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| Yes, my clock is multi-colored, if I'm going to see these numbers, they should be as fun as possible, right? |
Some moms get lucky, their little one just starts sleeping through the night and night weans himself.
Lucky them.
In my La Leche League group this past week we were discussing night weaning. There's just no magic formula. It's as normal for a baby to night wean themselves as it is for it to take four months or more.
Aedyn night weaned himself for a couple of months and then reverse cycled at 6 months and night nursed until I initiated night weaning when he was about 11 months old. It took around 2 months all told. We simply replaced each of the 2 or 3 night nursing sessions, one at a time, with cuddling. But even once he stopped nursing at night he still woke up around 5am to come cuddle and sleep in our bed until 8 or 9. (Something even at 2.5 years old, he still does on
Yes, there was crying. Yes, there were long nights. But he wasn't alone crying on those long nights. He kept his bedtime nursing for a couple months after that until, much to my sadness, he completely weaned.
It was a good thing after all, I guess, since I got pregnant again right after that. Of course, I'm pretty sure that I have Aedyn's night weaning to thank for Jaron!
Speaking of Jaron. He'll be 11 months on Monday. He still nurses 3 - 5 times between his bedtime nursing and when he gets up for the day. And I'm ok with that. He's so distractable during the day that he needs his nighttime calories. I did try for awhile to night wean and cut down distractions during the day, but it was miserable for the whole family. As long as Jake's ok with sharing the bed with a 24/7 milk bar, well, I guess that's what we'll do and I won't think about using those two dreaded words for awhile longer.
Share your thoughts or night weaning, sleep, and weaning in general and come join me on Google+, Facebook, and/or Twitter.
*This post is part of the Breastfeeding BlogHop hosted by Life With Levi, The Slacker Mom & Diary Of A Devil Dog Wife
