Weaning Help? - Circle Pines,MN

You are right, you are a human pacifier. He doesn't need to eat at night. He needs to develop ways to calm himself down. When he wakes up, wait 15 minutes longer than you have been before going in to him. Gradually increase the wait time and eventually he will give it up. Make sure he is warm enough but not too warm so he isn't waking up out of discomfort. It is possible for babies as young as 2 weeks old to sleep through the night so there is no real need for this.

He will be happier in the long run if he learns to calm himself down instead of you needing to do it. Give him enough respect to believe that he is capable of doing this.

I am struggling with this as well. My son is 12 months and he is off the bottle and uses a cup all day at daycare. I have tried to not nurse him during the day, but he gets really fussy until I do. He also wakes at night and will not sleep through the night. I am not good with the cry it out method. Not at this age anyway. Some of the things I read were helpful. I agee with the cup thing, try that. I would not give him a bottle either. Good Luck and Congrats for nursing as long as you did!!

You don't have to completely wean to wean at night. I night weaned my kids at 18 months. Try "The No-Cry Sleep Solution" by Elizabeth Pantley. Instead of offering a bottle at night with water use a sippy cup that along with the methods in the book helped me. I would recommend continuing to nurse as long as possible. You can shape it to fit your needs. I nursed my daughter until she was 2 1/2 yrs & am currently nursing my son who is almost 2 1/2. I plan to let him self wean. I am able to leave overnight & for the whole day if I want to (I usually end up missing him pretty quickly). This is such a short time that will fly by. Take care of yourself & your own needs & you will not feel so overwhelmed.
Brekka

M.,

I know exactly what you are going through. Both of my boys were night wakers to nurse (and not good sleepers until they were weaned). I was tired, therefore weak, and nursed them at night way longer than I had intended. I night weaned my first around 10-11 months, and the second recently at 15 months. Although, my toddler was super sick last week, so we got back in the habit of nursing at night so now I am starting over.

What I have done, is offer a sippy cup with water (not a bottle), and just rock him until he calms down and will lay back down. Sometimes this takes an hour and it is exhausting, but it only took a few nights and he was sleeping from 7:30 p.m. until 5:00 or 5:30 a.m. I am still nursing at bedtime and at the 5:30 time. I intend to cut out the bedtime nursing in a week or two.

When I weaned my older son the 5:00 a.m. was the last to go, he just started sleeping through it and that was that.

Good luck to you! Be strong, and good for you for nursing for so long.

J.
SAHM to Charlie (3) Joey (16 months) and #3 due Nov.