DD wakes up at 3:30 am on the button and can't get back to sleep without boobies! We're EXHAUSTED, and at a loss....Help!!!<br><br>
DD is 26 mo and a pretty avid nurser throughout the day and night, but has learned to go long day hours (4-9) without and to wait. For several reasons we decided to nightwean now*. She'd been waking every few hours still and it's no longer manageable.<br><br>
We talked to her about it, did the "boobies go night night", told her she could still "touch" the boobies (which had been okay with her), set the flashing light alarm for 5 am so she can see when she can have milk again. For the first week or so it went more or less fine, with overall improvement, but then... BLAM!!<br><br>
She goes to sleep around 8:30 pm -- sleeps through her old 10ish and 1ish nursings -- but wakes at 3:30 and CANNOT fall back to sleep. She gets frustrated and mad and thrashy. Not so much at not having milk, but at not being able to sleep. I've read your'e supposed to choose a 7 hour stretch for them not to nurse and that that's usually 11-6....but she's not waking before 11, and 8:30 - 3:30 is not cutting it.<br><br>
We've taken her out to watch ballet videos, we changed that to reading books in bed to help her calm back down, snuggles..she gets quiet, she almost - ALMOST !- falls asleep and then she's up again and annoyed. The sleep deprivation is affecting all of us terribly. Weird thing is, when she wakes up during nap and I'm not here, or at 1 am, she CAN get herself back to sleep. But this 3:00 thing is different somehow.<br><br>
Is it too early for her to night wean? How do I help her sleep?<br><br>
Last night I "gave in" at 4:15 and she fell asleep in 5 minutes or so. Mostly b/c DH was having a nervous exhausted breakdown and TWO of them complaining was too too much (he has since apologized profusely). <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/greensad.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="greensad"> I figured she'd keep tossing til 5am anyway like the nights before, and so it's all the same to her as she can't tell time -- isn't it? 3:30 or at 5 am it's all the same to her, isn't it? She doesn't realize it's been an hour or two does she?<br><br>
Sigh. I swore I wouldn't ramble! ANYONE HAVE ANY IDEAS HERE????<br><br>
*Long story short, reason #3 is that I have to go away alone for 3 nights next month, so she's going to have to go a weekend without night milk anyway. I was hoping it wouldn't have to be such a traumatic extreme for her or DH.
DD is 26 mo and a pretty avid nurser throughout the day and night, but has learned to go long day hours (4-9) without and to wait. For several reasons we decided to nightwean now*. She'd been waking every few hours still and it's no longer manageable.<br><br>
We talked to her about it, did the "boobies go night night", told her she could still "touch" the boobies (which had been okay with her), set the flashing light alarm for 5 am so she can see when she can have milk again. For the first week or so it went more or less fine, with overall improvement, but then... BLAM!!<br><br>
She goes to sleep around 8:30 pm -- sleeps through her old 10ish and 1ish nursings -- but wakes at 3:30 and CANNOT fall back to sleep. She gets frustrated and mad and thrashy. Not so much at not having milk, but at not being able to sleep. I've read your'e supposed to choose a 7 hour stretch for them not to nurse and that that's usually 11-6....but she's not waking before 11, and 8:30 - 3:30 is not cutting it.<br><br>
We've taken her out to watch ballet videos, we changed that to reading books in bed to help her calm back down, snuggles..she gets quiet, she almost - ALMOST !- falls asleep and then she's up again and annoyed. The sleep deprivation is affecting all of us terribly. Weird thing is, when she wakes up during nap and I'm not here, or at 1 am, she CAN get herself back to sleep. But this 3:00 thing is different somehow.<br><br>
Is it too early for her to night wean? How do I help her sleep?<br><br>
Last night I "gave in" at 4:15 and she fell asleep in 5 minutes or so. Mostly b/c DH was having a nervous exhausted breakdown and TWO of them complaining was too too much (he has since apologized profusely). <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/greensad.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="greensad"> I figured she'd keep tossing til 5am anyway like the nights before, and so it's all the same to her as she can't tell time -- isn't it? 3:30 or at 5 am it's all the same to her, isn't it? She doesn't realize it's been an hour or two does she?<br><br>
Sigh. I swore I wouldn't ramble! ANYONE HAVE ANY IDEAS HERE????<br><br>
*Long story short, reason #3 is that I have to go away alone for 3 nights next month, so she's going to have to go a weekend without night milk anyway. I was hoping it wouldn't have to be such a traumatic extreme for her or DH.
