Night weaning

[Mocosita]

Ds is 18 months and he still has not slept through the night. the most he has ever slept consecutively has been 5 hours; but typically he sleeps about 2-3 hours, wakes up to nurse and then there's no telling. it could be every 2 hours, every hour or sometimes, if I'm lucky I get one last feeding around 5 am.

I'm starting to consider night weaning; hoping that he would sleep longer eventually and I can finally get some rest..... Any tips? I'm getting almost as sore as when he was a newborn, maybe those 2 year old molars are coming in!

[whitnessforhim]

My DD is the same exact way...to the T!! She'll be 15mo. next week. I assume she's this way because I work full-time. She definitely holds out as much as she can till I get home. But it is very tiring. I keep thinking doesn't she want more sleep?!?! lol...I'd be interested in seeing the responses.

I'm not interested in completely night weaning but is there a way to get them to cut back. If she would just cut out at least ONE of those nursing sessions i'd be happy with that...not to hijack but I wonder how possible this is?

[Jacksmommy]

My ds did not sleep through the night until after he cut his 2 year molars. In fact his most frequent night waking happened between 9 months and 2 years. It was a lot like he was a newborn - except he had teeth and was insistant on being right next to me or on top of me and latched on most of the night. I gave him yogurt before bed to try to curb hunger and teething tablets to ease the discomfort of teething. We co-slept during that time. He still woke frequently to nurse though I do think the yogurt and teething tablets helped. Once those teeth came in, his waking decreased greatly, and he went back to sleep more quickly when he did wake in the night.
I never tried to night wean him. He seemed to need me, and I doubted that nightweaning would improve his sleep. I don't have any real advice. I just wanted to share that this will get better.

[Peanut1207]

I just night weaned mine at 13 months which is kinda young but I was exhausted and needed my life back a little bit. We would go out to dinner and he would be up 7 or 8 times a night, it was awful. He had slept through the night maybe 5 times in 13 months so I knew he could make it. We gave him a big dinner and I'd send DH in with a bottle of water. He was not a happy camper the first two nights but by the end of a week he was sleeping through the night. It was definitley harder on me than on him...DH was a huge help though. He woke with him and went to comfort every time he cried. He still wakes occassionally and will cry for a couple minutes before settling back into sleep. If he cries for more than 3 or 4 minutes I go get him and comfort but no more night nursing. It's a little sad becaus I loved those peaceful nights but it is so nice to be able to sleep through an entire night myself (although I often still wake when he would've woken up). good luck. you'll know the right time for you! i still nurse him before bed and in the AM, i didn't make that clear!

[whitnessforhim]

Thanks Jacksmom your post helped me put everything back into perspective. I am 100% for attachment parenting so any form of CIO or sleep training wouldn't work for me. I do agree that if my baby is waking at night it is because she needs me, every time. I want to respond to those needs, every time.

[Jacksmommy]

I'll tell you something else Whitness, that I just love about how bedtime has always gone here. Jack loves bedtime. He always has. I really do feel like, for him, knowing that I'll be there whenever he needs me, is a big part of that.

[whitnessforhim]

I'll tell you something else Whitness, that I just love about how bedtime has always gone here. Jack loves bedtime. He always has. I really do feel like, for him, knowing that I'll be there whenever he needs me, is a big part of that.


Zani is the same way. She may nurse a lot but she never fights sleep or bedtime. When the lights go off she looks at me, pats the bed (like I use to do to tell her to lay down) and lays down to nurse to sleep.

How do you think sleeping arrangments will go when #2 gets here? This is always in the back of my mind since I know we plan on having more in the near future.

[Jacksmommy]

Zani is the same way. She may nurse a lot but she never fights sleep or bedtime. When the lights go off she looks at me, pats the bed (like I use to do to tell her to lay down) and lays down to nurse to sleep.

How do you think sleeping arrangments will go when #2 gets here? This is always in the back of my mind since I know we plan on having more in the near future.


That's so cute. I love to hear stories of babies going to bed happily.
As to the sleeping arrangements here, I wonder about that pretty often. Sometimes I think it will be easy enough. I'll nurse Jack to sleep or lay with him - whichever he chooses. He'll fall asleep happily while dh holds the new baby. I'll sneak out of Jack's room, and he'll sleep through the night (which he usually does). Other times I think the new baby being awake at night will wake Jack who will want me to come lay with him, but I'll be nursing the new baby and unsure of how to handle both at the same time. Dh has never been particularly helpful at night. He's a very deep sleeper.
I just hope it will all go well. I guess we'll see.

