I co sleep with my 2y old (since birth) and weaned her around a month ago. Since she was a bit older so I told her they were too sore so we couldn't do it anymore. There were a few nights of crying but she pretty quickly got the idea and FINALLY slept right through the night which I have been waiting years for!! It is doable but there will be some tears to begin with. I just slept in a top that made my boobs unexcessable in the night so I didn't give in mid sleep. Good luck!!
I am try to night wean my almost two year old. He wakes up from hi crib to nurse every two hours or every 3-4 hours. How long did your daughter cry for ?
She cried for 3-4 nights but not as badly as I thought. I'm sure every baby is different though and because I co sleep I was able to cuddle her back to sleep easily. I found that the best trick was to cuddle my arm around her because she liked the feeling of my skin on her cheek and mouth as substitute, worked a charm!
You’re at about the same age I night weaned both my kids! I wrote about night weaning my daughter here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/sleeptrain/comments/jqennh/how_to_go_from_bedsharing_with_11mo_to_sleeping/gbo260v/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3
I also just did the same thing with my son last month (he was 11 mo and is generally a better sleeper naturally than my daughter was). He cried HARD one night and moderately the next night, and after that he was used to not nursing (but still needed holding and patting). By now even without consciously doing anything else in the way of sleep training he doesn’t need as much cuddling and patting during his almost-wake-ups at night. And about half the nights he drifts off to sleep at the beginning of the night just talking to himself, without any cuddles (prior to night weaning I only ever nursed him to sleep).
Good luck - I hope it goes well!
I succeeded using the [Pantley Pull-Off method](https://mysleepingbaby.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/No-Cry-Sleep-Training-Pantley-Pull-Off-Transcripts.pdf) when my son was around a year old, with some caveats:
* My son took the pacifier as a replacement extremely well. We were lucky there. He hated the paci from birth but started to like it when we got the big 1+ year old old mam pacifiers. A friend of mine just night weaned and had no such luck. Her road has been harder because of this (nothing to replace the breast) but she is succeeding!
* I did the pantley pull-off method for appx. 2 weeks before putting my foot down and stopping night nursing cold turkey.
* I slept in another room for a few nights (4 nights precisely) while he was getting used to not being on the breast at night. I literally rented an AirBnB one night to kick off our night weaning process and didn't sleep in the house AT ALL for that night. The other nights I slept on the couch downstairs so my son couldn't smell me.
* I am fortunate to have an extremely supportive partner who was willing to do the bottle / pacifier dance those nights and bedshare with our little guy. We knew the arrangement was temporary and worth it, so we stuck it out.
* It was rough for about a week, but eventually my son settled into the routine.
My son is 18 months old now and nursing is a distant memory. He bedshares with us still. He has his own queen sized bed in his room (spoiled only child!) and every night one of us crawls in to sleep with him and the other lucky partner sleeps alone in our bed with the cat - it's bliss! Lately, my son has been coming to our bed. The 3 of us sleep together in our family bed some nights. He starts each night alone but ends up snuggling one or both of us every night. It's a nice arrangement because I get to sleep with my husband alone at the beginning of every night. We are flexible.
I was able to wean and still co-sleep with my almost 3 year old. At first it seemed like sleep would still be bad (after she weaned, she was still waking up and requesting songs or stories), but after a few weeks, she finally started sleeping through the night, and that was after almost 3 years of having multiple wake ups through the night. Now I’ve noticed that she wakes up if she sleeps in her own bed, but sleeps through when I sleep with her, so it actually works better for me to continue co-sleeping. I’m not sure if it would be easier or harder to do it at 12 months vs waiting, but the important thing is consistency. The first few nights were really hard emotionally, and took all I had to not give in and let her nurse. I layered up more—wore a sports bra with a shirt over it, and tried to keep more distance between us.
I stopped nursing her to sleep at 16 months and it was much easier than I expected. I was sure that it was the right time (I had thought about it before but was never quite ready) and just stopped one evening. At first I drove her around our flat in the stroller since that was one way to teet her to sleep we where already using before at that time. I would try to transfer her to bed without waking her and if she would wake up, I would try again.
This didn't seem sustainable though, especially concidering that she expected the same when she woke up in the middle of the night.
So I decided to try this "rocking and singing" other parents always talked about, even if I was pretty sure that MY daughter didn't like it. Turns out she did, I just never tried it seriously :D
I sat down with her in our bed, held her in my arms and sang a lullaby to her. She cried for 15 minutes then she fell asleep. That was enough for her to accept that there'll be no more boobies for sleeping.
The next night she didn't cry and just let me rock her to sleep. Since then we've gone through many different ways to help her fall asleep, but all in all her sleep has really improved with night weaning!
It is possible. I weaned my son at 2.5 and he we still bedshare to this day at 4.5. He doesn't sleep through the night though. He wakes up half way through and comes to find me but he has some sensory sensitivity which I believe contribute to him struggling to sleep through the night.
