Frequent Night Nursing

A child will not generally self wean that early my 26 month old is still going strong & I weaned my daughter at 2 1/2 yr old. However I did night wean both of them at 18 months. It is not easy to do, but it actually went pretty smoothly. You can enlist help from dad or if your husband is like mine & is completely unconscious at night temporarily move to another room. You talk with the toddler telling them your milkies will be resting until the sun comes up. Nurse before bed & start out by making a small goal say like 5 hours of not nursing. Offer a drink of water & gradually spread the time out until it is morning. A good book is Elizabeth Pantley's "No-Cry Sleep Solution". Btw I co-sleep with my kids. My older one recently asked to be in her own room, but my son still nurses & co-sleeps & has no problems understanding he can't nurse at night.
Brekka

My daughter was a night-nurser, too, for 2 1/2 years. I, too, kept thinking that she would eventually wean herself and she slowed way way down during the day, but not at night.

I unfortunately had to take matters into my own hands somewhat. It actually wasn't as traumatic as I was afraid it would be. I just would gently tell her that she could have more "mamma milk" in the morning. For a few nights she would scream at this 1-3 times a night. But her screaming was VERY short lived... honestly not much more than a minute or two before she would fall back to sleep. It wasn't with tears and sadness that she was reacting, just anger that she couldn't have her own way.... I think that helped me. LOL Tears and sadness will get Mommy every time, but stubborness and strong will just don't cut it with me. hee hee

I think it helped that she was plenty old to understand. She knew in the morning she could have Mamma Milk again (although I have since weaned her completely), and the first time she would wake up when the sun was up, that was what she wanted to do. Which for me, was a huge step in the right direction.

Hope this helps and you find the solution for you and your family!

Hi A.,
I too co-sleep and breastfeed. My almost 10 month old son is also still waking to nurse. Fortunately, we both quickly fall back asleep. I understand how you feel not having a full nights sleep in so long.
The only thing that has helped reduce the number of times that he nurses is that I keep a sports bottle (full of water)with a soft, flexible spout by our bed at night. When he does wake, I don't offer nursing right away, I offer him water.
He happens to love the water (which helps).
That has helped us reduce night time nursing from 3 or 4 times a night to 1 or 2.
The only other suggestion I have is that you could try a light snack before bedtime, but I am sure the nursing is more for comfort than for hunger.
Sorry I don't have any other suggestions for you.
This is my 4th child I am nursing and co-sleeping with and things just seem to have a way of working themselves out eventually. Feel free to write anytime.
Wishing you a full night's sleep SOON!
D.

My oldest did the same thing! Exhausted, I finally weaned her at night at 17 months. It was hard though. She had a full vocabulary and screamed "I want to nurse!" for quite some time every night. I just stayed by her, offered her a bottle with water, and cried right along with her. It broke my heart, but I was way too tired to keep it up. After this bad experience, I was ready when my second daughter came along! This is the trick:

Start giving her a bottle during the day now and then just for fun so she gets used to the feel of the bottle. Buy a special bottle with someone on it she likes - i.e., Big Bird or Ernie. Put something in it that she will like - although avoid juice which rots their teeth. Even water will work and kids do like water, despite the fact that the general population is always pushing tasty beverages.

After she starts to take a liking to walking around with a bottle during the day for fun, bring it to bed and have it ready. TELL HER before bed that night that she will no longer be nursing at night, but that if she wakes up thirsty you will have Big Bird (or her favorite bottle) ready to give her something to drink. Show her that he is there for her so she is comforted before falling asleep.

I had good luck with this approach. Unfortunately, there are no rules to breast feeding and no easy tricks to the trade work for every child.

I have found that having children means that you will have to break hearts now and then and have yours broken too. She'll recover though - let Big Bird help you with this one. I hope it works - you deserve some sleep :o)

The go for it head on. Good luck!

