No improvement from night weaning

[Tiredturtle]

Over the last 4 nights we have night weaned our 15 month old as he was waking frequently to nurse. I'm pregnant with our second and was finding the nights exhausting. However, it seems to have if anything made him wake more, often crying for a long time and I feel so guilty.
Should we keep trying with no milk at night or does this show he's not ready and we should try again in a few months?
Realistically we were not expecting him to suddenly sleep through the night but were hoping to get him down to 1-2 wakes

If he was still waking frequently and having milk in the night I assume he was using the nursing for comfort and settling. Can he self settle without feeding? Has he been self settling to sleep rather than feeding to sleep?

I honestly think it’s far too young to night wean. People who don’t BF will tell you differently but poor thing is probably waking teething and needs milk, or yes, comfort. It’s all just a phase and just lean into it and he’ll grow out of it. My DD was like that, she’s not like it now at 22 months, think she stopped having phases of walking frequently to BF around 18m. So glad I never left her to cry or denied her her main source of comfort though.

He cant fully self settle but at bedtime he goes into his cot awake and as long as one of us stays in the room until he's asleep he'll lie down and go to sleep. Occasionally wants a back stroke. His dad can put him down for naps without milk and has been trying to do the night resettling recently. He's also fine at nursery.
But definitely does take comfort from nursing at night and was using it to get at least partially back to sleep

That’s likely to be the issue then, they need to be able to self settle really to stop waking much in the night. I’d gradually try to stop being in the room with him when he goes to sleep at night, you could try gradually retreating if you don’t want to properly sleep train.

Thanks. We're definitely not leaving him to cry ever and are giving him lots of comfort. But appreciate it's probably not what he wants!
To be honest I would have kept going as is but I have been really struggling with also being pregnant and having bf aversions so am hoping to stop completely in the next few months.

Problem is though OPs pregnant and is exhausted, if it’s not working to bf or bf at night anymore then it’s fine to stop and try something else. It’s hard enough being pregnant without multiple night wake ups to feed a toddler!

I wouldn’t reintroduce the night feed. It’s a method to find comfort and reassurance, as well as just plain habit, rather than actually a need by the time they’re this age (for most kids, not all!). It can be a bit of a teaching/learning process for them to be able to settle themselves if they’re so used to having you come in with a feed. I think stick to what you’re doing and consider some gentle sleep training methods, or a sleep consultant if you can get a good recommendation where you are and if you can afford it - hopefully you’d find it’s money well spent. Good luck!