The Toddler Weaning Room!

[BettyV]

Hi all,
I was just wondering how everyone's weaning journeys are going?
Dd has gone backwards a bit. While it's been almost 2 weeks since she bf overnight her sleep has gone to pot! She's either waking at 4am and deciding she's up for the day or having 3 hour periods of wakefulness in the middle of the night. I am beyond tired but proud of myself that I haven't returned to night feeds. Now come on af! I've down my part let's get this whole fertility show on the road so I can start ttc already!

[Tiny Dancer]

Good work @BettyV! You've done so well. Sucks about the sleep though. I don't have any suggestions, but maybe the others do.

DS gets a 5 minute feed before his nap (he would have 20 if I let him), and a 20 min one before bed. He gets one feed overnight of less than 10 min.... he didn't have it til 4:30 this morning. And once he let DH put him to sleep instead of me coming in to feed him or cuddle him. He did wake up later for a feed though.

He's got his first day of day care next week. I'm reluctant to cut his night feeds before he goes, because I can just see a complete relapse for more comfort anyway.

AF came back for me at the end of last week. I don't know if I'll get my normal 28 day cycles back, but hopefully it will go smoothly.

[deku]

She's either waking at 4am and deciding she's up for the day or having 3 hour periods of wakefulness in the middle of the night.

DS can do this even with night feeds so if it helps, it's probably not a direct consequence of night-weaning?

We're not doing very well, I think I'm too reluctant to give up my most useful parenting tool!
But DS is coping well with being told "Not until bedtime/when we get home".
I don't think we'll actually be able to try and night-wean until we have a chance to go shopping for a bed for DS so he's not in grabbing range!

[BettyV]

DS can do this even with night feeds so if it helps, it's probably not a direct consequence of night-weaning?

We're not doing very well, I think I'm too reluctant to give up my most useful parenting tool!
But DS is coping well with being told "Not until bedtime/when we get home".
I don't think we'll actually be able to try and night-wean until we have a chance to go shopping for a bed for DS so he's not in grabbing range!

I'm not sure if that's comforting or not! At least if it was a consequence of adjusting to night weaning I could hope it would be short lived! 😜

That's good that your ds is happy to let you set times. That's what I started with before we night weaned. Also, I was worried about night weaning with dd still cosleeping too but I've found sleeping in a zip up jumper is enough to slow her access attempts!

[BettyV]

Good work @BettyV! You've done so well. Sucks about the sleep though. I don't have any suggestions, but maybe the others do.

DS gets a 5 minute feed before his nap (he would have 20 if I let him), and a 20 min one before bed. He gets one feed overnight of less than 10 min.... he didn't have it til 4:30 this morning. And once he let DH put him to sleep instead of me coming in to feed him or cuddle him. He did wake up later for a feed though.

He's got his first day of day care next week. I'm reluctant to cut his night feeds before he goes, because I can just see a complete relapse for more comfort anyway.

AF came back for me at the end of last week. I don't know if I'll get my normal 28 day cycles back, but hopefully it will go smoothly.

Waiting until after he's settled at childcare sounds wise. I've found dd still insists on a bf as soon as we get home on Childcare days. I'm pretty sure it just gives her some reassurance.

[deku]

Saw this on Facebook this morning - this is basically why I suck at weaning ������ Whenever I'm close to sleep (either just woken up or about to fall asleep) my rational brain switches off and all I care about is getting more sleep. Which usually means giving DS free boob access so I don't have to open my eyes or get up for another half hour!
13442416_1196402507060104_8128705530673643506_n.jpg

[BettyV]

@blissfulfairy this thread might be useful.

[deku]

So DS hadn't fed at all during the day for about a week now, but he's getting crafty. He knows "no boobies until bedtime", so late yesterday afternoon he dragged his bear and blanket and pillow out to the loungeroom, made himself a little bed, lay down and said "Night night! ...boobie?"
I shouldn't have but I did reward him for his effort at trying to trick me into thinking it was bedtime, he probably thought he was being so clever

Any suggestions on how to say no in the middle of the night though? I was doing ok with "not until morning" when he waked overnight but I'm trying to drop that feed too. So I'm not sure how to differentiate between feeding at 8pm (which I'm happy to continue) and feeding at 3am (which I'd like to stop) in a way he'd understand, when both times are at night/in bed/in the dark.

[twinklify]

I ended up saying that milk is for going to sleep after quiet time until the sun comes up in the morning. Between then is cuddles and water if thirsty. He seemed ok with that.

[Tiny Dancer]

@deku, I would have done the same thing! So clever of him. Can you say boobie is just for when we go to bed, and that at 3 am, boobie is sleeping? Similar to twinklify's suggestion, but something extra if he isn't happy with the first bit of the answer.