[irishprincess71]

How do I train my DS to not need me to sleep at night? We were doing so well for awhile and now it has gotten really bad. He will nurse to sleep and stay asleep in our bed when I get up. But once I get into bed with him he has to be up against me all night long. Last night he would not sleep for more than 5 minutes without my boob in his mouth.

Also, at what point do I start and how do I nightwean?

 

[Raven]

nak

I cant say this is true for all babies, but at that age my dd went thru a sort of separation anxiety phase where she wanted to see me all the time and sleep up aganst me like your ds is doing.

Also - he may be going thru a growth spurt and the frequent nursing may be upping your milk supply for when the spurt is over, kwim?

My advice would be to ride it out for a while and see how it goes. Amber did this for a couple of weeks and then went back to only nursing a few times at night and didnt have to be pressed against me.

As far as weaning goes - this is something you have to decide on a personal level. Only you will know if your son is ready to be weaned. IMO he is still a bit young.

I hope this helps you...

 

[clothcrazymom]

My experience has been that children will go through phases of this throughout their nursing days.

I would agree that 8 months would be way too young to night wean.

 

[Colorful~Mama]

i agree, but at 10.5 months i'm doing some modified gentle sleep training/night weaning. Dr. Jay Gordons plan.

http://www.drjaygordon.com/ap/sleep.htm

Night three will be tonight. He still wakes 7-8 times per night and i'm just no good to the other kids the next day. We're slowly, gently working toward it. No crying. If its not working i nurse a bit longer, then pop off and try again.

good luck

 

[Piglet68]

Is it just you coming to bed? In other words, would he sleep all night if you weren't there? Maybe you could have him in sidecar arrangement, or on a smaller matress beside your bed. But then if he will not sleep past a certain amount of time whether you are there or not, it may not help.

I agree, hard as this is to hear right now, that it's almost certainly a phase. Your son doesn't need to be "trained" any more than my DD did (she never went through a "needs boob in mouth all night" phase).

Personally, my threshold for nightweaning is pretty high. I waited until DD was showing signs of readiness (popping off the breast before being fully asleep, turning over and snuggling to sleep) before we started. She will be 2 next month.

Most of the gentle weaners like NCSS and Dr. Jay recommend waiting a year. It is entirely possible that your DD needs to nightnurse (maybe not with a nipple in the mouth all night long, but enough that nightweaning would be detrimental).

Anyways, the thing to do is give it a try and see how baby reacts. They will let you know right away if they are ready for it or not. And we must honour that as parents. We wouldn't try to force them to ride a bike before they were ready, as it is with other things.

Good luck!

 

[DaryLLL]

Babies this age can experience extreme pain from teething. Mine sure did! It was a nightmare. Nightwaking tends to ebb and flow as teeth erupt.

Also, if they are eating too many solids too soon this can cause tummy aches, causing them to wake frequently.