Advice on how to wean 14 month old

[@llli*avachristine]

Hi everyone,

My 14 month old only nurses at naps (twice) and at night, but I'm ready to wean completely because I'm pregnant and would also like to begin moving my LO to her crib (she co-sleeps because of the night sessions).

At night, she wakes up about 5 times and falls right back asleep once I offer my breast. Her doctor says it's a sleep crutch and I've prevented her from falling back asleep on her own. Because of this, I am never able to leave her at night and I have to be home in time for her naps. That worries me for when I go into labor and will have to leave her for the first time overnight. I'm only 9 weeks pregnant so I have time, but I don't even know where to start.

Can anyone offer advice on how I can successfully wean and get her to sleep without the breast? I tried just laying with her, rubbing her back, singing, etc., but she just cries harder and tugs at my shirt.

Thank you so much in advance!

[@llli*zaynethepain]

Congrats on your pregnancy!
I found a lot of helpful information about nursing and weaning if you choose in the book Adventures in Tandem Nursing by Hillary Flower. There's also How Weaning Happens by Diane Bengson that could help you with that process. This link has a list of sleep resources that may interest you, including Dr Jay Gordon's night weaning method which many mom's use on this forum. But I think your doctor is full of BS Given time children will learn to fall back asleep on their own. Many doctors discount toddler's legitimate need for both food and comfort at night.
Whoever watches your baby while you are in labor is going to need to figure their own way of putting baby to sleep. This holds true whether you wean or not. Don't borrow trouble from the future on this one.
http://evolutionaryparenting.com/gen...eep-resources/

[@llli*karrieperry]

Congrats on your pregnancy!
I found a lot of helpful information about nursing and weaning if you choose in the book Adventures in Tandem Nursing by Hillary Flower. There's also How Weaning Happens by Diane Bengson that could help you with that process. This link has a list of sleep resources that may interest you, including Dr Jay Gordon's night weaning method which many mom's use on this forum. But I think your doctor is full of BS Given time children will learn to fall back asleep on their own. Many doctors discount toddler's legitimate need for both food and comfort at night.
Whoever watches your baby while you are in labor is going to need to figure their own way of putting baby to sleep. This holds true whether you wean or not. Don't borrow trouble from the future on this one.
http://evolutionaryparenting.com/gen...eep-resources/

Congrats on your pregnancy! I can't give any advice on the night weaning or weaning, because my 13 month old does the same exact thing as yours and we handle it the same way, pop the breast in and she's out.

The only thing that works for us at night before I go into bed is that my husband can go and lay next to my 13 month old and she doesn't need to nurse if she wakes up between when I put her to bed by nursing and when I go to bed (so about 3-4 hour time span). We didn't teach her that...she just stopped needing the nursing for every single wake up. She learned it on her own.

And I agree, that is BS, what your doctor said. Everyone said the same thing to me, but I knew they were wrong. My daughter wakes up after every sleep cycle. Period. It didn't matter if she was in a swing, with a breast in her mouth, exactly how she fell asleep, or if I was not in the house. She always wakes up crying. So I knew it wasn't an object permanence issue. AND now she's falls asleep after nursing talking to herself, so technically she puts herself to sleep in bed and she still wakes up crying. She has just been a light sleeper her whole life, and I've come to accept it.

Having transitioned my other child to a "big girl bed" I would make it a very positive experience if at all possible. And I would not recommend a crib if your baby doesn't already sleep there. If you get her a twin mattress on the floor at least you can snuggle together and nurse if needed and she'd be in her own bed. There is no way you can hop in a crib, you'd have to sit up holding her and that is exhausting enough without being pregnant. We had to ditch my older child's crib soon after I became pregnant (she was 18 months old), because I had issues where I couldn't lift her.