Hellobee Boards

Oh and I also have days where I am totally over breastfeeding, but I am not ready to give it up yet. Setting limits really helps my sanity. When we first started night weaning, my tendency was to just let him go back to on demand during the day, but I think it actually really helps even at night to narrow down the times that we nurse during day time. For me, telling him "we aren't gonna nurse till nap or bedtime. Are you ready for bed now?" Totally works usually!

Oh, I should add that when I did this I didn't cut out the bedtime nursing session, only the wake ups.

I just night weaned my cosleeping toddler (I started at about 16 months and now she's 18 months). It has not helped her sleep better at night, but she's always been a crappy night sleeper.

It took me two months to fully night wean because instead of going cold turkey I would nurse at her first wake up (around 11), and then again at about 5am or so. I did that for about a month until one night I just refused to nurse. I'm pregnant and just couldn't take it anymore. My nipples were killing me and she would occasionally bite me in her sleep.

We still cosleep but I just offer water in a cup, and then I'll lay with her and rub her back. She does wake up for the day at about 630 or 7 now instead of 8.

I always say to her "no milk, just snuggling" at her night wake ups (which are still the same as when she was nursing). She's a little younger than yours though, so I'm not sure how much she really understood at first. I think it may have confused her that I'd nurse sometimes at night and not at others. Now I just nurse once the sun is up, which I think she finds less confusing. Once I went cold turkey, it only took her two nights to understand (and now she rarely asks for milk during her wake ups).

She definitely cries at night and still wakes up 3ish times per night but now I just sing to her, or I'll rub her back, or pat her butt, or whatever. But our nursing relationship is so much better now that my boobs get some time to rest.

So it hasn't been easy and it hasn't made her a better sleeper, but I'm much happier. I basically wanted to night wean because the nursing was painful and uncomfortable for me. And not surprisingly, my crappy sleeper is still a crappy sleeper. And we haven't nursed to sleep since she was like 5 months old. She puts herself to sleep for all naps and at night, but she just wakes up like she's much younger.

I'm kind of hoping it'll get better soon but it's been about three weeks or so and while I feel better and more rested, her sleep hasn't improved.

ETA: I just realized this was super negative, but overall I just wanted to acknowledge that I have a bad sleeper. And even with a bad sleeper I managed to night wean successfully! Good luck. It was rough but once I went cold turkey it was much easier.

My son slept with us as well. He got into the habit of looking for the boob all night and I was getting exhausted. I wanted to get him in his crib because I felt like just being away from me would lessen the night nursing. I didn't really want him to cry so we did it gradually. I would nurse him to sleep and put him in his crib. For a while he would wake up after about 3-4 hours and I would bring him to bed with us. He then started stretching it little by little until one night he slept through the night. I still nursed him to sleep for a while and then one night I didn't offer and just rocked him to sleep. He's now 16 months and sleeping 7:30-7:00 and it's amazing. So there is hope! But a gradual method worked best for us.