To those of you who said their DC stopped night breastfeeding by themselves...

[JockHorror]

How??!

I've read a few threads on here about whether feeding to sleep is a bad idea, and am always shocked when people reply with "I fed to sleep for x amount of time and then DC just stopped themselves". It is you lucky folk I'm targeting! So if this did happen for you, what age was DC when they stopped and did you literally not do anything to coax them to stop?

We're currently at 21 months, with DD waking up to 4 times a night and anything else but boob (e.g. water/milk in cup, daddy going in to comfort, CC etc) results in screams for up to an hour and a half until I have a meltdown and give in

I'm happy to continue bf in the day but would also be willing to stop completely if it meant undisturbed nights!

My DS stopped night feeding about 6 months, but I think some children stay hungry for a bit longer. By 21 months, if you're happy with her food intake and drinking in the day she really doesn't need milk at night. So, it's a habit. 4 times a night must be killing you!

I know it is really really hard as I've watched friends do it but you have to break the habit. Don't give in. It takes about 3 nights from what I've heard from friends who've done it - 3 nights now and then you're sleep back. Just don't feed her. Whether you ignore her completely or control cry you have to push through the pain now or she'll be waking until she's at school. Good luck

*your sleep

37 months- Dd stopped feeding during the night and recently has completely weaned.

Should have added she needed a little encouragement but was ready and it was not a distressing experience at all.

DS was just over 12 months when feeding him to sleep stopped working - he would still happily nurse but not go to sleep! I changed our routine and fed him a little earlier and started to put him to bed awake. It was absolutely not my choice. He self weaned totally by 15 months.

I don't think these kind of stories will help you though, a 21 month old child is very different, and could well carry on for another year or more if you are happy to continue.

As you obviously are not, you may have to take things into your own hands as marmitelover has said. Good luck. If you do decide to stop, you will have to be very strong (or ideally not in the house at all for a night or two so that the option to give in just isn't there!) but it is likely to be over in a few nights, and would be worth it for the undisturbed nights you (and dd) will get.

DS fed to sleep and the two or three times a night until he was 2yrs 6 mo.

DD fed to sleep and the three times a night until she was 2yrs 9mo.

Both completely weaned from those patterns overnight. DS couldn't contain his giggles about my boobs one night, and never fed again, DD informed me one night that my boobs were broken and never fed again.

I didn't try to stop or offer alternatives or anything. They both fed rarely in the day by that point (being at nursery helped with that!), and I did sometimes delay feeds in the day to get home etc, but I never delayed or declined at night (stick the boob in and back to sleep was far easier!).

Similar to Jas here. Dd1 stopped feeding to sleep at around 12/13 months we swapped the initial bedtime routine around - this was very difficult lots of crying etc but totally changed dd as previously she was just completely grumpy and tired all the time due to late nights when feeding to sleep wasn't working. Within a cpuple of weeks of thw change in bedtime routine dd just stopped waking at night for a feed. I carried on feeding before stories at bedtime and in the morning until 22 months which took some gentle distraction to stop - I was pg with dc 2 and feeding was v uncomfortable.

I think it depends on babe - I'm a member of a fb toddler bf group and some have just stopped in their second year (even when cosleeping) others not.

Have you looked at dr jay Gordon's night weaning method? Many claim it works well, though if the child really isn't ready they may regress later.

Tbh, I can't give you an answer as this just happened naturally with dd2at around 10 weeks when she started sleeping through, and all she did was eat and sleep. She's 3 now, and no longer bf.

With dd1, she still awoke for feeds every night, til she was 15mo. After that, I refused to give her the milk, and just gave water. She soon got the idea lol.

Unfortunately as with many baby things i think some people like me are just lucky. I think it was the gradual increase of food that meant that DD just stopped waking in the night for a feed at about 10 months, so I didn't have to 'do' anything.