A.,
The best thing I can tell you is to go to your nearest book store (or Amazon.com) and purchase the book "Goodnight, Sleep Tight: The Sleep Lady's Gentle Guide to Helping Kids Falls asleep, stay asleep and wake up faster." It talks about sleep coaching (including night nursing and co-sleeping) from newborn to age five, so you are sure to get your money's worth! It really saved me.

Hey A.!! Have you ever read the book Baby Wise?? It was a life saver for me. I have a 23 month and 11 month old. I am just going to be blunt and give you my advice...this is just my opinion as it worked for me. First...co-sleeping is not a good idea. I did it with my 11 month old son and that is what caused a lot of the problems. I would have him in a pack and play in our room and at every cry I would pick him up and feed him. Sometimes he would eat a lot and other times a little bit and than fall asleep. I was like you...worn out and becoming a stressed out mom who was not at the top of my game for either of my kids. I was recommended Baby Wise with my 23 month old and did read some of it, but fought the book because I thought it was wrong. Well, I WAS WRONG. It talks about getting your child on a schedule. The first week or so is very hard. A lot of crying hours. A lot of letting your child cry themsleves to sleep. Which was the worst feeling for me, but my husband helped me stay strong. he said after a week or so things will be different...trust me and he was right. What you need to realize is your daughter has become used to you being her pacifier. To comfort her, when she needs to learn to comfort herself. Your daughter should not need to eat that much in a night. What is her eating schedule during the day? Does she go longer periods without eating? Also, she has become used to eating and falling asleep. So if she wakes up she may not even be hungry, she just needs help to fall back to sleep and your boob happens to be her confort. Sawyer was worse than your daughter. He was up 4-5 times a night. He wouldn't even nap alone during the day. Now he naps from 12:30 to 2:30 to 3:30. The same time as my daughter. At night he goes to bed at 7:00-7:30 and some nights will sleep through the night, but does still wake up once. He wakes up 7-8 am. He is on formula now. I weened him off a month ago. He sleeps in his own room now. I get more sleep and now I am on the top of my game. I hope to not have offended you. Like I said I have walked where you are walking. If you would like more detailed advice on a schedule I would be more than happy to help you. I could give you the Baby Wise outline. Good luck and like I was told. We as mother's need to be the best we can be for our kids. Just as it is unhealthy for you to be up that many times a night it is also unhealthy for you precious gift. Good luck A.!!

My son was the same way, I know what your going through! I breastfed my son up until I took a 5-day trip with my husband and left our son mith my mother. He was 14mths old and I had breastfed him sooo much I was very thin and tired all the time. I knew it was going to be time to stop, but couldnt stand hearing him crying for it and not giving it to him. My mom was kind enough to babysit and instead of putting him to sleep w/ the breast she gave him a bottle of milk. She said he cried a little the first two nights, then he just started sleeping through the night. When I got back from the little trip, he didnt even want it anymore! And even better, he slept through the nights! So if you can try it :) Good Luck!

Hi A.! I understand your dilemma. Elizabeth Pantley has written a great book called "The No-Cry Sleep Solution" for exactly this situation. She was also a co-sleeping mom whose 1 yr-old was doing this, and she provides ideas for helping your daughter sleep IF your habits are what caused the problem.

If her ideas don't work, and you see other things going on (like sensory stuff or something), then you might consider an alternative answer (I'm happy to talk more about this if you think it's the case).

Best of luck--J.

