Hi mommas. When I look for help on this topic I see many posts from moms of 16 month olds and 20 month olds....but my son is now 37 months. And still waking at least 3 times a night to nurse.
Our son sleeps in our room, half the night in his toddler bed, the other half in our beds. I lie down with him when he goes to sleep and then leave the room after he is asleep.
We tried slowly limiting about 5 months ago and I still have PTSD. We started by nursing before bed in the living room, then going to sleep without nursing. He didn't like it but not the worst. Then I would nurse him when he woke up the first time and bring him into our bed--but refused for subsequent wakings. He became hysterical and hit and kicked me, begged me and was not bright and cheery in the morning. He told his babysitter he was frustrated. He had aggressive temper tantrums--things he had never done before.
He gradually DID start sleeping a little more. But then he got sick and it all went to pot. Now I feel like I am back at square one.
We read "Nursies when the sun shines," we talk about how he is getting bigger every day and gets more nutrition from food (he's a great eater,) we are very close--the first two years of his life I went back to work and he had a babysitter at home--part of the reason I co-slept is to get back some of the closeness I missed during the day. I have now been home with him for 7 months. If I go out at night he begrudgingly will go to sleep with his daddy--and on the rare occasion his daddy and I go out together he will go to sleep with a beloved babysitter. He is very verbal and understands--he just doesn't want to make this change.
Oh, and he will now only nap when with me, latched on through the whole nap. Also starting to get to be a lot--but I can handle that better. The night waking means we are ALL tired. He doesn't just roll over and nurse half asleep. He wakes up, yells "MILKY-MILK! MOMMA, I NEED YOU!"
Will he eventually grow out of needing milk all night? Is there anything we can do to make this less upsetting for all of us?
Thank you for reading this diatribe....