the title pretty much sums it up! i'm interested to hear how others have approched nightweaning...
DS is 15.5mths & wakes roughly 5-7 times a night. because it's what we've always done, he wants to feed before he'll go back to sleep - if DP goes to him, he goes beserk & he's pretty fiesty if i try & resettle without a feed.
BUT i know it's mostly habit & wanting mum - he spent the night at my MIL's on friday night & he still woke a couple of times but he was calm & went straight back to sleep without any sort of milk.
i've read up on jay gordon & elizabeth pantley but i'm curious to hear what's worked in the 'real world' and how long it took.
i don't want to do the wrong thing by DS but after 15 months of 5-7 wake ups every night (and me doing all resettling since he was about 3 months old), i think he's at the stage that we could try night weaning. i know he may still wake, but i'd like to not need to feed every time....
Daddy looked after him first half of night. For the first few nights I'd feed once I took over, then pushed those feeds back further and further, till we could institute a "not till morning" rule.
It took a couple of weeks for him to stop asking for milk. Then he asked for food. And he still woke just as much. But he was technically night weaned
Congrats on your efforts BF to date that is brilliant. We started offering DS water in a sippy cup and he stopped waking for night feeds super quick. I felt bad because I know he was wanting to feed for comfort more than anything but DH and I were getting soooooo tired and it was just something that although I didn't feel good about doing I knew I had to do (in our situation). Shortly after that (14.5mths) he self weaning off his bed time feed. I was a little sad but was happy I'd been able to offer him BM for the last 14.5mths. He still wakes some nights but settles easier. Good luck.
I used Jay Gordon's method, sorta. I didn't use a time frame or count the hours, but I used the basic premise. Didn't really take very long at all and my little guy was about the same age as yours.
He still wakes in the night, but goes back to sleep with a 'shhh, go to sleep' or a quick drink of water that I keep next to the bed.
how did you night wean?
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