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I've now failed at night weaning four times. Any success stories?

11 replies

PenelopeChipShop · 18/05/2014 07:47

DS is now 22 months and has never slept through the night. He is still breastfed and co-sleeps for the second half of the night (from midnight/1am) as historically he would either take upwards of an hour to settle in his got at this point and/or wake within an hour or two anyway. DH can't /won't get up at night - that is another thread tbh. So you can see how I ended up bringing him in bed.

I have 'successfully' night weaned on four occasions - ie refused milk and offered water only all night, then fed when it was morning, which I chose as 6am. However I have ended up going back on this as the night weaning never made him slept better / he varied on asking for milk even if he eventually accepted it wasn't time. And because of the promise of 'milk in the morning' he also kept waking earlier and earlier anticipating milk. It was at the point where he would wake at 5, scream for an hour, have milk and then be sleep deprived all day as he hadn't had enough rest. After weeks of this u ended up giving in. I know that sounds weak but remember I haven't slept in almost two years now .

I don't even know what I'm asking. I hAve so far warmed and carried on letting him sleep with us as I thought taking away two comfort aspects would be too much at once. But I think now that he will never give up milk if I' m next to him. Surely he is secure enough now after so much attention to be able to spend the night in his bed or would that be mean do you think? I really am close to breaking point.

Two friends who had babies the same year as us have already got or are expecting the of second - I find that totally inexplicable. I feel like a failure for still having the sleep problems of a much younger baby. Will accept any advice :-(

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Kveta · 18/05/2014 07:53

no advice here, I'm afraid, but if it's any consolation, my DS was exactly the same at that age. He is 4.7 now, no longer bfing (weaned at 3, when DD was 3 months), and occasionally sleeps through, it is amazing!! He had a week of sleeping 12 hour nights exactly 9 months before DD arrived on the scene...

I can't remember when he started sleeping in his own bed all night though, I think it was between 2 and 3 some time. Now, although he often wakes once or twice a night, he does stay in his own bed the whole night! DD is 23 months, and starts the night in her bed, but is normally in with us by 11pm. It will pass, right? RIGHT?!!!!

Kveta · 18/05/2014 07:54

and you're not a failure, not at all. You just have a high needs toddler, you're not alone - they do grow up, and it does get better!

PenelopeChipShop · 18/05/2014 08:13

OMG Kveta, that is funny to hear what happened when your first finally started sleeping through!! I just can't imagine how different things would be if we 'd had the type who sleeps from six months. If would have been such a different experience! I think my ds is particularly resistant to any training, I spent ages working on 'self settling' at night, which he now does, but it has no effect on the midnight wakeup, and he certainly doesn't want to self settle then!!
Thanks for the encouragement, it is nice to know we're not alone, especially as my DH thinks this is all my fault as I'm apparently the only parent in the world who wouldn't leave their baby to cry which is why he won't sleep!

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charlied2002 · 18/05/2014 13:48

Penelope, no advice I'm afraid, but big hugs and lots of sympathy. Your DH sounds rather like my OH on the won't/can't get up/just leave them to CIO front. He also thinks it is my fault because I wouldn't do CIO at six months (or ever for that matter - I just don't believe in it).

What I do know is that any form of sleep training/night weaning etc is about a million times harder when you're on your own doing it, and not getting any back up or sympathy.

My DD1 (26 months) does now sleep in her own cot, in her own room and sleeps through some of the time - it goes in phases tbh, we had nearly three months of great sleep (maybe one wake up and quickly resettled two or three times a week) when DD2 arrived four months ago, but are now back to at least one wake up a night, and sometimes a long time to resettle. Its pretty hellish with DD2 feeding 2/3 times a night as well and I had a complete explosion at OH this morning for not taking the kids and giving me a decent lie in on the one day a week I can get a bit of a break. 45 minutes of extra sleep! FFS.

I would say stop giving yourself such a hard time, you are doing a great job - just getting through each day with a sleepless toddler is an achievement in my book!

I can't actually remember how/when I night weaned DD1 - it is all such a blur. I know that by 16 months she was just having a late feed about 11 and an early morning one about 5, and I think we dropped them around 18 months when she seemed ready. I was keen to stop BFing her a few months before her sister arrived though so encouraged her to stop by offering cows milk first and only feeding if she was insistent. Would your DS take a bottle instead? And then gradually change to water/cut down on the amount? My DD1 takes a non-spill cup of water to bed and I do hear her drinking occasionally when she wakes up.

