Pleave give me some HOPE! Is it possible to wean a co-sleeper off the boob at night??

[pishwasher]

I'm really really really ready to stop BF at night. Really really.
Managed it for 2 nights, and it went really well actually. then we had to go to MIL's for a couple of weeks and it all went tits up (no pun intended!!)
We're back home and I want to continue to sleep with the kid but not have him hanging off my boobs all night.
is it possible???

[pishwasher]

I should say that any attempts i have been since being back home aren't working!!

[NineUnlikelyTales]

I seem to remember that there is a section in Dr Sears' "Attachment Parenting" about this. Do you have access to the book? If not I can type out the ideas in brief but you'll have to wait until Friday as I have lent the book to my friend!

Let me know..

Nine

[pishwasher]

thanks nine!

I'm checking the Dr Sears website to see if there's any inof there. DS is 17 months so I left it too late to start some of what is suggested! BUt i'll check it out. If I can't find anything I'll come bug you again! thanks!!

[pishwasher]

Found this on the Dr sears site: "Babies will wean and someday they will sleep through the night. This high maintenance stage of nighttime parenting will pass. The time in your arms, at your breast, and in your bed is a relatively short while in the life of a baby, yet the memories of love and availability last forever."

I just need to remember that when my boobs are red raw and I'm at the end of my tether!!!!

[pishwasher]

this has some interesting advice

[yellowrose]

pishwater - I slept with ds until he was 9 months old - he slept in the cot right next to me, or me on futton on floor and he on double bed ! I could never fall asleep with him right next to me in the same bed (I tried desparately hard, but am nervous insomniac, any worry keeps me awake all night) so in order to get just a few hours of sleep, I had to separate myself from him, even though we were always in the same room. He would wake every hour and then later 3 - 4 times a night until he was around 9 months old, after letting him cry just for a few minutes when putting him into his cot at around 8 months old (I am talking max. of 3 - 5 minutes of crying) he stopped waking in the middle of the night. I used a book by Elizabeth Pantly, a pro-bf-er with fantastic tips on gentle methods.

I am not sure if the bit of crying gave him the idea or whether he was just developmentally right for it. The thing was past 6 months, he didn't really FEED when he woke, he just suckled for a few minutes to help him fall back asleep and soon I realised he was waking out of habit. So I never worried about his feeds stopping, as past 6 months (he was on solids at exactly 6 months), he was just doing it out of habit. He had put on an enormous amount of weight in the first 6 months, so I knew he didn't need his night feeds to gain weight any more.

I think toddlers that co-sleep wake out of habit too, not because they are hungry !! My friend has a 2.8 yo son, same age as mine. She still co-sleeps and so her son still wakes several times a night to suckle. My ds only bf in the day now, sleeps through 12 hours every night.

I am very PRO co-sleeping please don't think I am not. It just doesn't work for chronic insomniacs like me. I was determined to bf for a very long time, so I found my own way round co-sleeping. I am allowing ds to self-wean.

I think LLL have excellent suggestions on gentle weaning, try their website they may have some ideas on how to stop night feeds for a toddler. Good luck