How can I night wean while co-sleeping?

[mama2cntrykids]

Dd is 9 months tomorrow. We co-sleep and she's still waking a lot at night to nurse. She usually sleeps well until about midnight or 1 a.m. and then she's waking every half hour or so. It seems like she needs my nipple in her mouth (she won't take a paci), or she wakes up.

When she's waking so often, it's like she's not falling into a deep enough sleep. Sometimes she's not even interested in nursing, she just fusses. At those times, I pat her butt and 8/10 she'll fall asleep for anywhere from a few min to a half hour.

I've read No-Cry Sleep Solution, but have trouble implementing it. I won't let her cry it out, although I'm not against fussing for a little while. When I just let her fuss however, she wakes herself up MORE and it either turns into full blown crying or she's just awake.

We don't have a pack n play or crib or anything. Even if we did, she wakes up as soon as I lay her down. I always nurse her to sleep laying down with her.

I wouldn't mind at all if she was only waking a few times, but man alive, most nights it's AWFUL. I don't think it's teething or growth spurt b/c it's been happening more often than not.

The only time that I've night weaned with my other kiddos (who all co-slept/nursed) was when they were toddlers and I weaned them completely. I'm not doing that with her yet, so I need another solution.

There are days that I have a really hard time functioning and I'm a terrible BEAR to be around. It can be hard on my other kids to deal with ultra crabby mom (we homeschool).

Any suggestions?

[ChelseaGirl7]

You could try dr gordon's method, but he does not recommend night weaning before 12 months. However, you might be able to use the techniques to get a longer sleep stretch.

[mama2cntrykids]

Originally Posted by ChelseaGirl7 You could try dr gordon's method, but he does not recommend night weaning before 12 months. However, you might be able to use the techniques to get a longer sleep stretch.

I will google him. Thanks!

[cbreeding]

I didn't night wean until around 18mths so not sure if this will work for you or not. I kept a sippy cup of water by the bed. Would offer that first, then nursing if they actually got full awake. I found that they woke more out of thirst - dry throat for having their mouths slightly open.

I found that while my kiddos were teething, they would sleep great the first few hours but then the rest of the night was up like your kiddo. Those nights we gave medicine then I would nurse and generally they would sleep better stretches.

[VeganCupcake]

I have the opposite question! How do I nightwean a baby who doesn't cosleep? :lol:

My DD coslept and we nightweaned at 18 months. I offered a sippy cup, patted her back, shh-shh-ed, or tried other comforting when she woke up in the night. I don't think it's CIO if the caregiver is present offering other forms of comfort. Sometimes I just lay there while she screamed at me for a while. Fun times, huh??

During this time, DD and I slept on a futon with a crib sidecarred to it so DH didn't have to listen to it all night.

[mama2cntrykids]

Originally Posted by cbreeding I didn't night wean until around 18mths so not sure if this will work for you or not. I kept a sippy cup of water by the bed. Would offer that first, then nursing if they actually got full awake. I found that they woke more out of thirst - dry throat for having their mouths slightly open. I found that while my kiddos were teething, they would sleep great the first few hours but then the rest of the night was up like your kiddo. Those nights we gave medicine then I would nurse and generally they would sleep better stretches.

Oh duh! I never even thought of giving her some medicine b/c she truly might be teething. I will try that tonight and see what happens. Last night was a doozy!

[colin-mylilguy]

I found that when my LO is teething, he would nurse more often, too. I gave him ibuprofen but I noticed that if I gave him the first dose right before bed and then the second dose 6 hours later, he slept better toward the middle/end of the night. If I started with only the dose in the middle of the night, or just the one before bed and forgot the middle of the night dose, it didn't seem to help as much and he would wake often. For some reason, two doses back to back seemed to be the "trick" when teething was really bad. HTH. I know it is hard to function when your sleep is that broken up....

Also, I remember reading in a Dr. Sears book about giving it two weeks and seeing if things improved on its own. I don't know if this has been going on like this (to this degree) for over two weeks but I thought I'd throw that out there because this really rang true for my LO. Within 2 weeks, whatever was going on would usually calm down and sleep would get better. He didn't STTN, but instead of waking 6+ times, he'd only wake 2 or 3; much more manageable for me. I hope things get better for you soon.

[melyndie]

That sounds like a sleep regression! Have you seen these links?

http://www.askmoxie.org/2008/03/talk-about-the.html
http://moxie.blogs.com/askmoxie/2006...t_are_sle.html
http://www.askmoxie.org/2006/02/qa_9montholds_s.html