Woo hoo night weaning success!!

[aimz78]

Hi,
Just wanted to share my night weaning story (so far). I can't belive how well this has worked for us. My DD is 17 months and was feeding to sleep and waking for multiple feeds during the night (i took her into our bed when she woke after going to sleep in her cot).
I found a plan on the Dr Jay Gordon Website, I think it is titled "changing the sleep pattern in the family bed". It was very relevant to us as it incorporated both co-sleeping and feeding to sleep. Basically it is a gentle process, the first three nights you feed them but take them off the breast still awake and help them to settle with cuddles/talking etc. then the next three nights do not give milk, just the other comforting techniques.
The first night she was upset and cranky with mum for about 40 mins, but after that she seemed to really understand and accepted it well. I thought it would be much more difficult but I guess she was ready, too. The next night she slept til 5:20, the best sleep she has done ever! and settled without a fuss. On the first night with no milk at all she settled after only a minute or so of protests.
Just wanted to share to help others who may be in a similar boat. x Yay for getting more sleep!

[Helly]

ohhh... great to hear stories like this, especially when everyone else around me says "Oh, just let them scream themselves to sleep..." I mean, I'm not totally over the night feeds yet (except when they're every 2 hours, thanks to growth spurts or teething) but it's good to know there are techniques out there for when I do need some more sleep. I always felt that trying to teach them to sleep like that when they're too young to understand wouldn't work as well as when they're old enough to know what you're talking about (well done to anyone who knows what I'M talking about, lol) We're still partly co-sleeping, he's in his hammock next to us the rest of the time, and we're building a futon co-sleeper to go next to our bed for the next phase. Cos hes big and wiggly! But we love having him in with us.

Anyway, CONGRATS!

[Gigi]

my child is 3 in November and i would like to night wean her. But she is very uncuddly, so if the technique is "cuddle but dont' feed", i can't use that on her.

if i dont' feed her, she cries and can get quite hysterical. I THOUGHT i would let her self wean, but now, i'm really finding myself wishing she would hurry up with that. Hard to know where to talk about it, as most people think me bf-ing a nearly three year old is nuts anyway. (i got that message from when she was five months old - "what? why isn't she on formula etc etc".)

[Jennifer13]

Well done, Aimz! Here's to many nights of blissful sleep!

[marcellus]

That's great news aimz, congratulations to you both.

That's a tough one Gigi. Is there anything else that helps her to settle? What about daddy instead of mummy....? DS likes silly songs where we substitute grandad and granma in the words.
DS is quite cuddly, but actually doesn't like me cuddling him during the night. maybe he's reminded of the forbidden elixir....

[yummymummy]

oh wow i could cry i am so happy to hear this. i am having a rotten time atm with my 13 month old sleeping habits, waking up to breastfeed all the time. i'm going to have a look at this website - thank you very much!!

[aimz78]

Hi Yummymummy,
I hear you on this my DD went through a similar stage at around this age, It ended up being a phase which passed but I was really tearing my hair out. I hope it gets better soon, it is no fun x

[mgm]

congratulations, what a HUGE achievement. i read that nightweaning plan, years ago with my first child - maybe i'll try it with dd because she's even worse than her brother was!

what was your dd like previously? did she come off the breast by herself? the reason i ask is that they say to take them off while awake, but my dd often feeds, pulls herself off, turns around and goes to sleep. it's just that she does that all night long! so how 'awake' are they supposed to be?

[aimz78]

Thanks mgm,
Previously she would fall asleep on the breast and i would have to pull her off gently without waking her (or else repeat the process lol!). Now We finish the feed while she is still awake, eyes open and I lay with her until she closes her eyes and drifts off. Best of luck with your DD.

[mgm]

thanks for that aimz. i have a few busy weeks coming up but once they're over, i'll be giving it a go. hope you and your dd continue to get loads of wonderful sleep!