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Night weaning 18mo DD hasn't helped!

6 replies

ChocolateCoins · 28/02/2013 13:50

I will try and keep this as short as possible!

My DD is 18 months old and has always been a terrible sleeper. Until a few weeks ago, she could not get to sleep without breastfeeding, had to be fed back to sleep for about half an hour at every night waking (at least 8+ times a night) and slept in our bed.

I could sleep through the night feeds and got plenty of sleep. But I'm now 21 weeks pregnant, and have extreme aversion to the night feeds, especially now my milk has nearly dried up. The feeling of her feeding makes my skin crawl and made me so angry, so I knew I had to do something about it. Also with the new baby coming I knew I couldn't carry on like this.

So I decided to night wean and put DD in her own bed in her own room at the same time. It went so so well. It took one night for her to be night weaned. So you're probably wondering what the problem is?

Well, she will go to sleep fine in her bed, as long as I'm lying next to her, and sleep in her bed with her. But she still wakes up about 6 times a night. She doesn't need to be fed to sleep anymore and i only have to lie her back down for her to go back to sleep. I have tried getting out of her bed once she is asleep (or after a night waking) but she will wake up instantly and cry. I've tried waiting for up to an hour after she's asleep but nothing works. She just holds on to me while she's falling asleep.

I don't know what to do. I don't want to co sleep with the new baby so I need to have DD sleeping on her own before this. I could deal with the night wakings if only I didn't have to sleep in bed with her! I want my evenings back. I want my time with DP back.

Sorry this is so long! Does any one have any advice? I'd be so grateful! Thanks for reading.

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Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
FreelanceMama · 01/03/2013 10:47

That sounds so tough, you poor thing. Have you tried introducing a soft toy to her bedtime routine? I did that around the time our son stopped breastfeeding, made a big deal of kissing the toy goodnight, putting it in the cot, and then our son goes in with him. At some point he started cuddling him to sleep and now it's what he uses to resettle whenever he wakes in the night - I don't think he lets go all night. A bit like your daughter is treating you.

Just a thought.

ChocolateCoins · 02/03/2013 15:43

Thank you for replying. She is quite attached to her iggle piggle toy so I'll try putting that in bed with us and see if that helps. It's definitely worth a try, thank you.

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ChocolateCoins · 02/03/2013 19:35

Bump

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FreelanceMama · 03/03/2013 13:01

Good luck. If it helps, you'll probably have to get a "twin" iggle piggle in case the original goes walkabout!

ChocolateCoins · 03/03/2013 15:43

Yes that's a good idea. I see so many people on here looking for another of their DCs comfort toy because they've lost it.

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ChocolateCoins · 04/03/2013 21:37

Sorry to bump this again but I'm getting desperate!

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