3 Questions

I don't know about the first two. . .or the third, but I'd love to know how to make the wood stop being squeeky on mine!!!!!!

The light sleeping is probably just a phase. I used to "wear" my sons blanket or teddy bear under my shirt all evening to make it smell like me. Then I'd put it in the crib with him at night so that he would feel more secure. I don't know if it really helps, but at least it made me feel like I was doing something constructive instead of just waiting and wondering when this phase would end.

Around age 1 babies become very aware of the world and they don't want to miss a thing. My super champ sleeper suddenly started waking all the time around 12 months and that's what i read. It was just a phase and passed soon enough.

As to the weaning, just take it slow. Have you introduced whole milk? He needs something to replace the breastmilk so if you haven't you need to start that before you begin to decrease the nursings.

Weaning ... everyone does it differently, I think. It depends on your kiddo's temperament, I think. Kids are very easily distracted between 12-18 months, so the distraction method works well then. "Oh, you want to nurse? Just a sec, let's do this first." We weaned very gradually, to the point that my son nursed once a day for most of the last year (he nursed 'till age 2). Other moms wean cold turkey. They just stop, deal with the engorgement and pain ...and baby's tears. That seemed like way too much trouble for me. Ugh. Didn't want to go through it, and I would have missed having my "magic" trick for getting my reluctant napper to sleep mid-day. Gradual was the way to go for us. I never even get engorged. However you wean, be careful not to get too over-engorged. You don't want to get mastitis.

We nightweaned somewhere around 18 months when I'd had enough of waking up at night, though. I just stopped nursing him between 11 pm and 5 am. Dr. Sears has a good page on it: http://www.askdrsears.com/html/7/t070800.asp

For the light sleeping, try a white-noise machine to mask background noises. My son started sleeping more heavily around 18 months. He was a very light sleeper from birth. He'll sleep through a thunderstorm now.

I would turn the chair upside down and drizzle wood glue into any loose joints of the rocking chair. Let it dry for half-a-day before rocking in it again.

Weaning is different for every child, and I'm not going to go there.

But for the light sleep, have you tried a white noise machine? They work well for lots of families.

And the squeaking chair: try Chair Doctor Glue (google for descriptions and sources). It causes the wood to swell in joints and connections, and re-glues any loose bits. Works great.

Light sleeping could be molars- my son will go 3-7 days sometimes when he gets one.
Weaning, I prefer the "quiting when you're both ready" method, but at this age he really should only need it once a night, so maybe you could compromise and work on slowing down to that? I'd do this after the teething though, because they need the comfort during the pain.
The way I did this was when my son would wake up, I'd wait a little while each time before I went in (no more than ten minutes). Within four days he was sleeping for longer stretches.
He's 17 months now and I still go in once a night sometimes, but quite often he'll sleep through the night on his own. We didn't do any harsh weaning or cry it out methods, we did it slowly and it felt very natural for both of us.
Good luck! :)

Weaning a child can be a trying time... if he is still waking up in the middle of the night at this age it might be time to increase his solid food intake and make sure he has a full tummy ( not just milk) before he goes to bed. Make sure the bedtime nap is nutritious but something that will stick to his ribs not oatment/rice cereal something of that nature. Plus just not nursing him at night if you think you are just being used as a pacifer to help him go to sleep. If you are nursing him asleep at night I would stop that all together. yes.. it will be a trying time and you will have to change this gradually but this method worked for me and my daughter in law who weaned her daughter at 13-14 months. It doesn't take long but it is trying.

As far as the light sleeper I would put him down with a radio playing softly in the background so that he will get used to noise when he sleeps, or try one of those little waterfalls that have an trickling water sound that sooth.. Also I would just start living your normal life when he is sleeping including naps. Some kids are just light sleepers and you have to adjust them to normal noises, when kids are like this we stop doing the normal things because we are so tired and just want them to sleep which can make them very light sleepers. Not sure on the sqeaky rockers, most of them are..you can try some furniture wax in to the joint areas to see if that helps but i tried this on my rocker and it was only a temporary fix... I finally just got used to the squeaky noise of the rocking chair.

I used a fan in each child's room by the door facing the wall unless it is hot (not a quiet fan!) for a nice constant noise maker to help my children sleep. It works wonderful. You could also use an air purifier. Also look at the placement of your child's bed. Is it close to the door? Move it away further into the room in a corner where it is more secluded......C.

i nursed my daughter until she was 13 months but at 12 months I started the weaning. For me I just started to cut out about one feeding a week but as for the night feeding it was all at once. They get confused if you go in one time to feed them but the next so it's better to just be done all at once. With my second I was planning to do the CIO method (like I did with my first) but she cried for like 10 to 20 seconds and that was it.....it wasn't bad at all. So you could try that. As for the light sleeping....get a sound machine! It will change your life. You can find them on line or in some stores in the bath/spa isle. It makes the white noise and blocks out all the other sounds. I have one for both my girls and I can run the vacuum, laugh loud, ring the door bell etc and they don't even hear it.

Hi S.,

When my daughter was 9 months she was still getting up several times during the night to nurse. Her pediatrician said there was no reason for her to nurse at night so I let her cry it out. The first time she cried about 45 minutes, the second about 30 minutes, the third a few minutes, and then she was done. She was used to me getting her back to sleep and needed to learn how to do it on her own.
We use sound machines in our kids bedrooms. They help drown out outside noises and then we don't have to worry about being so quiet. The ones we have are from Walmart. I have seen them at Bed Bath & Beyond and Kohl's. If you go this route make sure it has a "white noise" setting, unless you think your daughter would like to listen to a babbling brook or ocean waves.
Good luck!

no clue about a squeaking rocker, but you need to read Secrets of the Baby Whisperer to solve your other problems