My daughter is 13 months old and still breastfeeding, mostly night like 4 times a night..can someone help me?

Bette - posted on 01/14/2012

Hi there,

I night-weaned my oldest son, who is now 3, at around 16 months. I co-slept with him and when he would wake up to nurse, I would turn my back to him. I know it seems harsh, but he would forcefully go looking for my breast. While he was crying and being upset, I would remind myself that he had no choice but to go back to sleep, so I would hum or sing a song and stroke his hand until he went back to sleep, just so that he would know that he wasn't alone. The crying slowed down in duration and he even nursed less during the day. Then pretty soon, he was sleeping through the night and everything else was easier. I hope that you find what works for you and that you get what you need from your parenting journey!

Alice - posted on 01/13/2012

Thank you!!!

Lori - posted on 01/13/2012

ahhh, now that's a potential good reason to wean... or at least to wean before you get to the 3rd trimester. I'd say just start slow. Try to get him to nap without nursing to sleep. And if there are any "unscheduled" nursings those can go too. Find another way to comfort him during the day... rocking, hugging, singing, etc. I'd save the nursing to sleep (bedtime) as the last one to go. During the night try giving him a sippy or bottle of water rather than nursing him when he wakes up.



Take it slow, try one thing at a time and soon you'll find he's done - or nearly done.



Congratulations! and good luck too!

Alice - posted on 01/13/2012

Lori, I would love to nurse him through my pregnancy and I am not scheduled to see my obgyn till the 30 of this month, the only reason I am even remotely thinking about weaning is the fact I gave birth to my son 6 weeks early, so I'm afraid I'm going to be told due to my last pregnancy being pre term that I won't be able to nurse him due to the risk of pre term labor.

Lori - posted on 01/13/2012

Alice - do you have a medical condition (other than pregnancy) that is making it necessary to wean immediately? If not, it is safe to continue nursing throughout pregnancy. Many nurslings will self wean when Mom gets pregnant again, but many don't. I weaned my 23 month old when I became pregnant, but that was due to my discomfort.... and the fact that she was close to being weaned anyhow.



A great book for you would be Adventured In Tandem Nursing by Hilary Flower. It has the most info all in one spot about nursing through pregnancy and then if you decide to continue... tandem nursing (nursing both the older baby and the new baby). There's also a group here on Circle of Moms just for Tandem nursing moms.



The one thing I wouldn't do is quit cold turkey. If you do want to go ahead and wean him, do it slowly one nursing session at a time. But if you want to keep nursing... then go ahead and keep nursing.... if you have an uncomplicated pregnancy you DON'T HAVE to wean.

Alice - posted on 01/13/2012

My son is 15 months old and I just found out I'm pregnant with my second child. My son is still breastfed and still wakes to nurse through the night. I have been told I need to wean him asap due to me being pregnant, but I don't know how. I don't want to just make him quit cold turkey. He eats everything we do and drinks juice and whole milk, the nursing is just mainly when he is tired. As I said he doesn't sleep through the night yet. Anyone have any advice?

Jessica - posted on 01/12/2012

she is now down to 2-3 feeding a day and 3 at night..im doing it during day and she at night, the teething tablets are GREAT.

Lori - posted on 01/07/2012

Jessica, most babies won't wean themselves until after their 2nd birthday. If you want her weaned before then, it's up to you to take the lead. And there is nothing wrong with parent led weaning. As you've said, do it slowly and she'll be fine. If you want to start weaning her either try the Dr Jay Gordans method and night wean, OR start dropping one day time feed at a time. I wouldn't try doing both at the same time.

And I agree with Liz, I've found that ibuprofen seems to help with teething pain better than tylenol does. If she's working on those molars, you might just be better off waiting till they come through before trying to do night weaning or any other reduction of breastfeeding.

Liz - posted on 01/07/2012

Yes, I didn't find those teething remedies very helpful either. :(

You might try children's ibuprofen. I gave it to my son a few times (not very often because it's hard on the stomach) when he seemed to be in a lot of discomfort, and it seemed to help a little.

Jessica - posted on 01/07/2012

Liz, i try to nurse more in the day, but it seems like it doesnt matter. She has molars coming in, and when she wakes up at night to nurse, she screams. orgel and teething tablets are not working nor is Tylenol

Jessica - posted on 01/07/2012

Lori, no its not because of anyone, i want to wean her slowly, for her benefit, i need to get back to work soon..i havent worked this whole time and i need to. thank you for the link..i was hoping she would wean herself off that way i didnt feel like a bad guy to her. but it seems like she wants more, especially at night

Liz - posted on 01/06/2012

My son is 16mo, and he's similar to your daughter.



I notice he nurses more at night when he doesn't nurse as much in the day (either we're too busy, or he's distracted or something), or if he's going through a developmental thing like teeth, growth spurt, or mental leap. Sometimes I think he does it when he's stuffed himself with solids -- he's got indigestion maybe.



I would try nursing more in the day, and see if that helps.



I had a rough time at 13mo though, because my son had 4 molars coming at once. He was restless at night and got comfort from nursing.

Lori - posted on 01/06/2012

I was just reading this thinking... when did I post this.... lol, that's my daughter to a T. Only difference is my daughter doesn't even take the night time passy.

My question is do you really want to wean her off, or are you just worried about what someone told you that she'll keep doing this if you don't make her stop?

My older daughter was similar too. She's now 3 1/2, and she was still waking at night to nurse at 13 months. When she hit 17 months, she started sleeping through the night most nights all on her own. I had people telling me that she'd never sleep through the night as long as I kept nursing her when she did wake up - but ultimately they were wrong and she started sleeping through the night when she was ready to.

Now that's not to say you can't start weaning her if you want to because YOU want to. You need to do what's best for you and your daughter. I understand Dr. Jay Gordons sleep methods are pretty good.

http://drjaygordon.com/attachment/sleepp...