Very snuggly/in bed/feed all night 10 month old boy. How to wean?

[EugenieM]

Hi,

Along with the huge list of things we seem to need to tackle ('addiction' to dummy in oldest child, potty training, etc etc) is our youngest's wakefulness on and off the breast through the night. Yes, hands up I've been feeding him to sleep because no resistence and am so sleep deprived. I've got two under 2.

My oldest was never that into the breast (due to late milk arrival, emergency c-section, huge loss of blood etc) and so I'm unused to having a baby who loves the breast so. But he's capable of sleeping longer and its killing our nights (esp. as other one is up as well with toddler wakefulness).

Any weaning tips / rays of hope most appreciated.

In case anyone asks - prob have to start weaning at night as I'm having chicken pox jab (I haven't had it and can't face prospect of dealing with adult version). Apparently its incompatible with breast feeding.

X

Had this problem with all 3 DDs and only way to properly tackle it was to concentrate getting them to sleep on their own in their own cots and that involved a kind version of controlled crying. Within a few nights I had my sleep back! It all depends on how much you want to do it though. I had had enough of no sleep plus they were eating too much at night and their diet was affected during the day.

Thanks fannybanjo - what was the version of controlled crying. I'm thinking of tackling it when I have our part time nanny here. That'll give me two days before the weekend and then my partner will be at home so hopefully it'll allow me to have some kind of strength of will (which hitherto I've failed to summon!).

Eugenie I just went into them every five mins, patted them, went out, then every six minutes and so on. Eventually they give up! Has to be done otherwise you have no evenings and nighttimes are a nightmare. They need to learn the proper way to sleep. Good luck!

Re dummy - I had dd2 and dd3 addicted to theirs and one day just bit the bullet and binned them all! They were fine much to my astonishment - I found it was me more than them using it as a crutch. I had 2 under 16 months so know how hard it is. Potty training comes when THEY are ready, don't worry too much about that. I just left potty in toilet and one in living room, eventually DD2 just went on it. You can't force them.