Re getting her into her own bed, I gave up co-sleeping at around 9 months, as she was just so wriggly, I was getting less sleep than ever. I had always settled her in her own cot at the start of the night, firstly in our room and then in hers. So I put her cot at the end of the spare bed, and bed-hopped all night, starting in my bed and then moving into the spare bed when she woke up. Often she would end up in with me in the spare bed but at least we both had more room and slept a bit better. When we moved house, I put a mattress on her floor and did the same. Many nights, I could only get her back to sleep by holding her hand through the bars. Eventually I managed to succeed with gradual retreat training (on about the 10th attempt!), firstly getting her to self-settle without any intervention from me (I used to lie on her floor and pretend to be asleep to try and demonstrate what she was supposed to do!) and then moving further away during night wake ups.

Now if she wakes, I go to her and check her (she has had a lot of illness and teething lately, and now seems to be having the odd nightmare), then stand outside her door saying "shhh, back to sleep" until she calms down then quietly move away. If she makes a noise while I'm moving, I stop and repeat until she settles again.

That's all assuming DD2 doesn't wake in the meantime and start howling in which case it all goes to pot!

Sorry for the very long post/rant - hope it helps to know there's plenty of us out here in sleep deprivation land! (And if you're still not sure, check out the Misery Loves Company thread!).

charlied2002 · 18/05/2014 13:51

PS DD2 arrived about 9 months after we went to a wedding abroad and I had a few drinks and let my guard down

TheannamoLeelu · 18/05/2014 13:58

No advice, just to say I hope you find something that works for you, it really sounds hard work. Just keep remembering it WILL get better, even if he takes longer than most to sleep through! How committed are you to breastfeeding? What if you didn't feed him breastmilk in the morning, just once before bed? Would that help? Or if you are thinking of weaning him soon anyway bring it forward slightly? Only saying that as an idea as this helped my son stop waking up at 4am and wanting a mammoth feed until morning (he was 15 months though, so slightly different)

PenelopeChipShop · 18/05/2014 18:55

Aargh thank you Charlie for the sympathy , your approach does sound quite similar to mine in terms of just doing whatever seems to produce most sleep at the time! I just constantly have this nagging thought that every night that I breastfeed I'm embedding a bad habit further rather than trying to break it! (Sometimes I think, actually I am being a nice mummy by meeting his needs, but at the moment as particularly knackered, I just think, argh I have to sort this!)

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PenelopeChipShop · 18/05/2014 18:58

Theannamo thank you for your post too, that is a good idea to not feed In the morning as I guess you could just use distraction/ breakfast/Peppa pig to get around it! But probably works best if they're in their cot at that point as I find ds will just help himself if he's next to me!

I think I really need and want to stop co sleeping but it's just such a big task...

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littleowl14 · 18/05/2014 21:26

you are honestly not a failure. I'm not even sure you have a high needs toddler! he sounds just like many of the toddlers in my local lll toddler group. (maybe they're all high needs!) I too was bf till 2.5 and self weaned then. I appeared to have coslept till about then too (half the night).

you sound like an amazing mummy.

a friend night weaned but fully coslept by giving gallons of milk at night. personally I'm just letting ds work it out himself. (17 mo) he appears to need more when teething or ill, possibly also when going though a change eg talking etc. some nights are very tough. other times are lovely. only difference I can tell between my ff friends and us is that ds goes back to sleep very quickly with boob where as they can be up all night.

it honestly won't last forever Wine Thanks

littleowl14 · 18/05/2014 21:35

I think my dh is similar to yours. he was convinced we could train him. I've thrown so many 'benefits of cosleeping' articles at him but I think hearing the nightmares his colleague/ work partner is having with their ds who is 6 mo younger (and have been more 'conventional') finally shut him up. as actually lo is a very good sleeper if he sleeps with me. I'm his 'lovie' but I keep thinking of the teen years and how being so close now will only help all that later! (especially if he's like his dadHmm Confused )

I really really found www.isisonline.org.uk/ very helpful at explaining how babies naturally sleep. (and what is totally normal, from research done at Durham uni) and reading 'three in a bed' too.

carolinementzer · 19/05/2014 14:43

I agree isisonline is an excellent website. My DD was exactly the same, I felt like a complete failure as all my friends babies were sleeping through the night by the age of 1. In the end the only thing that worked was my husband doing night duty. He didn't want to as he worked 17 hour days but in the end it was that or me lose the plot.

We did it over a holiday time when we were able to be consistent. After 5 day DD was sleeping 9 hours straight. She then self weaned at 22 months - amazing. Here's my post on it if you're interested - mydaughterwontsleep.com/2014/02/06/is-breast-best-when-it-comes-to-sleep-apparently-not/

Sleep deprivation is the worst.

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