Night weaning

[Poppyflo29]

To carry on my breastfeeding journey I need to night wean as it's affecting most aspects of my life through lack of sleep. He wakes every 45-1hour most nights. Most he's ever slept is 3 hours and that's been about twice!

We've tried the gentle approach and his having none of it with me being there.

So we are going cold turkey and I'm going to sleep downstairs for abit.
Anyone have any advice or success stories?

Hoping to still feed in the morning and evening.

How old is your baby?
So far I only have unsuccess story, but I was only trying super gentle methods and not really persisting.
For us, me sleeping in another room did not help and she knows I am there and keeps asking to go there or just climbes down the bed and goes herself. (21 months)

He is 19 months.

Good luck. I night weaned at 7 months and it went well as he was ready I suppose. My only advice is that once the milk bar is closed for the night don't go back! You don't want to repeat the process and you can be confident that at this age he doesn't need milk at night. If he wakes for comfort just don't use your boobs

Other than that just put milk at the beginning of your routine, before pyjamas and teeth brushing.

Good luck! It'll be worth it, waking up that often isn't healthy for anyone!

Thank you. We are starting tomorrow night. I just hope he doesn't hate me x

Oh he won't hate you. He'll probably be well rested and very chirpy

How did it go, OP?

It's going well. Last night he slept 6.30-1am, then up briefly at 3 slept 3am-6.30.
I'm still downstairs though so not sure how well it will go when I go back up as he's completely boob obsessed in the day x

How did you DP find settling him? DD is weird in that she's not that fussed about boob in the day (but will take when offered) but will only settle with boob in the night. I'm back at work soon and worried about how I'll cope on less sleep so think I need DH to do the same as yours but I'm worried he won't be able to cope with the crying TBH!!

Yeah he's been fab. Our little boy barely cries with him and he's been sleeping so much better. So glad we've done it.
When he does cry my husband just comforts him.

Just came on here to post something about night-weaning in the hope of some support! Glad to hear things are going well with others, that's reassuring to hear! We're in the midst of it at the moment - frustratingly we just started and then ds was ill (me too!) and everything went to pot again. We've just re-started and it's not going well. He was awake and whinging/yelling/crying/rolling around the bed from 11.30pm-3am this morning. The previous night it was 'only' 2hrs... The trouble is, I think, we've cracked in the past (well, I say we - I) have cracked in the past and fed him. But it's got to stop this time. Apart from the sleep issue (tbf, he used to go off quite quickly on being fed, and co-sleeping meant i didn't lose too much shuteye, but it still takes a toll), to be completely honest I'm starting to resent it. And I'm going away for a new nights in a fortnight and don't want to condemn ds and DP to essentially crying it out in my absence! I just feel totally beaten down by it at the moment though. I know it's the 4hrs of sleep talking, but still... And DP has just texted to say he will have to be at work tonight and possibly tomorrow night too so it's just me having my boobs pawed at through the t-shirt for hours again then.

At the moment ds is fed before sleep, wakes somewhere between 10.30pm and midnight (when he has previously been fed - this is the one we are currently attempting to knock on the head), again 2am-ish, a feed which we more or less successfully eliminated before he was ill and have now withdrawn again, and again 5/6am-ish, when he's still usually fed. So we have stopped the 2x overnight feeds and I am reducing the length of the bedtime and morning feeds by a minute a day. It's all just so fucking exhausting. Tell me we will get there if we don't crack again and stay consistent!

You will crack it just keep at it! My little boy is still a complete boob monster in the day but he knows at night now it's not on offer. We are all so much happier.

Thanks for the encouragement! It's ridiculous really, I KNOW he doesn't need it, it's bad for his teeth and bad for everyone's sleep, and I KNOW he's just being a complete drama queen when he wails heartbreakingly and gets himself so worked up, but it all works so well as a guilt trip, especially since he only started nursery a few weeks ago and he's been ill... I'm just going to have to be firm. Gulp.

how old is your LO queenrefusenik ? I've got a 17 month old cosleeping boob addict, planning on trying to move her to her own room on Friday as there is no way I can night wean while we are in the same bed. Hoping night weaning might also cut down on the amount of milk she wants in the days I'm at home with her as I feel like her lack of interest in solids is partly because she just tanks up on milk when I'm around. When I'm at work she eats a bit but still goes milk crazy when I walk through the door

Mine's 14 months and is another boob addict. He does technically sleep in his own room but one of us usually ends up there with him from the early hours! I'm lucky that he eats like a horse most days so I know he doesn't need the milk nutritionally, but he does love it!

Better night last night though - he woke around 10pm and 3am and both times was very unhappy not to be given milk, but he did settle down again quite quickly (within around 30 minutes) both times. Fingers x'd he is finally getting the message!

Well it's reassuring to hear others have managed it, gives me ever so slightly more confidence about attempting it myself!