Do I have to wean her to get some sleep??

[jaxnp]

I'm tired!!  Almost a year of not sleeping is really wearing on me, and I'm wondering if I'm going to have to wean dd in order to get some sleep.  David started sleeping through the night right when he weaned at 11 months, and so far Kaitlin has only slept through a few times, and still wants to nurse once or twice every night.  We have done sleep training a couple of times, and it takes 1-2 hours to get her back to sleep when she wakes at night without nursing.  After a few nights, she seems to get the message and stops waking, but it only lasts a week or so, then she's right back to waking and wanting to nurse.  It's like if she knows the boob is there, she's going to wake for it.  If I wean her at a year, do you think she'll start to sleep through?  Or not?

[GraceKellysmom]

I think night wakings are par for the course for this age. In both my kids, it was the worst around 13 months, and then got better. I think you'll find plenty of bottle fed babies waking at this age too. Milestones!!!!!  :shock:  Of course, some babies are more sound sleepers, but not yours, right?  :wink:

Max is still up once or twice a week. Hate to tell you that but want you to know you're not alone.

[annamum]

I think it really depends on a baby. Those, who are always getting a boob in the middle of the night, will wake up often and expect to be nursed to sleep. And some don't. I heard from a friend of mine that her dd was nursed on demand, no sleep training and at certain age she just started sleeping whole night while her first ds wouldn't learn the darn thing even though she tried different methods. I guess, it really depends on a child's maturity or need for contact with parents. Anna was waking far beyond her first birthday and she still occasionally does, especially if something is going on in her life.

As for the weaning, I belong to another board which is much more pro AP than BW. But still there are moms out there who do night weaning. It is not a complete weaning as they nurse during a day but refuse to nurse a baby, very often a co-sleeping baby back to sleep. I don't know exactly how they do it, I guess they ask dh to deal with night wakings until a baby gets the point that there won't be any milkies until the sun comes up.

Sorry that I couldn't help much  :cry:.

[Erin (redstarfalling)]

I also still get up with Megan usually once a night, so I don't have much advice, either!  :oops: I have a friend who would give her dd water when she woke instead of bf'ing.  Took a while, but she got the hint and stopped asking to nurse.  I'll still nurse Megan if she wakes after 3 or 4 am and seems hungry.

[amheusser]

Can you send in dh for night wakings for a week or so?  It shouldn't be a hunger thing at this age, and if she can't smell the milk she may be more easily persuaded to go back to sleep.  We did that with both of mine, and it worked great (plus gave me a break :wink: ).   I can't imagine having 11 months of night wakings!  :shock:   I hope you get a nap!

[jaxnp]

Hmm, Aubrey, we might have to try that.  Don't know how excited dh would be about that though!  What did your dh do?  If I really thought it was hunger, I wouldn't have a problem feeding her, but when she eats and goes down at 8 and wakes at 11, yeah, don't think so!

[Laura's Mum]

OK

I started giving Cate a bottle during the day and bf morning and night (night wakings included :shock: ) at about 10 months.

At 12 months she weaned herself, preferring the bottle and BINGO - she slept through.

BUT we had 15 month old wakings - I gave her a bottle at night to resettle and whammo back to waking 1-2 times a night.

Got rid of the bottle at 20 months - Bingo (again) she slept through from night 1.

This was a similar pattern to my experience with Laura.  It was so painless - really it was.  Just wish I hadn't reintroduced night feeds at 15 months - it meant a few more months of night wakings.

[amheusser]

Hmm, Aubrey, we might have to try that.  Don't know how excited dh would be about that though!  What did your dh do?  If I really thought it was hunger, I wouldn't have a problem feeding her, but when she eats and goes down at 8 and wakes at 11, yeah, don't think so!

He pretty much just walked with her to settle her, and got her back to sleep that way - the first couple nights were harder, then it got steadily better.  He wasn't thrilled about it, but I pointed out that considering what I go through the rest of the time, he should be able to take care of a week of nights!  :wink:

[Lilah'sMommy]

We night-weaned at 9 months, when I just couldn't face another 3, 4, or more months of waking up to feed 3 times a night!  Lilah slept well from about 2.5 to around 4.5 months, then we hit a growth spurt, then milestones (sitting, then crawling, then first teeth at 7.5 months.  I was nursing her back to sleep every time.  By 9 months she was waking more often than she did at 2 months!  So I used the PU/PD program (along with restarting EASY, as she nursed to sleep for both her naps, too, after I had so successfully gotten her to put herself to sleep by 2 months-- but things fall apart).  Dh helped out for the first couple of nights, but as I was using PU/PD during the day for naps, too, I had to do it then.  It took awhile (probably 5 days to start into a routine, but I wouldn't say we were "set" for around a month).  I continued nursing during the day, just not around the times she would be going to sleep.  The first night it took proabbaly 2 hours to settle her after a night waking, but then, miraculously, she didn't wake up again to nurse the rest of the night.  (My boobs were exploding!)

Anyway, by no means do you need to totally wean to get some sleep.  Just readjust the schedule so she gets used to nursing only during waking hours, and keep your breats under wraps for those night wakings.  As soon as you offer the breast, you'll be back at square one (at least when you're first night weaning.  I have nursed her at night a couple times on camping trips when nothing else would calm her, but had no problems returning to the original schedule once we got home).