Weaning suggestions

[CandiceJones]

My daughter recently turned 1 and still nurses 12 -13 times a day at least on top of solid meals and snacks at least once every couple of hours. She nurses a couple times a night and will only go back to sleep after she has nursed. She is using me as a pacifier and nursing for comfort, not food source. Any time I hold her anymore she starts tearing my shirt down so she can nurse and she is not easily distractable. She has never taken a pacifier nor a bottle. The only cup she drinks from is the kind with a spill proof straw and nothing at all when she's tired. I can not and will not just let her cry it out as it seems cruel to me plus she would wake my 3 year old son at night. I did not have this kind of a problem with my son!!

Has anybody had similar problems or have any suggestions as to slowing her down? I'm not necessarily ready to stop nursing all together yet, but I would like to knock her down to just once or twice a day.

[Jacksmommy]

As you know every baby is different, and some are going to need to nurse more and for a longer time. My son, at the age your dd is now, nursed like a newborn. He didn't take to solids much until he was 2. He was also cutting teeth pretty much the entire year from age 1 to age 2. What helped me was to remember that this was a fairly short lived phase where he was greatly in need of comfort, and yes he also was getting great nutrition from me. I also gave him Hyland's teething tablets daily or more depending on the day. We also co-slept, and for us this cut down on the night time nursing. Having me close seemed to be enough comfort for some of it. He still night nursed - just not quite so much.
If your dd is really needing to nurse 12 or 13 times a day and several times a night, it might be unrealistic to think that you can painlessly cut her down to once or twice a day. What might be better it to try to reduce the length of some of the nursing sessions and to give her teething tablets. Snacks and distractions might help some too. For my son, he naturally started to slow down on his nursing when he wasn't cutting teeth - so it was a little less after the eye-teeth came in and then more again when the 2 year molars started. Then after the 2 year molars it slowed down again.

[CandiceJones]

She does nurse like a newborn. She has never nursed for more than 5-10 minutes per session since she was born. She was a preemie and I've always let her feed on demand but now she screams and drags my shirt down at least once an hour only to nurse maybe 2-5 minutes. This is on top of cow milk, water, meals and snacks. We do co-sleep but there are nights she won't sleep unless she is latched on all night long, literally. As I said, she has made me her pacifier. It's not necessarily that she needs less of my milk, just nurse for longer periods of time less often! I'm to the point of exhaustion from lack of sleep and can never get anything accomplished during the day. The problem is I'm a stay at home mom with no real babysitter possibilities so we are together 24-7.

[CandiceJones]

I guess I should add that I've tried supplementing several kinds of formula but she won't have anything to do with it.

[Jacksmommy]

This is what I recommend for night weaning. http://www.drjaygordon.com/development/ap/sleep.asp
For during the day, have you tried teething tablets or other teething remedies to see if they help at all?

[Jacksmommy]

You may find that night weaning will allow you enough extra sleep to be okay with more nursing during the day. You may also find that nightweaning will help her to sleep better at night enough so that she doesn't need to nurse constantly during the day. Of course there are babies who will still wake just as much at night whether you nurse them or not, but hopefully this won't be the case for you.

[CandiceJones]

Thanks, I read the article and am going to give it a try.