Night weaning 15 month old :(

[fibeee]

Looking for any advice from anyone who successfully night weaned their older babies. DD 15m is still waking twice in the night crying for the boob. I’m back to work full time so find myself giving in so I can get back go sleep ASAP and function the next day. DH can’t comfort her as she screams the house down when he goes into her room during the night. If I go in and try to settle her without a feed she also screams the house down.

I’m exhausted and barely functioning during the day as I find myself just lying awake in bed at night waiting to be summoned. Any help would be appreciated.

Hi. I stopped bf my son at 15 months. I had spent the night time feeding and comforting him, only to come down and he unsettled. I decided there and then that I didn't want to bf him anymore as I too was back at work and finding the nights exhausting. So I went back up and just refused to give the boob. It was hard with crying and clawing at my top to get the boob but I just kept saying no, mummy's here and cuddled him instead. Not the best way to wean.. but after a bad night that night, but not totally terrible, we had finished bf just like that. I was ready too though. I am currently bf my newborn so it hasn't put me off bf just I plan on stopping earlier. I hope you find what's right for you x

I was up every hour of the night literally breastfeeding my 13 month old back to sleep. I was exhausted beyond belief and back at work. The night I felt like I almost strangled her with anger I just stopped and offered milk or water in a cup and a banana (to cover all bases). She cried and clawed as above but after two nights was much better and after a week just accepted cuddles and milk or water in a cup. She only woke up once or twice a night after that and accepted me or my dp putting her back in to sleep.

I have a 6 week old baby now too and plan on stopping breastfeeding at night at 8 months or when I'm totally exhausted and he seems old enough. He is a different baby already and only wakes once or twice a night at the moment. I actually feel I can function, it's amazing!!!

Look up the Jay Gordon method and ensure your DH is 100% committed and on board. It’s probably easier if, during the process, they take the lead and deal with wake ups as they are not associated with boob.

There will be tears, possibly a lot, you can’t do it tear free until they are much older/more verbal and can understand what’s going on and why. As long as you offer other comfort though it’s okay - your health matters too.

Just as a small warning, night weaning doesn’t necessarily stop the wake ups. And by weaning you are taking away the easiest tool to get your baby back to sleep. For some people night weaning is the magic bullet, for others it makes the situation a lot worse. I don’t want to scare you but you should go into it fully prepared.

You can 100% night wean tear free, I successfully night weaned my LO at 14 months old. Night weaning was the last feed to go for us and I did it very gradually with lots of close comfort for LO. I know some people go with the approach that's similar to letting them 'cry it out' but it's not something I would ever do as I personally couldn't put my LO's through that. It goes against all my natural instincts as a Mum.

Thank you everyone for your stories. You’ve shown me that there is light at the end of the tunnel!