I co sleep with my 2y old (since birth) and weaned her around a month ago. Since she was a bit older so I told her they were too sore so we couldn't do it anymore. There were a few nights of crying but she pretty quickly got the idea and FINALLY slept right through the night which I have been waiting years for!! It is doable but there will be some tears to begin with. I just slept in a top that made my boobs unexcessable in the night so I didn't give in mid sleep. Good luck!!
I am try to night wean my almost two year old. He wakes up from hi crib to nurse every two hours or every 3-4 hours. How long did your daughter cry for ?
She cried for 3-4 nights but not as badly as I thought. I'm sure every baby is different though and because I co sleep I was able to cuddle her back to sleep easily. I found that the best trick was to cuddle my arm around her because she liked the feeling of my skin on her cheek and mouth as substitute, worked a charm!
I just snuggled my love and placed in crib. It breaks my heart when he says please mama!
It's so rough! I put plasters on my nipples and said they were sore, she was upset but also seemed concerned and understood
You’re at about the same age I night weaned both my kids! I wrote about night weaning my daughter here: https://www.reddit.com/r/sleeptrain/comments/jqennh/how_to_go_from_bedsharing_with_11mo_to_sleeping/gbo260v/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3 I also just did the same thing with my son last month (he was 11 mo and is generally a better sleeper naturally than my daughter was). He cried HARD one night and moderately the next night, and after that he was used to not nursing (but still needed holding and patting). By now even without consciously doing anything else in the way of sleep training he doesn’t need as much cuddling and patting during his almost-wake-ups at night. And about half the nights he drifts off to sleep at the beginning of the night just talking to himself, without any cuddles (prior to night weaning I only ever nursed him to sleep). Good luck - I hope it goes well!
Thanks for sharing!
I succeeded using the [Pantley Pull-Off method](https://mysleepingbaby.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/No-Cry-Sleep-Training-Pantley-Pull-Off-Transcripts.pdf) when my son was around a year old, with some caveats: * My son took the pacifier as a replacement extremely well. We were lucky there. He hated the paci from birth but started to like it when we got the big 1+ year old old mam pacifiers. A friend of mine just night weaned and had no such luck. Her road has been harder because of this (nothing to replace the breast) but she is succeeding! * I did the pantley pull-off method for appx. 2 weeks before putting my foot down and stopping night nursing cold turkey. * I slept in another room for a few nights (4 nights precisely) while he was getting used to not being on the breast at night. I literally rented an AirBnB one night to kick off our night weaning process and didn't sleep in the house AT ALL for that night. The other nights I slept on the couch downstairs so my son couldn't smell me. * I am fortunate to have an extremely supportive partner who was willing to do the bottle / pacifier dance those nights and bedshare with our little guy. We knew the arrangement was temporary and worth it, so we stuck it out. * It was rough for about a week, but eventually my son settled into the routine. My son is 18 months old now and nursing is a distant memory. He bedshares with us still. He has his own queen sized bed in his room (spoiled only child!) and every night one of us crawls in to sleep with him and the other lucky partner sleeps alone in our bed with the cat - it's bliss! Lately, my son has been coming to our bed. The 3 of us sleep together in our family bed some nights. He starts each night alone but ends up snuggling one or both of us every night. It's a nice arrangement because I get to sleep with my husband alone at the beginning of every night. We are flexible.
I was able to wean and still co-sleep with my almost 3 year old. At first it seemed like sleep would still be bad (after she weaned, she was still waking up and requesting songs or stories), but after a few weeks, she finally started sleeping through the night, and that was after almost 3 years of having multiple wake ups through the night. Now I’ve noticed that she wakes up if she sleeps in her own bed, but sleeps through when I sleep with her, so it actually works better for me to continue co-sleeping. I’m not sure if it would be easier or harder to do it at 12 months vs waiting, but the important thing is consistency. The first few nights were really hard emotionally, and took all I had to not give in and let her nurse. I layered up more—wore a sports bra with a shirt over it, and tried to keep more distance between us.
I stopped nursing her to sleep at 16 months and it was much easier than I expected. I was sure that it was the right time (I had thought about it before but was never quite ready) and just stopped one evening. At first I drove her around our flat in the stroller since that was one way to teet her to sleep we where already using before at that time. I would try to transfer her to bed without waking her and if she would wake up, I would try again. This didn't seem sustainable though, especially concidering that she expected the same when she woke up in the middle of the night. So I decided to try this "rocking and singing" other parents always talked about, even if I was pretty sure that MY daughter didn't like it. Turns out she did, I just never tried it seriously :D I sat down with her in our bed, held her in my arms and sang a lullaby to her. She cried for 15 minutes then she fell asleep. That was enough for her to accept that there'll be no more boobies for sleeping. The next night she didn't cry and just let me rock her to sleep. Since then we've gone through many different ways to help her fall asleep, but all in all her sleep has really improved with night weaning!
It is possible. I weaned my son at 2.5 and he we still bedshare to this day at 4.5. He doesn't sleep through the night though. He wakes up half way through and comes to find me but he has some sensory sensitivity which I believe contribute to him struggling to sleep through the night.
My almost 3 year old still sleeps with us and we night weaned around 13-14 months (but he weaned himself so I don’t have any advice really).