night weaning in the family bed?

[mrsramjet]

this is the compromise i am working on with my ds (nearly 2yo). i feel he has a legitimate need to be with us at night, but the feeding etc is getting too much for me. (every 3/4 hour in early hours of the morning. not quite settling. crawling all over me and back etc etc)

does anyone here have experiences/stories or advice to share about this?

[ArmsOfLove]

I would wonder if he has to pee or if he's in a diaper that is too wet at that time. When my children are *too* awake and non-stop nursing at that hour I change them (or take them potty depending on where they are with that) and they usually go right back to sleep :tu

[mrsramjet]

thanks crystal.

one thing i realized today too (i feel SO awful for not realizing this sooner) is that he has a little sore on the underside of his penis and i think it's stinging when he does a wee and he certainly does wee a lot in the early hours.

i am interested in your views on child led weaning and night weaning and all that stuff?

the situation is that dh is edging towards saying he thinks it's time for ds to be in his own bed. this is because of the restlessness. i am trying to find a compromise where he stays, but doesn't disrupt.

do you think that night weaning will/won't help?

[ZaksMamma]

Thank you so much for posting this!! We're going through the same thing. My dh slept in a different bed for the first time ever last night b/c our son was so restless (he kicked him in his shoulder which was already injured). Anyway - ds is waking VERY often and wanting to nurse all night long. When I tried to not nurse him back to sleep, but use other comforting techniques he went hysterical. I don't think he needs the food - I think it's just a comfort measure to put him back to sleep b/c he'll fall back to sleep very quickly. The problem is that when I gently unlatch him, he wakes right back up. It's a cycle that goes on generally from 4am - on. I don't want to stop co-sleeping, but it doesn't seem to be getting any better and none of us are sleeping very well lately. I'll watch this thread for any advice.

Thanks,
~ Stacie
(Zakarie 5/21/04)

[Singingmom]

The No-Cry Sleep Solution talks about gradually night weaning in the family bed. I haven't read it, but I've heard it discussed here. Maybe you would find it helpful?

[DogwoodMama]

C has started waking up 2 hours early. :banghead I'm going to start changing her to see if it helps... it never bothered her before but maybe she's getting sensitive? :shrug

[Katydid]

I'm not sure if I have any concrete advice, but I will share our story :) My ds is 18 mos. and I am pregnant w/ #2 He was also waking up to nurse 3-4 times per night and between lack of sleep and sore nipples, I was not a happy camper about it! So I decided that maybe because he nursed down to sleep that when he wakes at night, he still wants to nurse. So that is what we concentrated on first. Dh began to put him to bed. That helped a lot because he would actually wake less when daddy put him down. But when he did wake up, we wanted to nurse. So I told him "not right now, we will nurse in the morning" Well, he was not happy about this at first, but sometimes he would just cry a bit and then go back to sleep. But other times, I could tell he was very upset and thought "ok, this must really be a need right now" so I nursed him after getting him calmed down a bit. That only happened a few times. Most of the time he would just ask and I would say "in the morning" and he went back to sleep. I was very consistant with not nursing at night unless it seemed to be a real need. (just use your mommy judgement :) ) Now he sleeps through the night (9-8) probably 5-6 nights a week :rockon All this took about a month, as we wanted to do it gradually. Dh puts him to sleep every night now and I am so glad we decided to do this now and not too close to when the new baby is born! ;)
Hope that helps some and good luck... I know it's hard! :hug

[blessedwithboys]

one thing i realized today too (i feel SO awful for not realizing this sooner) is that he has a little sore on the underside of his p*nis and i think it's stinging when he does a wee and he certainly does wee a lot in the early hours.


My ds gets a little sore there too unless we put a dab of Lansinoh under his p*nis a couple times a day and definatly before he goes to bed at night. We make sure to dab it really dry after his bath and then apply the Lansinoh. Problem solved! The Lansinoh should also stop the sting. GL!

[moosemama]

Thanks for that suggestion Crystal! Ds's diaper does get awfully wet by the early morning, so that could be it... :doh

We're going through this too. I've lately been getting frustrated with the near-non-stop night nursing, especially in the early morning hours. We've been thinking up a plan to help wean him from nursing *so* much, which consists mostly of DH getting up with him every time he wakes and putting him back to sleep, and giving to me only if he continues fussing or crying. Problem is, we're all in such a habit that in the middle of the night it's so hard to do anything but what we're used to and know works!