does your 2-3 year old still night nurse?

[kindacrunchy]

My son is 26 months old, co-sleeps, and still nurses at night anywhere from 2-5 times. My doula, who was also an extended breast feeder commented on how she couldn't believe that he still didn't sleep through the night. Which made me start to think that maybe I should be concerned about a health condition, for example, sleep apnea.
I thought I would see what others have experienced.
Thanks!

[dukeswalker]

Oh yeah - big time!! With dd#1 - she would wake anywhere from 2-6 times a night to nurse. We ended up talking about how my noo-noo's went to sleep when the sun went down and woke up when the sun came up. She never really bought into it until she was almost 3.....

[massaginmommy]

My son is 27 months, he still nurses at night. On the rare occasion he will go to sleep, get put in his bed, and stay there. But most nights he finds his way back to our bed and has to have his mimi's. I think it is fine, for mine it is mostly a comfort thing.

[charmarty]

My gilrs and I night weaned when they were 3.5. It was very hard on them esp, but we had to. We just had to get sleep! And in retrospect, I am very glad we did because now we get more than an hour of sleep at a time.

[MamaAllNatural]

DD night weaned on her own at 3. I think 3 is a common age for self night weaning. 3 and a couple months that is.

[Amoreena]

Karen ~ hi from another socaler! Not exactly in your neighborhood, but socal covers a lot of ground ... check the links in my sig for some regional groups.

My first nightweaned for a while before his sibling arrived at 35 months, and again sometime in the first year after his sibling arrived. For the first couple years he nursed a lot at night. A lot means about every hour around the clock the first year, within every couple hours around the clock the second year.

One of my best friends in Montreal before we moved to socal had a voracious nurser who nursed at night and had to stay latched most of the time and/or with the mom's arm around her. I think she was well into her 3rd year before this started slackening a bit. I believe she's been weaned a while now, she's just past 5yo.

My second doesn't nurse most of the night (he's just turned 3yo), but sometimes he does, and he almost always starts up nursing anywhere from 5 or 6am on and will nurse for maybe an hour sometimes.

I don't think it's that uncommon for a nursling at the age of yours to not be night weaned.

[ellemoon]

My two and a half year old still nurses at night maybe 2 times. She does not stay latched for long - just enough to get back to sleep.

ellen

[Zaxmama]

My DS is 2.5 yo and he NEEDS his boobie to go to sleep but after he is breathing and snoring regularly..I just unlatch..roll him over and sleep on my belly... sometimes this make for a long night..he usually wakes up once or twice..rolls me back over latches on and we both go back to sleep..lather rinse repeat...does extended nursing still make anyone sleepy or is it just me..and does anyone know the name of the hormone that is released while nursing..I was trying to explain it to someone the other day and could not remember..

[UrbanPlanter]

DS turned 3 a couple of weeks ago, and nurses frequently all night long, and does a looooooong marathon every morning before daybreak.

[*Lisa*]

My 2 1/2 year old DD wakes 2-3 times a night to nurse.

[OhMel]

Originally Posted by UrbanPlanter

DS turned 3 a couple of weeks ago, and nurses frequently all night long, and does a looooooong marathon every morning before daybreak.

Mine is the same but 2.5.

[TiredX2]

We "night-weaned" DD at 25 months. That was to nursing at bed time, before 11pm, then again around 4, and then the morning marathon. :LOL She didn't start going from night nursing til morning nursing until she was well into her 3s.

DS is 3.5 and still night nursing (we have not night weaned him so there is not that 4-5 hour window yet).

[DejaSu]

My dd is 27 months and is night weaned. I was having a lot of back pain from her latching on and nursing/sleeping for long periods of time while I was in a weird position. I decided I'd like to night wean her so I started refusing when she woke up in the night and within a CUOPLE nights, she understood "milkies went night-night" and "you can have milkies when you wake up in the morning." I usually nurse her in the morning before we get up, but not always.

She is slowly weaning herself, which is ok with me. Her dad and I are divorcing and I want her to be able to spend the night at his house and be ok... But I am sad at the prospect of her completely weaning, so we're in no rush for that.

[sandyG]

david will be 2 next week and still gets up to nurse myabe 2-5 times
sometime he will get stuck and not let goother times its a breeze to unlatch

[hottmama]

My 26 month old son does not usually nurse at night. He was night weaned at 13 months. If he ever really needs to nurse at night, I let him, but that's rare.

[jlazx2]

I was starting to think my dd had a problem, she would nurse every two hours at night. But this last month she has changed to once a night after nursing a few times before bed. I had read here at mothering that 3 was the magic number so I was jsut holding on hoping. So I am knocking on wood here.

[Mama2ABCD]

my boys were 23 mos and 42 mos when i decided to nightwean. they both woke 2 a night (1am and 4am) to nurse. this is after a 9pm feeding and waking up to a 6:30 marathon.

I don't recommend nightweaning. that is something each family must decide.
but i was had just gotten thru my 1st tri of my 3rd preg, not feeling good, and was not sure if i wanted to nurse 3 at night. plus, the boys slept well when they slept at mamaw's.

I expected it to be a long process. But it took a month. Phasing out each feeding, holding hands and cuddling instead. I still nurse throughout the night when they are sick.

Now, my boys are 3 1/2 and just about to turn 5. My 3 1/2 yo sleeps all night without a problem (most of the time) MY 5 y o. does and always has woken during the night every 3-4 hours. He will come find me no matter where i am in the house when he wakes. I wonder too if he has sleep disorders and then i remember as a child that i always had a hard time sleeping. hard time unwinding the brain until i discovered reading.

i don't worry about it. my oldest does get to nurse at night right now because i'm too confused anymore when i'm sleeping. i don't know who's in my bed and i'm so used to nursing my little girl, i wind up nursing others thinking it's my dd.

i think you should hang in there and not worry about what others are telling you. i think you'd know if your child had a sleeping disorder by now. great job trusting your child's needs!!

[massaginmommy]

The hormone is called prolactin. It is like a drug to us, AH!!!!! I think nursing my children to sleep was for me as much as for them. A great way to relax after a long day. Often ds wants to just be in my arm. It does make for weird sleep positions, but I know it isn't forever and I am trying to cherish his babyhood and not rush him to be a BIG boy.

[MamaAllNatural]

Yes, I have Prolactin dependency issues as well. :LOL

[edamommy]

Yep. My ds is 2yrs 1month and the little bugger has never slept more than a handful of times all night. He nurses multiple times. YES we are concerned and YES we are plotting against him!