Hi A.! I do feel your pain! I just dealt with this scenerio. I read every book about this because I didn't know what to do! I was sleeping with my daughter every night, now almost 1 year, and she woke every 1-2 hours all night long to nurse. I work fulltime, so this was really taking a toll on me! A couple of weeks ago, she started waking up every hour to nurse! One night it was every 1/2 hour! I was a walking zombie trying to work fulltime! She would only sleep if I was next to her and feeding her frequently! I wasn't a fan of putting her in a crib and I CERTAINLY didn't like the philosophy of "crying it out!" I had done everything for 11 months to avoid that! Physically she was fine! I had everything checked out to make sure that she wasn't trying to communicate that she was uncomfortable in some way and was nursing to soothe herself. So....after a week of utter exhaustion, my mother came to stay at my house. She told me I had to go to a hotel. I was very anxious and stressed out about this plan!! I left breastmilk in a bottle and left the house. We had tried the plan of putting her in the crib when I was at home, but she always knew I was there and wouldn't settle down. So, I fed her, changed her diaper, etc., and off I went to the hotel. My mother, a saint, put her into the crib with a full bottle of breastmilk sitting there in case she was hungry, a pacifier, a blankie, and stuffed animal and slept beside the crib on a mattress hidden behind a pile of pillows so my daughter couldn't see her. She was very angry and cried for awhile, but then settled in and slept for a few hours. The longest she had ever slept at one time was 3 hours, so this was great! My mother reported, she woke up and cried for awhile, my mom gave her some milk from the bottle and put the pacifier back in her mouth. She slept another 3 hours. WOW!! My mother stayed and did it again for another night. My husband continued it for the next 4 nights and each night she slept better! YAY!!! We didn't continue providing the bottle with breastmilk b/c she didn't want it and would push it away. We also didn't go in to give her a pacifier when she cried b/c then she would get more upset. We just left the pacifiers in the crib for her. It was a miracle! I had read that it needed to happen for 3-5 nights and with someone other than the mother, because they can smell you...even far far away in another room. I didn't believe it, but I'm living proof! I now nurse her before bedtime, she goes screaming into her crib for 1-10 minutes and then sleeps. She doesn't need the bottle throughout the night, we keep pacifiers in her bed in case she wants one, but we don't go in to give her one anymore. I had to buy a video monitor though b/c i was so worried after sleeping with her for 11 months and being able to see and feel her throughout the night. I didn't ever think that she would sleep in a crib and not need to breastfeed throughout the night! By morning she is very hungry though! So she gets up and immediately breastfeeds. She is now only eating morning, lunch, and before bed. It's worth a try...truly! I feel that I have so much more time to get things done when I am not having to sleep beside her and breastfeed her all night long. I couldn't go anywhere after 8 p.m. before because I was the only one that could put her to bed and get her back to sleep b/c I had to breastfeed her while sleeping with her. It has been a wonderful change to our family and she is getting much more sleep now!!! Good luck!

A.,
I have a 17mo old who for the first year of his life woke every 2 hours to nurse every night. When he was 13mo old I decided I couldn't take it anymore. My husband and I had tried to do modified night weaning with him at about 11mo, but it went terrible and then he got sick so I gave up for a while. My kid is super persistent so I was scared to try again, but we did with a modified Jay Gordon plan. The subsequent try at night weaning went much better. Not even much crying which surprised the heck out of me. We did have to move him into his own room to start the night so he's safe sleeping and so he doesn't wake up when I go to bed. I put him back to sleep if he gets up before 11p and my husband puts him back down from 11-5a and then they come back into bed with me to nurse and sleep a bit more before we all get up for the day. This cut the every 2 hours waking down a bit, but I just recently stopped letting him fall asleep with my breast in his mouth and that by far has produced the most dramatic results. He's now sleeping from 8:30p-5a most nights which feels luxurious and like a miracle from where we were just a couple months ago. Good luck. It's hard to be so sleep deprived! Feel free to pm me if you want to talk more.
S.

I feel your pain...my daughter is 10 mo old and I get up 2 times a night to nurse and am sick of it, but don't have the strength to let her cry it out as I stay at home with my other kids. Anyway... a friend of mine very similar to your situation... read an article about putting bandaides over her nipples and telling her daughter that she had "booboo's" and couldn't nurse. Her daughter was frustrated for a while, but eventually forgot about it without much of an ordeal. Sounds silly... but it worked. If it doesn't ...look for my posting in 6 mos. as I will be going crazy by then... :).

