Calling all AP Mums, your support is needed please

[PuzzleRocks]

Hi
DD is 16 months and still bfing to sleep. She usually sleeps 7 - 11 and then is up every 2 hours until morning. I am 8 weeks pregnant with hideous nausea and shattered. She isn't ready to give up nursing and I don't want to force her.
I suppose I am just looking for stories from others who have been in this situation and can tell me it will get better because right now i'm really struggling. I'm particularly nervous about the prospect of tandem feeding and coping with two babies waking throughout the night. Help!

Every two hours throughout the night is tough, especially when you are pregnant. And at 16 months, she doesn't need it, unless she has been ill, she should be able to get all her nourishment during the day.

I was in a similar position with dd2, but I wasn't pregnant. She had been very ill and was very skinny so clearly needed all the milk she could drink, and that was two hourly through the night. I was exhausted, and as soon as she was better, my dh took her for three nights or so and I stoped bfing her. Unfortunately I couldn't just stop bfing at night, I ended up stopping altogether, which was a shame. She was fine though, it didn't seem to bother her as nearly as much as I thought it would, and she started sleeping a lot better then. I continued co sleeping.

So not a perfect solution, but that kind of worked for us.

Riven - how long did DD1 nurse back to sleep?

I'm hoping too that this one will sleep through quicker. I can cope with one, but two is a pretty daunting prospect.

Belgo - was she happy for DH to settle her? We haven't tried that.

puzzlerocks - I was surprised at how quickly dd2 adapted to not being bf at night, she was fine with dh. I'm expecting baby no. 3 shortly, and really wanted to end co sleeping altogether. Again, dd2 adapted very quickly to sleeping in a big bed on her own, with her sister in the same bedroom.

The thought of any big change is worse then the change itself, in my experience.

At this age my dd was the same as yours, OP. I still bf to sleep though she is over 3 but she will accept dh putting her to bed with no trouble. When I was 8 wks pg I was in a similar shattered state. She was nearly 3 at the time though but was bfing like a younger child would ie, more often if allowed.

She surprisingly took to night weaning much easier than I expected. My circumstance is a bit different again because at 16 months she was just starting to have appreciable amts of solids which I think was due to allergies to egg and cow's milk which we did not know of yet.

Since night weaning, I noticed though that she started finger sucking and became more attached to a blanket and soft toy since which had never happened before.

You can search the archives for 'Dr Jay Gordon' for experiences by other MNers. There is currently an active thread in breast and bottlefeeding about nightweaning and his technique.

I never thought I would be able to tandem feed because I also work full time and dd has been such a bf monster but as time has gone on, i will cross that bridge when I get there. That prospect has grown on me, just like how I thought I may only bf till 6 or 12 wks when pg with dd1. I am currently 39 wks pg.

Thanks very much.

Off to look up Dr Gordon.