wants to nurse. Unfortunately he REALLY wants to nurse- and that's what happens.

[UrbanPlanter]

yeah, I've been hugging a pillow to my chest with hopes that he'll not pursue his nursing request. It rarely works.

[mamajama]

My youngest somehow miraculously night-weaned himself when he was about ten months old. My older child, still woke through the night, at that time though so it only cut out some of my me-time interruptions. They are all so different.

[callmemama]

Ds nightweaned (for the most part) at 2.5 years. Sounds like I was lucky! ETA: Still co-sleeping at 5...

[UrbanPlanter]

A little story about nightweaning:

Two nights ago, I had had enough at around 4:30am.
I decided to try discouraging ds from nursing any more - to wait until the sun came up.
He pitched a huge fit.
DH decided to try to parent him back to sleep himself (this might be the 2nd or 3rd time in 3 years that this has happened).
Well, what ended up happening is they got up out of bed, went to the bathroom with the light on (which woke them up even more), played in ds' room, and had breakfast at 5:30am, and never really went back to sleep.

soooooooo..... after trying to get over my guilt (and then thinking, why feel guilty? DH never loses sleep at night)..........

last night at 4:30 am ds woke up to nurse, and I nursed him without any incident, but by 5:15 am he decided that it was time to get out of bed, and insisted that Daddy take him to his big boy bed like last night and then eat bagels.

I tried to dissuade him, saying that he was just reliving the bad experience of the night before when I didn't nurse him, but he insisted, and pitched a fit until DH got up and took care of him.

So DH has lost sleep two nights in a row, and now DS is rejecting me or fighting with me when we are together.

Hindsight: just let the DC nurse.