I did not co sleep with either of my girls but did nurse for 9 months with my first. I noticed that she started getting up more at night when she went through a growth spurt but then it became habit. I knew she couldn't possibly be hungry everytime she woke up, she was just used to getting nursed back to sleep. My husband and I worked together on this one. I would get up and nurse her the first time she woke up and the second time she'd get up my husband would go in and hold her until she fell back asleep. Within a few days she was only getting up once a night. My husband then started getting up with her during her once a night wake time and rock/hold her until she fell asleep. Again with in a few nights she was sleeping through the night again. You have to de diligent and up for some crying for a few nights. But, in the sceme of things you're not getting much sleep now so what can it hurt to try! You're training your child to self soothe and not rely on you to be able to fall asleep.

Oh, A. -- been there, done that. Third child nursed until age 4 (even in the night) because I was a spineless wimp about not forcing the prescribed crying & separation. Our firstborn nursed two years and my husband insisted we take the advice popular then: make them cry it out. Only two hours the first night, then one, then half an hour, and by night four, you're home free. Ha! To this day I am traumatized by my husband holding the door shut with one hand and holding me back with the other while our toddler sobbed for mommy. When Child #2 came, she nursed round the clock, in our bed, in the night... and then, sadly, I had to wean her at gunpoint (so to speak) when #3 surprised us. I was five months along when we finally introduced #2 to a pacifier and got her out of our bed. It was not a pleasant transition, but at least not as traumatic as #1. Then, #3 nursed until age 4, which sounds nightmarish, but she was so stubborn about not giving it up. Finally, she sobbed one night that the milk was all gone and had no choice but to quit. She stayed in our bed until age 6. After all this, we gave up our dream of four or more kids; three had been more exhausting than I imagined.

Pope John Paul advocated "ecological breastfeeding" and "attachment style parenting" and natural family planning, but having tried it all (instinctively), I ended it all with a tubal ligation. Now I tell new moms, "go ahead, use the pacifier" -- I was a human pacifier, and I will attest that "attachment" parenting only works if you live in some third world country or tribe, not in America with a busy schedule.

You can try the "cry it out" thing, A., or you can see what today's experts say about getting a kid to sleep in his own bed (or on a toddler bed next to yours). I became irritable and not a very nice mother after all those years of sleep deprivation. If you have family and friends who can give you a break from mommying, take them up on it. I had no one, and my toddlers wouldn't tolerate babysitters. Oh, they are all very independent today -- very confident, cheerful, apparently well adjusted kids.

But I'm still slightly deranged.

Please let me know how this works out, A..

Hi, A.,

It's actually not a bad habit to night nurse - even a toddler. Though you should be able to cosleep and nurse without fully waking up. That's one of the benefits of cosleeping!

There are some wonderful resources available. http://www.kellymom.com has some great resources on breastfeeding a toddler, night nursing, as well as cosleeping. There's a book published by LLL that has information on nursing a toddler that has information on night nursing in it.

Basically there are periods of time when a toddler goes through a phase where it's almost like nursing a newborn again, but it passes pretty quickly, and they even back out again. My son went back to nursing 1-2 per night probably around 16-17 months. We went on to nurse to 27 months. I honestly don't remember what it was like with my daughter - that was 11 years ago, but it was probably similar as we nursed to somewhere to 18-24 months. We weaned so gradually that I don't remember exactly when we quit.

I hope this helps, and please feel free to email if you have any other questions :)

Liz

Hi A.,
I commend you for all your efforts. I didn't and still don't have the gumpshun to do what you are doing but I have noticed that when I co-sleep with my kids we tend to wake each other up (just by moving in our sleep) and then they would want to nurse. Once I put them in their own rooms they would sleep twice as long without needing to nurse. The difference between 3 uninterrupted hours and 6- amazing! Good Luck!

A lil about me befor I give my advice. I am a stay at home mother of two boys ages 13 & 5, and had a similar situation. With our second child I decided to nurse because our first child had a hard time digesting formula. Any way with our second child I had nursed him for about 2 months and found it to be difficult (he only liked nursing from one side). At the age of about 1 1/2-2 yrs old my husband and I had taken him for a routine check up and asked how we could get him to sleep thru the night as he would wake up several times. This is the advice the pediatrition had given us.

