gently nightweaning and stopping feed to sleep?

[twobecome3]

she is 2.5 and always has been fed to sleep for naps and nighttime, and feeds often at night.

went to the dentist they said her teeth were decalcifying a bit but not a huge concern, referred us on to a child dentist for a few months later. had our appointment yesterday and they want to pull 2 teeth and fill 2 cavities!

im feeling a bit shitty, like this is my fault and I need to stop nightfeeding and feed to sleep as the milk is sitting on her teeth.

how/where do I start??


eta: I know the teeth are bothering her at this point. when we had the referral appmt yest the dentist said a lot of her restlessness at night is likely due to her teeth. so do I just keep on with giving her the comfort at night until she has the dental work done?

 

[noon_child]

Firstly I think it is very rare for breastfeeding to be the sole reason for tooth decay so I bet there is a genetic factor.

In terms of gentle approaches, I found the best way was to only allow active feeding and as soon as it gets lazy and she's not swallowing, unlatch her. She will probably resist at first and want to go back on, which is fine, but as soon as she stops actively feeding you must take her off the nipple again. After a while she'll get bored of the on off on off and be content to sleep in your arms without the nipple in her mouth.

 

[twobecome3]

thank you.

the second dentist we saw said it was highly unlikely the cavities are bothering her, and more likely her back molars coming in that are causing the discomfort.

last night I resettled her at least 20 times. I will start out just trying to slip her off the nipple but she does not give in. will keep gong for it and then sit up and scream and then be fully awake. her sleep has been so bad lately I just give in and give her the boob so we can get back to sleep. I know I need to just bite the bullet and do this but in the wee hours of the night I always lose my nerve!

Is anyone else really struggling with this? i always thought i would let her self wean but now i am wishing i would have done it ages ago...

 

[noon_child]

thank you.

the second dentist we saw said it was highly unlikely the cavities are bothering her, and more likely her back molars coming in that are causing the discomfort.

last night I resettled her at least 20 times. I will start out just trying to slip her off the nipple but she does not give in. will keep gong for it and then sit up and scream and then be fully awake. her sleep has been so bad lately I just give in and give her the boob so we can get back to sleep. I know I need to just bite the bullet and do this but in the wee hours of the night I always lose my nerve!

Is anyone else really struggling with this? i always thought i would let her self wean but now i am wishing i would have done it ages ago...

I started doing this method only at bedtime firstly. We were feeding, cleaning teeth, stories, then singing to sleep months before we were night weaned, for very similar reasons!

 

[twobecome3]

well last night was a better night. only 5 wakings, the first couple I popped her off the boob and she accepted this and went to sleep. the rest of the wakings she latched on for a minute and then popped herself off and rolled away to sleep. no resistance ! god I hope we are on to something here....

 

[londonangel]

Personally I think if she is two and a half you can explain to her that it is night time and that we don't have milk at night time. Unfortunately as you have discovered, having the milk against her teeth so often isn't good for them. It sounds like she still sleeps with you - you may have more success if you move her into her own room or at least her own bed. Good luck!

 

[twobecome3]

I don't have another room to put her in!

 

[MrsDuck]

Hi, I clicked on this thread as I have a 17 month old who still BF's before sleeps (although not to sleep) and when she first wakes up in the morning and I was after tips on weaning her off the boobie

Don't feel bad about night feeds being the cause of tooth decay as I was told by my midwife, health visitor and dentist that breastmilk doesn't decay baby's teeth, cows milk and formula does though

https://www.breastfeeding.asn.au/bfinfo/breastfeeding-and-tooth-decay

 

[Andi86]

Is she fully weaned now? Did the removing nipple everytime she settled work? Any other tips? My son is only 14 months but I'd like him to be weaned by 18 months.

 

[twobecome3]

no it didn't! none of the 'gentle' weaning methods worked! I just bit the bullet and said - "no more milk at night" . it took a couple weeks and she no longer asked for milk in the night


for us we waited until she was past age 2.5, so she understood. I would try the gentle methods, maybe they would work for a younger kid, mine was past 2 when I started trying so there was no sneaking things past!