Sleeping and weaning?

[@llli*babymayhem]

My is 8months old and still nurse 2 times during the night. I work full time and really am starting to feel exhausted I really need a full nights rest but do not know how to get her to sleep through the night. Also I am thinking about starting to wean her from the breast but do not know how to go about it. Any advice will help

[@llli*lasbi.modeu]

To sleep better I strongly suggest co-sleeping but if that is not an option you could try Dr Gordon's method:

http://drjaygordon.com/attachment/sleeppattern.html

He suggests this for babies over 12 months but I have a friend who did it with her son at 6 mo

Sorry, I can't help you with weaning as I never had to wean a baby.

[@llli*mydreamscametrue]

I'm in a similar boat. We co sleep with our 11 month old baby and co sleeping is wonderful for nursing her, I can't imagine getting up every time she wants to nurse, because sometimes it seems like she nursed all night. I'm sure it's at least 4 times a night we switch sides, sometimes more, so I am wondering what I should do if anything. I am not working right now so it's not so bad that I'm sleepy and confused during the day.....Although I do still have to be alert enough to take care of baby and older child and drive, and cook....so it's hard being sleepy all the time! I just keep not doing anything about it because I love nursing her so much I don't want to cut down on night feedings because I don't want our nursing to decline, I know that the more I nurse the more I make and I don't want it to end or even decrease....and since we're co-sleeping, I am able to go to sleep while she's nursing, it's just when she wants to change sides....but still, it's a lot of interruptions in my sleep and in the back of my mind I have a little voice telling me it might not be good for me to be sleep deprived for 11 months and counting, but just don't know what to do about it yet. I'm going to be watching this thread for oppinions and what other people are doing....

[@llli*5ofus]

My LO started sleeping almost through the night about..ohh.. 1 month ago?? He is 23 months. He woke up every hour until he was close to 5 mo, then he would push some nights waking only 3-4 times, sometimes 2-3. It's tough, I have been sleep deprived for a long time (and due with another in November) but I just found ways to catch naps when I could ( I am not a napper either) and we co-slept. I would never have been able to maintain my sanity had we not co-slept. I just kept thinking that he would eventually sleep better (12 yr old and 9 yr old still come to our room at least once a month). He has, and if I wasn't having another baby, I would foresee beter sleep from here on out. Nursing at night did help with several issues for us... first being teething, then there are those milestones!! Every time he made some big milestone, or started doing something new sleep would be a little rough for a couple of nights. I cannot imagine the lack of sleep I would have had if we didn't nurse.

[@llli*babymayhem]

I choose not to co sleep bc I do not want to have her in the bed with me at 5 as much as I love her she needs to know how to sleep on her own. Sometimes I wonder if weaning is the best thing so daddy can help me at night. I am just exhausted and HAVE to work. I am confused and don't want to quit nursing but I really need sleep and a break

[@llli*mommal]

She will eventually be able to sleep on her own. It's just really early to expect her to be able to. Some level of night-waking is to be expected during the first year, and for many babies, night-waking and night-nursing continues beyond the first year. Which is why the PPs suggested co-sleeping: if you can't beat it, roll with it, right? Co-sleeping often means so much more sleep for mom- you roll over, latch baby on, and everyone drifts back to sleep, waking only when baby decides to nurse again several hours later.

If that doesn't work for you, and you are truly at the breaking point, how about have daddy give one nighttime bottle (preferaby of breastmilk!) and you take the other night waking? No need to wean completely.

[@llli*mommy2lilah]

What time do you go to bed? Two times a night is not bad at all, and is developmentally appropriate. Perhaps if you went to bed earlier - or have DH take over one of the night wakings like Mommal suggested, that would help you get a little more rest. But I have always found that when my girls were going through periods of waking up more that it was better if I went to bed earlier. I don't need 7 hours of sleep in a row - but I do need 7 hours of sleep total to function. If they were going through a phase of waking up every 45 minutes, I went to bed at 7:30 pm or so.

[@llli*auderey]

i totally agree with tracie. we've always co-slept and i've pretty much never been sleep-deprived, but i also always went to bed when DS did. now that DS is 14 months and sleeping better, i've gotten used to nursing him to sleep around 8:30 then staying up a couple hours, often in bed on the computer, but sometimes getting up for housework and time with DH etc. but we're both sick now and i'm tired a LOT and realizing i need to switch back to going to sleep when he does at 8:30, because he's waking a lot more, and the first 2 hours is usually his most restful sleep. it's hard to make myself do it though!

[@llli*joshuas.mommy]

One thing you might try is doing a dreamfeed right before you go to bed. If she is waking because she is hungry, that may help cut out one of the night wakings. If she is waking for other reasons, such as comfort, time with mom, etc. then it may not help at all.

Other than that, my only advice is to go to bed earlier, or let your partner give one bottle overnight. It sucks. I'm a working mama too and in pretty much the same boat. But it is normal for them to continue waking at night throughout the first year. Relatively few babies actually sleep through the night prior to one year, and those that do usually have to be sleep trained, meaning letting them cry it out, which I would not recommend doing.

We don't cosleep either. Our bed isn't big enough for all of us and it's unacceptable to me to kick DH out of bed to the couch so DS sleeps in his crib. It's rough, and I'm sleep deprived. I nap where I can and figure it's temporary.