At night give your child water only. No juice, milk, etc. ONLY WATER! This is because our bodies creat a substance that tells us we are hungry, and that is why kids wake up. When we drink water, we dont creat the substance and our bodies will then stop thinking its hungry and whalla a good nights sleep. Though it took about a week for us to get him use to being able to have only water it worked like a charm and he has slept thru the night ever since.

Thou you didnt say if during the day your child receives a bottle or cup, but this maybe something you will have to start implimenting ....not the bottle but the cup.

Thou with any advice you receive it is always best to follow up with your pediatrition and use your best judgement.

I hope the information I have shared helps. Good luck

I feel for you. I nursed full-time for the first year of my son's life, and then after that I just nursed him first thing in the morning and last thing before he went to bed, until he was 14 months. I gave him whole milk in a sippy cup and solid foods in the daytime. But he slept thru the night at about 6 months and on.
Does she eat baby food or solid foods in the daytime? Whole milk? Once she realizes that these foods can fill her up quicker, she should give up on the nursing.
Maybe you should have her sleep in her room, so you don't hear her every peep at night. I'm sure it's hard. But when she cries, you should let her cry and see if she'll go back to sleep on her own. You should have to nurse her back to sleep at many times a night! Or at all for that matter! She is old enough to get through the night, but she's/you've gotten into a bad habit.
Sorry to sound harsh. I know you just want the very best for your little munchkin. We all do. Good luck!!!

A.~
Maybe try to fill her tummy a little more before you put her down for the night. (Solids or cereal) I know it's hard but you need to put her in her own crib/bed. Being in bed with you gives her the idea it's ok and moms here to feed so why not eat! Also don't let her fall asleep while you nurse her before bed. She needs to learn to put her self to sleep and self sooth when she wakes up. Let her cry it out a little. Go for as long as you can stand it and instead of going in and offering her to nurse, don't take her out of bed but sooth her and tell her it's ok and if she takes a bink give her that. If she is still upset take her out of bed and rock or sway with her. Use nursing as a very last result. Something that has worked for my husband and I was, since I nurse too, send dad in to sooth her, he doesn't have the goods to give her what she wants, so it may be a little easier to take from dad. This was very hard for my husband and I at first but now our daughter sleeps through most every night, maybe waking up just to find her bink. Give it a shot!
~T. T.

A.,
She doesn't need to nurse at night. She is self soothing using your boob. Either try to cut her off in your bed at night (good luck!) or put her in her own bed- your room or hers? If you're going to keep her in your bed, instead of letting her nurse, hand her a sippy cup of water. She'll get the picture and not hassle you anymore.

I had the exact same situation with my son. He was just 16 months, and no signs of stopping on his own. We finally decided that is was time, I continued to rock him and hold him tight against me in the glider chair, but we did not breastfeed. I had a sippy cup if he would take it. Cold turkey is the route we went. Harsh, but it had to be done. It was the hardest thing for the both of us, we both cried!! Until finally he feel asleep. It took a few nights of horror, and most nights he ended up in our bed, BUT NO NURSING! I'm happy to report that he's 5yrs old now and holds no resentment towards me! My daughter was 14 months and she was a bit easier. once in a while she'll still lift up my shirt and lean towards me, but I remind her that we don't do that anymore. N. B Good luck, and be strong!

Hi A....my name is H. and my daughter is 8 months old...I feel as if I am walking down the same path as you and I am really TIRED!!! Our daughter is also not napping well and I know we need to change our ways...I have no advice except to say that I bet you are a super mom, and hopefully we will find the energy to help our babies shift. I know we will!
In peace-
H.

