Need advice on weaning 18month old off breast

[ilovemykids5]

My daughter is 18months old. Never took to any kinds of bottles and never had a dummy.
I had the worse night ever last night. She is poorly at the minute and wanted to comfort herself on my breast most of the night. I am currently 9 weeks pregnant and my nipples are so sore.
My other children had dummys and I dont know how to settle her. Every time I took her off as she fell asleep she woke up screaming and getting really worked up.
I've had enough now.
Please help

You could try some habit stacking to help her develop a new sleep association. It’s probably best to wait until she’s not poorly to change anything though.

Do you want to stop bf completely or just night wean?

Hi. She has a sippy cup during the day now and she only has the breast at bedtime so I need to somehow get her to sleep without the breast.

I’m not at that stage yet but I’ve seen it suggested in support groups I’m in to slowly cut down the time she feeds so if she normally feeds for 10 mins for example unlatch her at 8 mins and then a few nights after that go to 6 mins etc etc

Or if you want to stop faster you could go cold turkey but you’ll probably have a few rough nights until she accepts it. Lots of talking in the day about how the milk has run out might help.

As SV says, you need to replace it with another comfort source/way of getting her to sleep. Comfort blanket/soft toy to cuddle, music/white noise or audiobook to listen to, back patting or rubbing for physical contact (ideally something that can be done when she's lying down in her cot). And get your husband to do the night wakings. Good luck! x

Will she settle for her dad? We weaned at the same age and used dad for all wakeups before x time, starting early in the evening then stretching to midnight as time went on, unless he got upset then I'd take over and give him the breast. It was a slow process and took several weeks. For the rest of the night I did 'don't offer, don't refuse' and would try just a pat, cuddle etc first only offering breast if necessary. It definitely wasn't a linear process and he'd feed more some nights, less others until we eventually cracked it. Good luck!

She hates her dad so no chance with help from him. He works and she's just with me all day. She normally sleeps straight through
But hasn't for a few days as she's ill.