Night weaning for me wasn't to bad this time around. DD was 9 months old though and I was getting so tired as she just wouldn't sleep. So when she woke I started offering her water from a sippy cup.. At first she was not impressed at all. It probably took about a week but then when she woke it was just to cuddle rather then feed..
I used to tell her (as she got over 1) that Boo was all empty (we called it boo boo) and she would have to wait till the sun was up to have more
We started night weaning with DS at 9 months, but it took until 11 months until he was fully night weaned. We started by dropping one feed at a time. The first one to go was the 1am/2am feed. When DS would wake up crying I would give him a soother, tell him "no boobie now, it's time to sleep", and lie him back down in his crib (we placed a portable crib at the foot of our bed so I could reach him quicker). When he got up right away I would quietly lay him back down. I would repeat this until he gave up and went back to sleep. The first night it took 2 hours! The second night 1 hour. The third night 1/2 hour and so on and after a week the feed had been dropped. We left things alone for another week and then started with the next feed. It was exhausting but worth it in the end when DS would sleep through the night, allowing us to sleep through the night as well.
If you have to give him something, a sippy cup of water would be better than a bottle. Friends of mine got in this habit though and their 2.5 year old still wakes up in the night crying for a sippy of water. For us it was just easier not to get into that habit, though we did rely on a soother to get us through. If DS wakes in the night now though he can put himself back to sleep.
Good luck, i hope it goes quicker for you than it did for us.
my boy calls it nya-nya. in fact, he refuses to call me mum, but says nya-nya instead.
I tried cutting feeds shorter to begin with - thought that would be gentler. But it just didn't work for us. It really had to be all or nothing. Delaying fees might work.
I told DS that 'milk is sleeping' - it got so that he would scream blue bloody murder if I uttered this phrase.
You could try telling him it's empty or finished. Some kids like to cuddle up to the boobs or just touch them and will accept that rather than milk.
I honestly think it'll go a lot easier for you and your DS if your DP could just suck it up for a few nights....(sorry if that sounds a bit harsh) cause your DS associates you with boo = comfort. Whereas he would have completely different associations with his daddy.
As for resettling - i guess it just depends on the kid. As I said, to begin with (and still now when he's sick or particularly unsettled) I stood and rocked him while singing (lucky he's not too big). Then when he got used to doing that instead of feeding, I lay down with him. At first with him lying on top of me, then next to me with his head on my shoulder. Sometimes I still have to sing for him.
You never know, he might stop waking up... but anyway I don't think it's selfish. you've given to him for this long and you're not cutting him off completely - if you feel the need for a break overnight then it's fair enough; you've earned it.
I have tried cutting his feeds shorter but he still works himself up as he wants to relatch again.
There is no chance of getting dp to help and tbh he doesn't handle DS crying very well and I would have to step in as I don't like the way he would try and resettle him
So I just thought I would update... dp went fishing a night earlier then planned (last night) and DS woke like clock work at 12 am. I went in and just cuddled him to sleep and told him that boo was empty and asleep. He went back to sleep and mostly grizzled but didn't work himself up. I slept with him as usuall. Unfortunately I don't have a clock in the room but I remember DS woke at least another 2 times so on the 3rd wakeup I thought it would have to at least be after 4am.... and as I thought I would take it slow by putting him off and cutting out the first feed or so I fed him.
I went to the toilet and found out it was only 2.30 am but he slept through to 5 am and as I didn't want to get up for the day I fed him then back to sleep
We will see what tonight brings, plan on doing the same thing... cuddle him back to sleep provided he doesn't work himself up too much. Try that a for about 4 wakeups before feeding him.
lol he has his days where he is good, often he will sleep for an hour and then sometimes I can feed him back to sleep sometimes he will have a feed and get up
Well last night he didn't feed overnight, he woke at 12am as usual and as he had pooed I had to change his nappy which woke him up so I thought I was really strong not feeding him back to sleep. I layed down with him and he rolled and tossed and layed on me and when he got off the bed I put him back in the cot, there were some tears so I got up and we layed back down in the bed. He rolled and tossed some more but went to sleep
I think this is a great step and I am just going to keep not feeding at that first wake up and see how we go.
he has not had an 12 am feed in almost 2 weeks yay and last night he slept until 5 am before waking. I just have to remember to go to bed earlier so I can take advantage of this too.
He also had an eye tooth come through throughout this process - I am so proud of my boy.
He did feed 3 times before getting up but I am ok with that, I would rather feed back to sleep at that time of the morning or he would be ready for the day and I am definitely not.
we keep up the good work.
I will be happy to keep feeding if he can keep this up I didn't want to have to go cold turkey
ok so after last night's success we had a set back tonight. I think it is cause the day was all screwy...
He didn't sleep at all today as we had such a big day out and about and he was playing with his cousins. He fell asleep by about 6.30pm in the car which is very early for him. He woke up every hour at 7.30 and 8.30 and 9.30. When he woke at 7.30 I remembered that he fell asleep on the way home he didn't have his nightly feed before bed so I fed him. Once the feed was over I layed him back down, tucked him and he grizzled back to sleep, I went and checked on him and he was still laying down so I left him to it. When he woke at 8.30 & 9.30 cuddled/layed him down, tucked him in and let him to it with out a feed
the setback
He then woke about 11pm and I layed him back down in the cot but he clearly wasn't going back to sleep. So I checked his nappy and it had that strong urine smell like he didn't have enough to drink through the day so I feed him and layed him down in the big bed and left him there by himself. I am about to head to my bed now and when he wakes again I don't think I will feed him but I will lay with him I think
After last night's setback instead of sleeping with him for the rest of the night I left him to it (would have been about 11.30pmish) and he didn't wake until 4 am I did feed him at that time and he went back to sleep for another couple of hours. I think I would have fed him again at 6.30am and then he was up for the day.
I think that I won't worry so much about the 4am feeds and just work on cutting out that midnight feed.
So he got over 3hrs of sleep today (hoping it isn't going to cause problems ) and he went to bed about 9am. he keeps sleeping seeing as I am up so late
Anyway while it is 12.09 am as DLS is tonight it might as well be 1am so I am off to bed.
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but he slept through to 5 am and as I didn't want to get up for the day I fed him then back to sleep
he has not had an 12 am feed in almost 2 weeks yay and last night he slept until 5 am before waking. I just have to remember to go to bed earlier so I can take advantage of this too.
we keep up the good work.
) and he went to bed about 9am.
he keeps sleeping seeing as I am up so late
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