First of all, you are a great mom to nurture your daughter.
I sympathize with you - sleep is so important! I can tell you what I did with all 4 of mine. I co slept with each one, and night nursed until I decided I needed more uninterrupted sleep. At that point, varying between 12 and 24 months old, the baby was old enough to understand the concept of the "mama-nums" going to sleep at night. I explained that they needed to sleep at night so that they could make more milk for the next day. Of course, the baby agreed, but then protested during the night.
The baby was still sleeping with me, and I would not leave any of them to cry it out. I first would try to comfort the baby at night, but they only became more upset. That is where Dad came in.
If the baby wouldn't settle in and go back to sleep, Dad would hold the baby and walk the floor or rub their back, etc.
Most times, the baby hated to be taken away from me,and would agree to quiet down and try to go back to sleep snuggled up to me. After a few nights of waking and not getting to nurse, they learned to go back to sleep without asking to nurse.
No great trauma, they still got to snuggle with me, and we all slept better.
All babies are different, and some of mine took longer than others - but it was accomplished gently. I didn't want to have spent all that time building a trusting bond and then betray their trust, so I felt that this worked for me. It did take patience, and with 2 of mine I ended up waiting until a month or 2 later than the initial try.
Elizabeth Pantley's book has lots of good ideas - mentioned in other letters I see.
Good luck!

Hi
I had a simuliar situation.
I don't agree with cry it out methods, unless there is no other option. First there is a growing amount of research suggesting that forcing/ allowing children to cry it out can interfer with the stress hormone reations involved with the fight or flight response. There are some studies that suggest this may permanent.
check out Dr.Sears.com
I am not saying it is wrong, I am however encouraging you to explore other options.
I do agree with trying to put the baby in her own sleeping space. Often I found that if the baby/ child could sense or locate me in any manner they would try to nurse. If you are up to it try to check out the clock whenever she nurses at night. She is most likey in the lighter sleep stages at that time..... so possibly more easy awakened. With my second child she starts the night out in her own bed and then for early morning feeding I join her (she is on a full size mattress set on the floor) until it is time to get up. This way I have a solid block of dead-to-the-world sleep until 2 or 3 AM.
Whatever you do I wish you luck. There is no easy option. Every child is different. Good luck.

my 16 month old is still night nursing! this weekend, we actually spend one night away from him and he stayed with my mom and she said when he woke up she gave him his nuk back and he went back to sleep. i tried it last night and it seemed to work! so maybe spend one night away from him and see. also, i have read (thanks to dr william sears) that one way is to have dad get up with baby. my cousin tried this and it worked for her. once baby got the idea that mom was not coming in the middle of the night to give him a drink, baby stopped waking at night to nurse.

Boy, does this bring back memories! My now 13 year old daughter did the same thing. At the time, there was a lot of stress in our home due to a rebellious child, and nursing was her comfort. I had tried to wean her from night feedings, but my husband couldn't stand to hear her cry. By the time she hit her 2nd birthday, she kept me up all night nursing. I told everyone in the house that I had to get some sleep. I then weaned her off of nursing at night. She hadn't slept in her crib, so I put the mattress on the floor in her room, and put her to bed in that. When she would wake up crying, I would comfort her and leave as soon as she fell asleep. Each time, I let her cry longer until finally, I just let her cry. You need to understand that by this age, there is no need to nurse at night. They really need to be attached to their own bed, not yours. When she turned 2 1/2, she agreed to stop nursing, not that she wanted to. Who knows how long she would have continued if I hadn't put my foot down! And now, at 13 years of age, she and I are still very close.

I have a 19 month little girl who also shows absolutlely no signs of weaning from breast-feeding. She sleeps in her room in her crib and usually wakes up 1x at night to nurse and some nights more, but usually just once. I get up and nurse her in her room in the rocking chair and i set her back in her crib and she usually sleeps the rest of the night. I nurse her when i get home from work,after supper,I nurse her to sleep, I nurse her in the middle of the night if needed and in the morning. I think maybe you need to get her to sleep in her own room and she won't wake up so often, then you will hear her in her room and get up if needed. I know how you are feeling in a way because my daughter just totally drains all my energy too. GOOD LUCK!! -Melissa

I also breast feed and had the same problem. Try feeding your baby,baby cereal with breast milk in it. It that doesn't work, you may have to just let her cry it out. That is what i had to do. It's struggle and may take a few weeks, but eventually she will give up and start sleeping through the night with out it.

