weaning a toddler

[mummabare]

Ok I have come to the conclusion that weaning a nearly 3 yr old is completely different to weaning a younger child.....I just feel like we are getting no where with this and I could just writing this out of frustration because its early morning but

night weaning sux.

Does anyone have any tips??

I have tried:

Offering him water instead ( this tends to wake him up more and result in a lot of whining).

Making him sleep next to DH (DH not impressed and niether is Dillon when he wake and Im not there)..

I havnt tried putting him in his own room but I dont really want to do this you know?

Some nights he will sleep longer and just do a marathon at about 5- 6am and other nights ( like last night) he will wake at 2am and suck and then I cant get him off without him waking and protesting. And then he will again do his 5 - 6 am marathon.

Im really over it now but I dont want to stop completely, nor do I want to move him out of my bed....am I asking too much

He turns 3 in feb and I really want to ttc but I feel that Im not going to be able to have the energy for pregnancy and his marathon feeds let alone baby dancing in the first place.



Im tired can you tell.

[mummabare]

oh to be fair, sometimes what works is saying one more booby and then you go to sleep. Sometimes ....

and also I can reason with him during the day well enough, offering food and drink and entertainment. I dont protest about feeding during the day ( as long as its not him hanging off me while he watches telly).

anyone weaned a 3 yr old?

[possum]

I have... but i also created another problem well its not at the moment but it could be. Georgia has been completly weaned for about a month and to start i cut out her night feed by replacing it with a bottle of rice milk. I know i shouldnt have given her a bottle at 3 but like you said it was the only thing that would wke her completly and have her awake for 2 hours in the middle of the night!
So she has a bottle to go to sleep being cuddled and one in the middle of the night. I would still be feeding her to sleep i was happy to do it but i havnt got any milk left. It was the middle of the night that was killing me!

[liamsmum02]

Kristi have you tried talking to him about it and doing the "no more milk till the sun comes up thing"?

With Ewan, he has a feed before he goes to sleep and I say "Night Night for boobies now. Boobies are going to sleep now. You can have some more milk when the sun comes up". Then when he woke (doesn't anymore) through the night, I'd just say "No milk yet - the sun's not up." Took a couple of weeks of that and now he just does it without asking. The first few nights you might have to be strong in not giving in when he wakes during the night though it doesn't take too long.

I think for an older child finding an explanation why or a reason for the weaning might help them to accept it more easily whereas a younger child may find that a substitute makes it easier for them.

Good Luck with it!

[Georgie]

Kristi, an online friend of mine just nightweaned her son due to her own pregnancy. Her son's only 22 months so I don't know how much difference there'd be.
She did it by sleeping him next to daddy, getting daddy to deal with him in the night, etc. It did take a couple of weeks though, and persistence. And they verbalised it to him too 'No more boos til morning'.

[mattiesmum]

When we went through this Kristi, I found explaining did help. "no booby until the birds sing" etc and sticking to my guns for a few weeks. He protested but didn't get distressed as there were cuddles on tap!
It just takes time so keep at it, when you least expect it it will all fall into place.

[Bronnie]

i night weaned xanthia (i had that staph infection) and she was really hard to help to sleep for ages. still is sometimes.

but what worked was to talk to her about it during the day (what will happen etc), and then reinforce it at night when we went to bed. she cried a bit when i said no (and i hated it but the pain from the infection was horrific), then a short grizzle, then slept thru

[mammadyl]

s Kristi,
All I can think of is the no milk til morning thing....
And I probably am not much help cause ds is still feeding at night although mainly before he goes to sleep and when I come to bed....I have no idea how/when he will night wean
ABA has some info here:
http://www.breastfeeding.asn.au/bfinfo/weaning.html which may or may not have some more info for you....

I hope everything goes well...and hugs....

Bek

[mummabare]

aww thanks for the tips and link.

I have tried the wait til morning thing but I was exhausted after two days. I might try it again tho....and I think maybe start a journal so I know exactly whats going on coz I kinda forget how many feeds he's having.

also... pm zoe (mamafelix) about it too, she weaned felix at 3, she told him once he had his birthday there was no more booby, and i think it worked ok for her... she may be able to give you more insight into her method.