I finally night weaned my son! Woo hoo!

[Gina]

Well, I finally did it....I night weaned my son! He's 21-months-old and loves nursing A LOT, so I thought it would be pure hell to wean him from nursing at night. SO NOT TRUE! I used a technique I found online and it worked like a charm, so I wanted to share it with all of you. I'm sure it worked as well as it did because my son was ready to stop night nursing. Here's the link: http://www.drjaygordon.com/development/ap/sleep.asp
He only cried for 20 minutes the first night when he woke up in the middle of the night then went back to sleep, and has only woken up once each night since then (he used to wake up 9-10 times per night). I just held him while he cried so he wasn't crying it out or anything. And he goes right back to sleep without nursing! He hasn't nursed officially for 2 nights now and is sleeping SO MUCH BETTER! Just wanted to share! Can you tell I'm excited??

[Mom eConnect]

Gina - Way to go. I know it's difficult. Well I don't really know. Considering I stopped nursing at 9 months. I'm so going to bookmark that site. Thanks!

[Melissa]

Glad to hear it worked for you. I'm going to try it. The only thing is for the second three nights (not feeding when he wakes up in the night), I have tried this, John will cry so much that he threws up. I have no idea what to do about this. So I usually will give in and nurse him. We just go John a toddler bed and have it in our room ( hopfully just for a week or so). I do think this will help with our night weaning John. I'll keep you updated. Thanks!

[Gina]

Maybe it is because your son is still much younger than mine? I know if I had tried this a few months ago my son would have screamed if refused the boob at night, but something inside me told me that he was now ready. Hopefully when your son is a little older he will be able to accept not getting the boob at night. Something else that I think helped is that my son is much more verbal now (he is talking up a storm), so he understands me when I explain things to him. I spent a whole week preparing him for no longer getting the boob at night (I would count down every day so he knew how many days were left). I think that helped because he wasn't surprised when it happened. He didn't like it, but he knew it was happening. I'm happy to report that he's STILL not getting boob at night! He wakes up once and asks for it, but I just say that the boob is "night night" and that he can have it in the morning and he's fine with that. He just goes back to sleep. Hang in there--I'm sure your son will accept it as he gets older. And good luck with the toddler bed! Please let me know how that goes.

[Shelli]

Congratulations on the night weaning!! You must be enjoying your sleep! :) Thanks for the link to that article. I bookmarked it. It looks really good. I haven't been able to let my baby cry it out, to this seems like a good alternative.

[Gina]

Thanks! I'm trying to enjoy my sleep, but I'm still not sleeping through the night! My friend night weaned her daughter several months ago and she said it took her 3 months to learn to sleep through the night again! Can you believe that?? I am patiently awaiting the day that I can sleep through the night again. At least my son is sleeping much better! : )

[Melissa]

So I am doing alittle bit of what Dr.JayGordan said to do. He saids pick a number of hours (he perfers to start with eight hour and through the night) and do not breast feed for that time. I tried the night thing and it didn't work. So I have chosen from 8a.m. til 8p.m. to not nurse. And he has been O.K. with it. We just got him a toddler bed on Mother's Day and he loves it. I tell him it's nap time and he gets in his bed and falls asleep. The only thing is I have to be in the room til he completly falls asleep. But he does it on his own. So I know he could do it at night also. But he is just not ready yet. I did have the bed in our room for the first week and I was up all night. So on friday we moved the crib out of his room and put his bed in his room and so far he has done a great job. He has only woken up one time a night, nursed for a few minutes and goes back to sleep all while in his own bed. So we are making progress and I am still hoping by the time he is 18 months to be completly wened. Thanks for you help Gina and keep you posted.

[Gina]

Congratulations! You guys are making some serious progress! That was a brilliant idea limiting the nursing during the day instead of the night. Sounds like your son is handling it really well.

[Melissa]

Yah, it's going! I went for a moms night out last night and hubby put John to bed at 9 p.m.( he usually goes to sleep between 8:30 and 9). John wanted in my bed and my hubby put John in his toddler bed, John moved around for a few minutes and he went right to sleep. This is a big step for me. I went out with the girls a month ago on a thursday night and John would not go to sleep til I got home. So now I know he can fall asleep on his oun (without nursing to sleep). This is exciting for me. I feel like I'm nearly there.I'll keep you all updated. Thanks for the incouragement Gina. I did it.

[Gina]

Congratulations! That is so exciting! That is some major progress you've made.
My son continues to be nightweaned (woo hoo!), but now he wants to nurse more during the day. So my next step is to try and reduce his nursing sessions throughout the day. We'll see how it goes....I'll keep you posted.

[Shelly]

Yeah!!! My little one stopped night nursing too! It was a miracle the way it happened.
My husband slept with him. They both fell asleep together after reading a book. My husband had traveled all day, and I needed to get somethings accomplished around the house. The next thing I knew I was actually sleeping through the night until 6 a.m.
The funny thing is that my little boy actually woke up one time during the night to nurse, and realized he wasn't getting any from dad. The next night he went to sleep and didn't even wake up once until the morning. It really seems to help if I don't sleep next to him.
However, I am not sure if he will ever wean himself from nursing.
He loves to cuddle. And every time it seems my milk is starting to go away.
My little guy freaks out and wants to nurse one day every 4-6 hours.
It's like he is saying to me, "OH NO! The milk supply is going away. I have to figure out how to get it back!!!" I am really torn on what to do. Apart of me says keep nursing until a little after he turns two since he starts pre-school in the fall and will be exposed to so much. However, the other part of me is struggling with everyone else having a problem with it.
My husband is even at the point of telling me, "Babe, I really think it's time to get our son off the breast. Seriously, he is almost two. When other people find out you are still nursing they look at me really grossed out, and think we are weird."
I think it is really sad how many people find nursing beyond a year so weird. After all it has been proven to be healthy in many ways. However, when the time comes and my little one let's me know he is more ready I would appreciate any tips on easing the weaning process so it's not so much of a challenging change.

[YVONNE GAZRA]

hi my names Yvonne i am a mother of 2 my oldest is 9 and baby is 21 months I am so Glad i am not the only one with a older baby who refuse to stop nurseing i am however 4 1/2 months pregneant and i am so tierd my husband works alot so asking him to help me threw this is not a option i do stay at home/work at home i don't know what to do anymore it is so hard to not give in when she won't stop crying unless i do well if you find anything that works for you please keep me in mind Thanks so much

[Gina]

That is a tough situation, Yvonne! I remember how tired I felt when I was pregnant so I can totally sympathize with your situation. And you have 2 kids (I only have one)! I am currently trying to totally wean my son. He's only nursing before bedtime and naptime and so far it is going OK. He's taking food and water/milk many times instead of nursing. I find that if I let him get bored or ignore him for too long that's when he asks to nurse. So I am working overtime to keep him entertained and making sure I check in with him if I am doing something else like cleaning the house. If I stumble upon a "miracle" weaning method I'll let you know! Hang in there.