Seeking Help W/ Night Time Nursing

Some ladies may not agree with my advice, but you may want to try nursing in your bed instead of the rocking chair. Nurse while you sleep, then put him back to his crib when he is done. He will stop when he is ready. Good luck with getting some sleep. I feel your pain...

Jen.

At about this age I begin a slow, gradual night weaning process with my husband. It is very gentle and fairly "self-paced" by the baby. It's too long to describe here, but we'll go over it during the Sept sleep class at http://www.inspiredabq.com.

I also recommend The No Cry Sleep Solution by Elizabeth Pantley. She has some gentle solutions to help you. And if your child is teething or sick at all, that can really impact things, so you might want to wait until those clear up. Good luck!

I disagree with some of the posts because he is using you as a pacifier in the middle of the night. You can either give him one or do what I did with my son- I cheated. I packed him full of formula at night- it takes a lot longer to digest than breast milk. Another idea- he wants attention and he thinks it's the boob to get it. Try to just snuggle with him while giving him a bottle. That will be a baby step into transition. I have a sister who breast fed for 2 years and I believe she was crazy but then I found out what it really was. THey wanted exclusive attention (no competition because they were on the boob and the other had to wait) and my sister was getting that external validation. She eventually weened them but they had bad seperation anxiety because she wouldn't let go. I think that I may of hit on something, your 11 month year old wants special mommy time. He has competition and wants to know that you are there when he wants you. In summary- soon take him off the boob. THe longer you wait the more difficult it will be for both of you. I've seen the outcome of too much breast feeding and it isn't pretty. I have a 3-1/2 year old boy. I stopped breast feeding after 2 months because I dried up, however I did the bottle until he wanted to feed more and that's when I started to feed him the semi-solid food. Baby cereal is great they fill up on that like crazy. Hint mix formula with it instead of water. Good luck!

I would get up with my daughter and rock her back to sleep. The first couple nights were brutal because she wanted to nurse, but I stood my ground. I cuddled her and sang to her and soon she got used to not nursing, then we we shortened her rocking and cuddle time. Eventually she would wake and just put herself back to sleep (my husband and I had a 5 minute rule...if she did not fall back asleep in 5 minutes one of us would go get her and rock her).

As for naps...my daughter stopped 2 naps at 10 months. It did no good to try and force her to nap, so we went with it. She did sleep better at night when she got one good nap. I stuck with the morning nap (my son was in school at the time and afternoon naps were difficult). She would take a morning nap and then go to bed at 6:00pm. She is 2 now and still goes to bed by 6:30 and sleeps for 12 hours.

Good Luck on both counts. I know how tired you are. I remember feeling like a zombie when I was where you are now.

What would I do? Take his cues. Other people will say lots of stuff (he doesn't need it, just be firm, blah blah blah), but honestly I would work with him, not against him. If he still feels he needs it, he will let you know. He's not even a year old yet, and still very much a baby. Keeping up with his cues is a lot less tiring and stressful then working against them, only to have everything set back with teething, sickness, etc. Co-sleeping is what saved my sanity because I was, and am, too tired to get up every time. It really can help everyone get better sleep. I really love LLL's Mothering Your Nursing Toddler....at 11 months he is almost a toddler and the advice is wonderful.

When my kids got this age I would just cuddle with them until they fell back asleep. Since they don't need milk at night after 9 months. They would try to nurse but they quickly were ok with just cuddling.

I'm sorry I don't have any great advice for the nursing issue, just the nap question. I think that it is totally a child by child basis on when to drop the am nap. My son dropped his am nap at 9months. He is now 3 and still takes an afternoon nap (most days). When his am nap got to be only a half hour and then his afternoon nap was really short and he was cranky in the evening is when I knew the am nap needed to go. If he didn't have an am nap, his afternoon nap was longer and his evenings were happier. good luck! and congrats on the 2nd one coming!

I'd be careful about dropping the AM nap. More daytime sleep...if really needed, has a positive effect, usually, on nighttime sleep. Does your other child's sleep pattern coordinate well with the one of the younger...or does not matter? can you get sleep during the naps? Maybe the night waking/nursing would not be so draining then.
Co-sleeping took care of any need to use a rocker, in my case...so I can't say much as to that hard work of having to get up an re-locate for night nursing. Good luck!
Everything in child care seems to have its ups and downs...rarely is something a permanent fix.

I noticed the times his night nursings increase are when things are stressful he needs you to help him settle back into his life again - away from home, uncomfortable with teething, sick with a cold. You are his mama and he is not using you; he needs you.

A suggestion is to bring him to bed with you when he wants to nurse or put his crib in your room. It is SO much easier to meet his night time needs when he is close to you - you barely need to wake up!

If you do choose to wean him from night nursings, do so gently. Hold him and rock him and let him know that you are still there for him, but your breasts are not.

Here are 2 great articles on the subject:
http://www.askdrsears.com/faq/sl1.asp
http://www.askdrsears.com/html/7/T070300.asp

Good luck! Enjoy that baby! :)