Weaning/Teaching 15 Month Old to Sleep

Tell your hubby not to worry - your DD is just used to having YOU put her to sleep.
Her whole world in this short 15 mos has now just changed on her - sp expect some crying. STICK with your plan - don't let her cry alone. Have your husband comfort her until she falls asleep. It might take more than a week and a half, but it will work if you are consistent.
She is also getting old enough to understand some more things, so once you have the night time tackled and move onto the morning or naps, you can tell her - mommy's milk is all gone. Again, she may cry, but it does not mean you can't comfort her!

Good luck!

My son falls asleep before his story is done every night but if you find away to get her to sleep in please let me know my little guy is an early riser too and I would love an extra hour of sleep in the morning.

Sounds familiar! I weaned my son at about 16 months. He was a horrible sleeper and napper until about then too. As hard as it was I just had to get over my heart ripping out whenever I heard him cry. A regular routine really helped him finally adjust. For naps I simply change his diaper, put on his comfy clothes and sleep sac, make sure that he has numerous binkies, put him in his crib, turn on his soothing sound and close the door. About half the time he'll cry and fuss for 10-30 minutes and the other half he goes right down. But he's usually out for a good couple of hours. In the evening it's much the same with story time thrown in. He still gets up fussing sometimes throughout the night but more often than not we don't have to go in.
We only got to this point after a long adjustment period of him learning to self-sooth. I weaned gradually but getting him to sleep without needing the breast (as a binky) took much longer. We really just had to let him cry it out and break the cycle.

So my advice is routine and crying it out. -that and lot's of love! Good luck.

I chose to cut my son off from nursing cold-turkey at 13 months when he was doing something very similar. We transitioned him to a pacifier and my husband just held him and let him cry. After a week, he gave up on crying about it and has been just fine ever since. (BTW, we then weaned him from the pacifier shortly before his second birthday.) You can do it! :)

Ah, the human pacifier...I remember those days well!

My son officially weaned HIMSELF at about 15 months so we didn't have major struggle. At the end he really only nursed a couple times a day, usually to go to sleep.

As I was "weaning" I started with nap time since that's when I have the most patience, trying to come up with other ways to get the kid to sleep. I found that rocking him worked. He'd cry and protest...but eventually he'd fall asleep and quickly this became enough comforting for him to go down for a nap. I tried to do this at night, but with limited patience usually gave in and nursed. Then one night, he decided he was over it...and never nursed again!

After that night we used the rocking to get him to sleep. And by 'rocking' I mean, held sideways and vigorously swung from side to side! lol Not that gentle rocking!

My son is 20 months old now and we still work on the best way to get him to sleep. It's always a work in progress with good days and bad days. Two steps forward and one step back. He's in his own toddler bed though, and depending on my level of patience, have no struggle or tears at bed time, though it takes a while of game playing/power struggle...he goes down with hugs and kisses and some nights sleeps all the way through...but always ends up in our bed first thing in the morning, which is fine with us.

I just think it takes a bit for the kids to readjust to routine and to switch one thing for another. Also, I think they catch on after a couple days that something has changed permanently and freak out! I.e., the first couple days of not rocking him to sleep went fine...and then he realized that wasn't a fluke, I really wasn't rocking him, and he panicked. It takes a lot of patience and understanding that some days are going to be good, some days are going to be bad and to not get attached to either outcome too much! Eventually, EVENTUALLY, they'll put themselves to bed and sleep through the night all on their own. And like nursing, which I was SO through with...we'll miss the days they needed us so intently :(

(i totally cried when he'd weaned himself! i didn't KNOW that last night would be the last! if i'd known, i wouldn't have gotten so frustrated that it was taking him so long to fall asleep... i would have treasured it for what it was...the end :( )

I highly recommend "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child," by Dr. Marc Weissbluth. For my 7, I have referred back to it over and over and it has solved every sleep issue I have ever encountered. Good Luck.