[whitnessforhim]

That's so cute. I love to hear stories of babies going to bed happily.
As to the sleeping arrangements here, I wonder about that pretty often. Sometimes I think it will be easy enough. I'll nurse Jack to sleep or lay with him - whichever he chooses. He'll fall asleep happily while dh holds the new baby. I'll sneak out of Jack's room, and he'll sleep through the night (which he usually does). Other times I think the new baby being awake at night will wake Jack who will want me to come lay with him, but I'll be nursing the new baby and unsure of how to handle both at the same time. Dh has never been particularly helpful at night. He's a very deep sleeper.
I just hope it will all go well. I guess we'll see.

You'll have to let me know how it goes. I hope it works out smoothly.

Our DH's sound very simular in that category...lol

[Mocosita]

Thanks for the input ladies! Thankfully dh is very good about trying to help me with ds. I usually enlist his help when ds has already woken up and it's been less than an hour and he's up wanting to nurse again.....

I'm not too determined to night wean but at least cut down the # of nursings per night. ds must be getting his molars, I will try the yogurt and tablets.....thanks everyone!

[Jacksmommy]

One more thing I always forget to mention is to suggest to those who don't already have it, some kind of white noise in the room where baby sleeps - a fan, a humidifier, an air purifier - something like that. Jack was a super light sleeper until about age 2. Any little noise would wake him. This really helped.

[USAFeyez06]

Just wanted to share my experience. I am currently still nursing my 15 month old, however when she began teething around 8 months, she woke so frequently (sometimes every half hour) and every time she woke, I would nurse her back to sleep. After about a month of this and the tooth had long come out, I realized she had actually fallen into a habit and it was not necessary to nurse her every single time. I did enlist my husbands help with this one. I had him start going in to comfort her and walk her around and put her back to sleep. Sometimes, she would go back to sleep and other times, she wouldn't, and then I would go back in and nurse. However, I think the trick here was when she did wake and DH would walk her around and comfort her, he was extending the amount of time that she had woken up, but not nursed (even if I did have to go in eventually to feed her back to sleep). So, eventually she slept longer stretches without "wanting" to feed.

She is currently teething (I feel like she is ALWAYS teething - lol) and she does wake up at night. Every once in a while, we'll have a really rough night and she'll wake up 5 times or something... on those nights she sleeps in the swing in our room with us (yes, still tiny enough to be under the 25 lb limit for our swing). Recently, she has slept through the night at about 12 hours and wakes refreshed, however, most of the time, it's 2 or 3 times, and that's when she's due for some more meds to ease the pain. My husband always gets up and responds to her first. If he cannot get her back to sleep, I nurse her back to sleep... I always know when it's teething pain and she wants comfort because she will NOT got back to sleep without nursing. However, with DH going in first, this helps to keep her from forming a habit or some type of ritual where she stirs, realizes she's awake, and cries so that she can suck on mommy! LOL

I don't think night weaning will help your little one sleep through the night, however, it's not necessary for him to be feeding every half hour to hour either. They are little stinkers, though and will find a way to try and take advantage of the system. The hard part is trying to decipher whether or not they are really hurting, hungry, and wanting comfort, or if they are just looking to nurse and be close to momma (which isn't always so bad). Besides, what baby wouldn't want to be coddled, comforted, and nursing with their mamma as much as possible?!!! It's a great place to be! LOL I do understand the lack of sleep, though. Just gotta find what works for you guys!

Good luck momma!

P.S. And oh yes, I second the white noise. My dd is a light sleeper as well. She slept with white noise (a sound machine) and classical baby music until about 13 months. Doesn't sleep with the music anymore, but continues to sleep with her white noise as well as a cool mist humidifier. Definately give that whirl if you haven't already!

[Peanut1207]

I guess I'm a little defensive after reading the posts after mine so I'm wanting to defend my actions. We did do I guess some kind of modified sleep training but he was never allowed to cry for long periods of time alone in a dark room, the most like I said was 3-4 minutes. And he goes to bed without a fuss now. There is no crying, he doesn't mind bedtime often when I ask if he's read for bed he'll walk upstairs himself and get his blanket. He often smiles and snuggles in with his blanket after his night nursing. he had learned that i would come no matter what and he really did not need to be nursing at night anymore. about a month later he still sometimes wakes and i'll go snuggle him for a few minutes and he'll go back down. not nursing and not responding are 2 different things. hope it worked out for you :)