Any old hippies like me been ok with not night weaning?

[squizita]

I breastfeed my 16 month old alongside (of course) solid food mainly, and water, cow's milk or those stupid overpriced but convenient cartons of toddler milk with a straw to drink when I'm at work.
So mostly, she gets BFed in the evening.
It totally makes her sleepy, and when she's teething or upset at night BFing makes her fall asleep right away. Her BF before bed often results in zzz before rocking/putting down sleepy. I feed on demand evening and night. I don't mind doing this - I mean if she wakes for a poop I change her, if she's cold I put the heating on, if she wants a drink I give her booby. DH helps with water/expressed some nights too.

But now I'm getting paranoid ... am I setting her up for poor sleep for life? She's a toddler now for sure!

DH says not: when I'm out he gives her a bottle/beaker and she spits it out then cuddles into him for a few minutes to sleep. He says when I wean she already has the ability to sleep in other ways and will adapt. But he's not a worrier at all.

I was thinking of weaning her at about 2 as I have that 'milestone' in mind and am SEVEN BLOODY STONE and cannot put anymore on with BFing. My mum was the same. I don't want to discover she can't sleep suddenly!

Anyone done it like this and it worked OK?

[HopeandSoap]

I'm still feeding my 2 year old 15 times through the night. I'm going to night wean after half term so I can sleep in the day if he doesn't sleep at night! My other two dropped their night feeds massively before 2 so i didn't have the same problem.

[squizita]

Yes, apart from if she's poorly she can now go almost a whole night. Not quite... but getting there!

I'm going to wait till the summer holiday and wean then .

[NickyEds]

I think your dh is probably right. If you can be away for the night and your dd will be easily settled without milk then you're sort of half way to night weaning. I think it could possibly be a problem if your baby needs boob to sleep and you're not totally happy being woken to give it but it doesn't sound like that's the case. I'd stopped bf when we night weaned ds (but we did actively night wean at 11 months) but he was needing several bottles a night, which he'd drink about an oz of just to go to sleep. We just offered him water and rocked him and he was fine. Getting rid of the rocking was much harder.

[squizita]

Thanks. Last night she resettled herself several times (I know because she kerfuffled and cried but was asleep by the time I'd got up and crept into the room).

[Topsy34]

I fed ds1 to sleep and through the night til he was about 4 years.

He is a crap sleeper and rarely sleeps through the night, but i think thats more to do with his active mind and vivid dreams which i get too, and I'm awake half the ruddy night

[captainproton]

I stopped BF my son at 11 months due to illness but we still co-slept until he was nearly 2.5yrs. I am not a fan of CIO sleep training and we just waited until he got through that separation anxiety phase.

So we didn't feed during the night but plenty of wakings/half asleep moments whereby he'd grab my hand and hold it against his face for comfort. I reckon if I was still BF at that point he'd be on the boob instead.

By the time he was 2.5 he could speak and was a little more independent. Wanting to go and play on his own away from mum more. It also meant we co-slept through teething phase and he didn't really cope well with that. 16 months is still little they change so much.

My DD on the other hand has that ability to fall asleep anywhere and took herself off to her bed when tired right from little. You couldn't meet 2 more different children. So what works with one may not with another.

[NightWanderer]

I finally just night weaned my four year old. We had a few nights of crying but she is fine about it now. It was a lot easier than I expected and she had breast fed to sleep every night of her life up until then.

I'm looking forward to finally weaning my two year old and then being done with that part of my life.

[Guitargirl]

I bf both of mine until they were nearly 2. We co-slept so that included night feeds. I found that both of them started to self-wean when they were about 20 months and had stopped bf altogether by about 22 months. And I am not particularly hippy-like!

[DustyOwl]

Doesn't sound like its a problem for those concerned, however I bet those not directly affected will probably have an opinion. (I fed both of mine up to 18 months but had to stop due to medical reasons. DH had no problem with it, the boys obviously had no problem with it, but EVERYONE else did )

[BuggerLumpsAnnoyed]

Well I night weaned DS1 at that age but only because I was exhausted. If you're happy doing it then I don't see the problem. When he woke up I just cuddled him but didn't feed him. was hard for a few weeks but then he started sleeping.

[ICJump]

For me it comes down to my lack of desire to do anything else but sleep at night.
As far as I can work out night weaning requires me to do more then roll over and pop a boob in and fall back a sleep

[MrsRyanGosling15]

This is the problem in my house at the min. 15 month old would be on me all night if I let him. He had expressed milk in a bottle at bed for a week and was great with my dh. I tried it and he cried so hard he vomited. 5 min in the room with my dh and he had fallen asleep. If he stirs in the night for dh he gets him to sleep in minuets. If I go in, he ends up attached all night. I'm crap without sleep and my dh said it's affecting everyone in the house. I can't even play with my ds during the day as he just wants to on me. He is my 3rd and the hardest so far. I'm convinced this will be the child to brake me

[jaggythistlez]

I fed both my two as required at night but their sleeping pattern seems to be their own. DS1 is a heavy sleeper and slept through well before he was two. DS2 did not sleep through a single night until he was well past 2.

Waiting to see what this baby is like, but I'm planning the same. Feed back to sleep if they need it. I know they settle for dad when I'm out at work.