Ok so my baby girl is almost 15 months.. I've started weening her from the breast.. I no longer give her the breast at nap time.. I rock her to sleep without milk or anything because she will not take anything like a sippy or bottle at nap time.. It is not a very fun time at nap time it takes from 5 to something 30 or more minutes to get her to sleep.. If she goes to sleep at all.. I'm ready to start weening her from the breast at night.. Can anyone help me.. I don't know exactly what to do.. Any suggestions?
Oh my goodness!! Well here's the news .. it's been like 4 days now and it's going GREAT.. I came up with an idea of making a longer routine so that she would definetly know when bed time was.. Instead of just bath tell everyone good night then bed.. I changed it to bath, tell everyone good night, story time, then a little time where she can go back and look through the pictures herself.. Well the first couple of nights she whined going to sleep but only for like a minute .. Last night she didn't even cry! When I put her in her bed she actually looked at me and said night night then laid her head down. I was the one who wanted to cry last night.. And to make things better she actually slept a full night through..Which hasn't happened in quite awhile.. She's even been drinking milk in the morning when she wakes up and then some through out the day.. I'm half and half about being relieved that she's off the breast now.. I miss the bonding moment but i know that I can't or atleast would not be a good idea to be breast feeding her in college lol.. Well thank you everyone for your help .. I love this site! And all of you!
I know people will disagree with me....but I am still going to throw it out there.
Let her cry it out for a few minutes. At 15 months she is plenty old enough to learn that VERY important skill of self soothing. Let her cry, go in after as many minutes as you can handle, cover her up with her blankie again and give her a pat on the back, say it's time for sleep and leave her be.
Couple of things, try rocking faster or try holding her, stand up, and with her in your arms like a small baby, swing her next to your body back and forth....it's great for your waist and it puts them out pretty fast if you do it fast enough.....their eyes can't focus, so they fall asleep....
Works like a charm for the grandkids........at night, try lying her down and gently bouncing the crib mattress......or just patting her back or butt.....enough to put alittle bounce in there..
Good luck.
Jumping on the bandwagon - she needs to learn to self soothe, which she is PLENTY old enough to be doing. Put her in her bed at naptime, give her maybe a sippy of water, and leave the room. She won't like it, but she needs to learn that naptime means sleeping, not a lot of coddling from her mother. I pretty much do the same at bedtime after songs/stories/general routine. For naptime I have a standing rule that my kids stay in their beds for AT LEAST 1 1/2 hours before I will get them out. They need the rest, and you need the break. If you're persistent (that means "don't cave in and get the baby after they cry for five minutes), she'll eventually figure out that she's not getting rescued and she may as well sleep.
This may sound harsh to some people, perhaps even you, but being a little tough on your kids when it comes to their sleep schedule will eventually make you and them so much happier in the long run.
Maybe also use white noise or music.
I am going to have to agree with those who have already responded in saying to let her cry it out...that is a common answer I read in other sites -
http://www.theskinnyscoop.com/search/naps?utm_campaign=th...
http://www.theskinnyscoop.com/search/breastfeeding?utm_ca...
Let her cry it out a few minutes at a time, she needs to learn to self sooth.
