2.5 yo is the worst sleeper ever! want to wean.

[@llli*kgr1976]

This brought back memories. When my oldest was 2 and soooooooo incredibly clingy I remember crying to a friend "I cannot believe I bought all that AP stuff! That darn Dr. Sears sold me a bill of goods! Why did we co-sleep? why did I nurse on demand? He will never be able to do a thing without me! I will never get three consecutive hours of sleep! All he wants to do is nurse. Argh!"

It's really hard to function on little sleep and clingy kids can be very frustrating. Also I frankly have little patience for the toddler period as it is it's just not my fave.

All I can say is that, in my case, things changed. Over time, my kid changed, my attitude changed, and I soon began to feel very positively about my parenting choices again. There is no reason to think you would not be just as frustrated now if you had parented differently earlier. You may have had the same issues, you may have had different issues, there is no way of knowing.

You have lots of options. Weaning need not be all or nothing if you think you want to try that but are not sure. You could start encouraging weaning along, you could consider partial weaning, or limiting the length of nursing sessions. You could find ways to get more "mommy time" breaks from your child.

I'm not the OP, but thank you for this. I have never had a period of sleep longer than 5 hours (and that was like once or twice) since my son was born (he's 18 months). I sang the praises of Dr. Sears' in the beginning when co-sleeping, nursing and baby-wearing saved our sanity during DS's colicky period, but I've cursed my buying into it at times when DS wakes up CONSTANTLY to nurse during the night and when I am trying to get like ONE thing done around the house, and DS is just hanging all over me and reaching down my shirt. Of course, I know that things will change (one thing I've learned over this past year and a half is that the next phase -- for better or worse -- is just around the corner!) So, I do enjoy the constant nurturing of DS as much as possible now...and most of the time I feel positively about the way we've chosen to parent, too -- but not so much at 4am when DS is up and ready to go after a night of nursing every two hours

[@llli*yoginimama]

My daughter just barely started STTN and sometimes that doesn't work. The only way I got her to do it was by putting her in the crib. I just had to do it. I never let her CIO. I stayed with her and comforted her until she fell asleep. Now I can put her in the crib and walk away. She goes to sleep on her own. For a long time she would wake up around 3:30, so I'd bring her in bed. She would then nurse every 1-2 hours, thus driving me mildly insane because I have to work until 1 or 2 am, generally. I didn't do anything to get her to sleep longer. She just started doing it. I pray I'm not cursing myself now.

I really needed to do a gentle night wean to be able to continue our nursing relationship. The no sleep for the past 3 years was beating me down. You aren't alone. I don't know if I really considered her night "weaned," but I guess she is since she hasn't gotten up to nurse like that in a little bit. It's really only been a few weeks.

Hang in there.

[@llli*siggyx]

I'm not the OP, but thank you for this. I have never had a period of sleep longer than 5 hours (and that was like once or twice) since my son was born (he's 18 months). I sang the praises of Dr. Sears' in the beginning when co-sleeping, nursing and baby-wearing saved our sanity during DS's colicky period, but I've cursed my buying into it at times when DS wakes up CONSTANTLY to nurse during the night and when I am trying to get like ONE thing done around the house, and DS is just hanging all over me and reaching down my shirt. Of course, I know that things will change (one thing I've learned over this past year and a half is that the next phase -- for better or worse -- is just around the corner!) So, I do enjoy the constant nurturing of DS as much as possible now...and most of the time I feel positively about the way we've chosen to parent, too -- but not so much at 4am when DS is up and ready to go after a night of nursing every two hours

Yep, you definitely aren't alone, I'm right there too. I have been starting to question my parenting choices (attachment parenting style is what came naturally to us) and cursing Dr Sears but I to just found that it's about what my husband and I call an "attitude readjustment". But like kgr1976 says, that 'attitude readjustment' is hard to remember when up at 0400 for the umpteenth time and babe just wants to keep nursing...after having been up every 1-1.5 hours, sometimes 2. I have been searching for answers to how to get him to sleep longer at night (he's 14 months and has been waking up that often for a few months now........insert baggy-eyed look here) and not coming up with much other than judgement, CIO, wait it out. I don't have many solutions to offer but I know for myself it helped to read on here that I'm not the only one with these same worries (such frequent waking, questioning my choices, etc) b/c not many mums I know/meet will either admit to these same worries or use/used methods that are against my instincts for my child. The only thing I can add is make sure you follow your instincts, what your gut says is right for you and for your child, only you know what's best for you two and your instincts will be right. It's so hard to keep listening to our gut when there are so many parenting books, magazines, forums, people that tell you otherwise. And yep, I hold on to the thought that the only certainty with babes are that everything's a phase...
All the best!