Tantrums/crying if I say No to boob at night.

[itsonlysubterfuge]

I read one of Dr. Sears' posts about night time nursing and once your child is around 18 months they should be able to understand simple sentences. When my daughter wakes in the night I try to say "boob has gone night night, it's night night time", but she just gets upset instantly and starts crying and climbs on me saying "boob, mom, boob". She gets more and more upset and I end up giving in because I can't stand to see her so upset. I don't know if I should just stand firm for a few nights because she's just crying because she knows I'll give in, or if she is confused and doesn't understand why she can't have her comfort item and I should just let her have it. Sometimes I can tell her to go night night and she will turn over and go back to sleep, but most of the time she insists on boob. My DD is very good at understanding and I know she understands. Sometimes she has cried while I've told her no whenever she asks and finally calmed her down after an hour of the back and forth; she asks me very sadly and very calmly "boob?" and I explain to her, while looking in her eyes and the moment I say "boob has gone night night" she dissolves into tears again.

It upsets all of us, DD, DH, and I, when she cries like that so I usually just give in and suffer through. I would really like to sleep and sometimes she BF for so long it hurts so I'd like to just be able to say, "okay, you've had enough now and it's hurting Mommy, so no more" and have that be the end of it. Does anyone have any advice that doesn't require me to leave my DD crying? Or is it just one of those times to suck it up until she's older and finished BF at night?

I've been following Dr Jay Gordon's night weaning method, albeit not as strictly. I started by saying to my DS (16 months) when he woke "just a little drink, then you can go back to sleep". I physically latched him off a few times, but then I just had to say "no more" and he'd latch off himself. (This sounds a lot easier than it was!)

We did this for almost a week, then before he went to bed I told him when he woke up he wouldn't have a drink, only a cuddle. We've been on the second stage for a week now and it's been mostly successful, there have been a few tantrums but fewer than I expected and shorter as we'll.

I should mention here that DS used to feed every 2 hours on a good night, often more, and that he's still waking just as frequently but this is obviously the next step for us

Good luck with whatever you decide to do!

I found it really hard to get any advise on reducing breast feeding at this age...I reduced my breastfeeding during the day... Eventually I took him off milk to get to seep on his nap...

I eventually did the moving chair technique to get him to sleep but he was almost 2 before I got it to work...He never slept through properly though till he was 4 ..I think it was how long he was used to me been next to him

I am in the same situation...very tired! I woke this morning with a resolve to totally cold turkey give up feeding as I was so exhausted from long feeds in the night. My son is 16 months. However my resolve cracked by around 12pm as he was so so sad. I wish there was a way to put him off his precious boob without creating a massive trauma!

Last night when she woke up the second time, I just told her "Daddy night night, Mommy night night, DD night night, boob night night". She cried for about an hour and only calmed down when her Dad came in and laid down with us. She woke up a lot in the night, but she didn't really cry mostly just whined for a little while and then went back to sleep when I repeated that phrase. It sucked and I felt bad, but I'm hoping it will get better. If she stays upset every night and it doesn't get any easier, than I will just give in and let her have boob all night.