Advice needed - night weaning a toddler

[Emz1982_in_uk]

Hi all,

Well my daughter turns two in 2 weeks and I need to night wean. For the love of my own sanity I need a good nights sleep. This girl loves the boobies and she is still feeding all night sometimes. I don't mind her feeding in the day/bedtime but the night feeds have to go. She co sleeps with us from about 1am. Tbh I've kept feeding her during the night because she cries so badly for them that she wakes up my pre schooler. So it was easier to stick a boob in her mouth.

I've tried patting her and saying milk is sleeping etc but she cries even more. What did work last night was water. It's the summer holidays soon so I want to wean when it doesn't matter if she wakes up our son. Any one out there with success stories?

 

[steph.]

My lo was younger (about 13-14months) and we didn't co-sleep so not sure if our story will be very helpful. But basically we had to go cold turkey. We tried offering her water but it would just enrage her even more so what worked eventually is that I (and my boobs) would stay out of the way while my hubby settled her. The first night was awful, it took a good half hour to re-settle her and she woke up again later crying, and dh had to re-settle her again. Second night was much better, and by night 5 she stopped asking. Don't know how that would go down with a 2 year old though, good luck!

 

[BigAl]

I weaned my 16m old because I couldn't cope with the sleep any more. Same as pp really just did cold turkey and my oh coslept with him for 4 nights. He was OK after that, first night was the worst.

 

[MrsSmartie]

Was about to post this myself. My 14 month old feeds all night and I can't take it anymore. I really want another baby and I am starting to resent BFing because my cycles haven't started. I am happy to still feed in the day but night is awful, particularly from 5am when the sun is up. It is just constant. I am so upset and nervous at the thought of it for him though, I am no good at it so I think I need to sleep downstairs for a while. For those who did that and co-slept usually, how were they when you came back into the bed? Did they still not ask for boobs?

 

[BigAl]

I think I went back to cosleeping on the 4th or 5th night. He was a little grumpy at first when it finally hit home no more milk, but he didn't cry. He only really got upset on the 1st night with oh.

 

[MrsSmartie]

DH says he is up for it too. We are going to try this week. I am so anxious, I just feel so guilty in advance but I really hope it will be for the best. I don't want to be feeling this way about it, I want to still BF him but right now I am not enjoying it. Eek, wish me luck.

 

[BigAl]

Good luck, tbh you might find it harder than him.

 

[patch2006uk]

https://drjaygordon.com/attachment/sleeppattern.html

We followed this pretty much with my eldest at 9 months, but just to extend his feeds to every 4 hours rather than every 2 at night He did eventually start sleeping through at 15 months, which we didn't do anything special to encourage, so how it would work for total night weaning I don't know, but it seems a decent place to start

 

[Leids]

I night weaned while pregnant because I was so exhausted. I would turn around in bed so the boobs weren't accessible. Pretty much went cold turkey and after 2 nights he stopped expecting it and slept through. He was upset at first but both DH and I soothed him, sang to him, etc. He's slept so much better since I night weaned.

 

[MrsSmartie]

Update: last night went really well. DH said he woke very frequently (as per usual) but wasn't difficult to settle really, he didn't have to get up with him once! I fed him at 8pm bedtime and came back in at 5.30am and fed him and he slept then until 7.30am solidly (usually from half 5 he is just permanently latched on, and he unlatched himself and dozed off by himself!) Amazed and so pleased. Will stay out of the bed for another few nights and then adjust again with me in the bed. Hooray! And FXed that a 10 hour gap between feeds will be enough to bring back AF.

 

[Emz1982_in_uk]

Hey how is the weaning going MrsSmartie? My LO is telling me no more milk and is not feeding as often. Tonight she fell asleep with just a cuddle, whoch was the first time ever. Hopefully night weaning won't take too long but we are doing it gently at the moment.

 

[MrsSmartie]

Well we did it for about a week quite successfully, with no feeding until 5.30am but then he cut 3 molars and was miserable and I didn't have the heart to stop him feeding when he needed the comfort. I also got AF which was good and also stopped me worrying so much about weaning yet, if it doesn't come again this month we will try again but happy to plod on as usual for now! Definitely doable though.

 

[Emz1982_in_uk]

Well we started night weaning a week ago. First 4 nights she woke a good few times and cried but for minutes each time only. Then night 5 no crying at all but two wakings. Night 6 she slept through for the first time in her whole life. Night 7 she woke once and cried a lot for about 5 minutes at 2am. Night 7 she woke once, came into our bed and went straight to sleep, I didn't even know she was in my bed until 5.30am when my DH got up for work.

I feel so much better for getting bigger chunks of sleep. I'm still feeding her in the day and at bedtime but night weaning was definitely right for us. Hopefully it will continue to go great.