You know I too was like that when I had my frist daugther. We also co slept ,which I loved, but she was doing the same thing. I don't think you need to stop nursing her,butif you put herin own crib you will get more sleep.I have a one year old and still nurse her but she sleeps through the night. It can be done and you can both have what you want. probaly what is happening is she can smell your breast,and knows you are close and wants to nurse for comfort.She's not hungry at this age she could sleep through the night and be fine without eating.What I would do is nurse her 10mins or so before you put her down for bed,have a routine for bed, kids need that,snuggle her and have it be time for just the 2 of you . When she finshes.put her in own room in her own bed.and walk out, and when she wakes up crying to eat agian. Don't pick her up..it make things worse. YOu know Dr.Sears has a plan to follow for this kind of thing try looking him up on google. I hope this was helpful.It can be done. Hang in thier

The problem is your child doesn't know how to soothe themselves back to sleep. She is using nursing to pacify herself back to sleep. She never learned how to self soothe herself back to sleep. She will keep nursing at night as long as you let it happen. I would suggest the book Good Night SLeep Tight by Kim West. She has very gentle approaches to teaching children how to fall back asleep on their own. She even talks about cosleeping and breast feeding. And the book goes up to five year of age. It is a very good book. I suggest you read it so everybody gets some sleep. Good Luck.

I had the same problem. My 14 month old was not showing signs of weaning herself AT ALL!!! It was becoming a burden and I just didn't enjoy it anymore. We finally just had to go cold turkey. She took it better than I anticipated, luckily my mom and husband really helped in taking her when she was wanting to nurse. After about four days, she stopped looking and life has been so much better ever since--I even get to sleep a little now!

Until I took my daughters to their one-year checkup and mentioned that I was still waking to nurse them 3-4 times a night, I didn't realize that I didn't HAVE to respond to them in the middle of the night. I thought they would stop waking during the night on their own - HAH! I had the benefit of them being in a separate room from me, which makes it easier to put the kabosh on frequent nighttime nursing. I cut out one feeding at a time during the night so they had an adjustment period (and I didn't have engorged breasts). I know one of the other moms said you need to get her out of your bed, but there are certainly ways to cut down on her nursing even if she continues to co-sleep. If you can do something (like wearing clothing she can't access your breasts through) to keep her from being able to nurse, that might help you get more sleep.
Good luck!!! You can also always contact your local La Leche League or a lactation consultant, or ask your pediatrician if he/she is knowledgeable about breastfeeding (not a requirement to be a pediatrician, though, so be aware of that).

I would appreciate any advice also! I have a 16-month old baby girl and we are in the same situation. We co-sleep and she awakens at least twice a night to nurse. I found she doesn't nurse too often during the day, but the nighttime is taking a toll on me also. I keep swearing I'll have her weaned by 18-months just to end the night time ritual. I nursed my other two children until they were 24-months. I feel kind of guilty wanting to stop nursing her earlier, but I don't know what else to do!

I had a similar problem. My daughter was about 8-9 mo. and I was starting a new school year and didn't want to continue to get up a lot at night and get up to teach elementary kiddos art. I think it might help if you put her in her own bed and started by cutting out the first nightly nursing, Ex: if she wakes up at 12, 3 and 5 cut out the 12:00 feeding b/c she will be more sleepy at this time and more likely to fall back asleep on her own and once she learns to fall asleep on her own she will hopefully fall back asleep on her own at the other feeding times as well. It was a really long 3-4 days as she was learning to do this but it was so worth it! I was like a whole new person after a week or two of full nights of sleep. I also found that ear plugs helped too :)

Wouldn't you wake up in the middle of the night for an ice cream cone? That's what you've trained your daughter to do. She needs to be sleeping in her own bed, in her own room, if possible. When she cries, then you comfort her, but don't pick her up and don't feed her. She's old enough to sleep during the night. That's wonderful that you're breastfeeding and I breastfed my 3 daughters, and some of them until they were that old. But you need your rest too.