I Need Help Trying to Wean and Sleeptrain My Breastfed 1 Yr Old

Updated on September 30, 2010
D.L. asks from Costa Mesa, CA
9 answers

Weaning my 1st baby was a breeze I nursed him until he was 14 months old and I found out I was pregnant with my daughter. I know every baby is different and that couldn't be truer than with my baby girl. Weaning my daughter is proving to be far more challenging. She hates the pacifier, she uses me as her pacifier, she bites (when she's teething) and she wakes up about every 2 hours. I recently introduced milk in a sippy cup and she does not like it all. It has been about 3 weeks and I am hoping in
time she will grow to like her milk. It should also be noted that she nurses about 2-3 times throughout the day, is nursed to sleep and then of course 3-4 times at night. She is a good eater and enjoys her table food. She was co-sleeping with me when she got sick but I recently moved her back to her crib. I am not opposed to a modified or lighter version of C.I.O. but I am hesitant for a couple of reasons. With my son once I stopped nursing he stopped waking in the middle of the night, so I am hoping this will correct itself with her. The second reason I don't want to let her cry is I'm afraid she we will wake my son, who is in the next room. I realize that this time goes by so fast and I have truly cherished nursing her and even waking up in the middle of the night but I'm ready to stop nursing .Any thoughts, advice, opinions, ideas would be greatly appreciated. I would really love to hear from Mommies who nursed.

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K.E.

answers from Buffalo on

Couple of things
1. Do you have any breast milk in the fridge or freezer?
If you do I would put the milk in the bottle or sippy with only 1 oz of cows milk.
2. Try different cups.
3. Has she ever had a bottle? Go with the bottle she is used to and worry about cuo training later. 1 oz of cows milk to 7 oz of breast milk to start mixed together in a bottle or cup then slowly up the milk to more onzes so the taste is slowly adapted.

good luck and if this is not clear or you need more help private message me, I have done it 3 times with no prob. I am happy to help.

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R.P.

answers from Los Angeles on

My daughter wouldn't touch regular milk, only skim. She still likes skim best... We co-slept and nursed, and I cut the night nursing way back first. I would tell her that the boobies are sleeping, and offer her a 'nubby' cup with water. She would cry, and I would cuddle her and we would go back to sleep. It lasted a couple of days, then she started to sleep through the night. It should be easier with her in the crib, I would think... But talk to her, because they understand a lot more than we think they do...
Good luck!
R.

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P.N.

answers from Los Angeles on

Hello! I get Mamapedia so that I can reach out to moms like you - to let you know that there is professional help out there. You can have a GREAT sleeper and EXCLUSIVELY breast feed - if you want to. It can be done.
I have helped clients achieve it and have done it myself with my own 2 children who are now 4 years old and 2 years old. I hired someone to help me when the eldest was 4 and half months old - in a very short period of time, he was sleeping peacefully through the night (11 - 12 hrs) without a feed and napping well during the day.
When Maddy was a newborn, I hired her again and this time - it was bliss - by 10 weeks , she was sleeping 10 hours through the night and it just kept getting better and better. There was no formula or bottles involved - just nursing.
These 2 experiences made such a profound impact on me that I became a sleep consultant myself. I purchased the methods and strategies from the person that helped me.
I look forward to hearing from you!
P.
www.sleepsense.net/kelowna
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J.S.

answers from San Francisco on

I'm in the midst of (super slowly) weaning my 14 month old. This is my first child, but I knew for sure many months ago I had to get the night wakings and feedings to go bye bye ASAP as I was getting too tired. We cut out all but a 4AM feeding around 9 months when our pediatrician assured us our baby was physically capable of going through the night without being fed. We worked on soothing her sans breast before doing any big sleep training. Rubbing her back, singing songs rather than nursing her down. Then it took 2 nights of 5-10-15 cry it out and she was great! She goes to bed at 7:30, nurses at 4, then sleeps til 6:30. She has a sippy cup with water, but doesn't seem to do much with it at night. Water is the only thing we give her in the cup, by the way, as she was never into a bottle.

Best of luck and this too shall pass!

S.F.

answers from Los Angeles on

Try the "No-cry Sleep Solution" by Pantley. She has some great ideas for night-weaning.

A.G.

answers from Pocatello on

Well my second daughter wasn't a huge fan of cows milk in a sippy either. So I would put half cows milk and half of the vanilla Pediasure. It just helped make the milk sweeter and she loved it. Then i just gradually added less and less over a few weeks time until she was just drinking cows milk. And as for the night nursing. I still nursed her for the bedtime feeding but then that was it. And she did really well. Like your baby she was used to eating about 3 to 4 times a night still so I thought it was going to be hard. But when she woke up she would only cry for about a min. and then go back to sleep. After a week or so she was sleeping through the night. And once she did that then I cut out the bedtime nurse and she was fine with it. Also for your older son you should get him a sound machine. It just makes white noise in his room and it will block out the sound of your daughter crying so he doesn't wake up from her at night.

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J.C.

answers from Anchorage on

For the milk, start by mixing small amounts of milk with mostly breast milk, and slowly increase the milk and decrease the breast milk, so she can get used to the flavor change over time. I would start by cutting out the night feedings, she is way past the point of needing it for nutritional reasons. Start helping her to comfort in other ways (may be easier for dad at first since she will not expect the breast from him). I used a modified CIO, where I would wait 5 minutes to go in and comfort. Since I started this young it came naturally to them, so I never really had to sleep train. But I never let them cry for long periods, I would always wait 5 minutes, no more no less, and 95% of the time they self soothed and went back to sleep on their own. Your child is older, and she has been trained to get up and eat at night, so this will have to be undone and she will have to be retrained. Start by taking away one feeding each night and helping her to sleep in another way, and than take away another, and than the last night feeding. Take away the going to bed feeding last after she is weened day and night and has learned to self sooth at night, that will make learning to go to sleep on her own less stressful.

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S.H.

answers from Honolulu on

they don't 'like' milk from a sippy... because babies 'know' that milk comes from a 'nipple.' It is instinct.

Maybe just give her milk in a bottle. Or mix breast with milk, to transition her.

Whole milk is important and recommended from 1 years old... because the 'milk fats' in it is an important nutrient for brain development. Whole milk being the recommendation until 2 years old.

My daughter, well with both my kids, they self-weaned.
My son at 1 years old, and my daughter at about 2.5 years old. My daughter of course by that age, was drinking whole milk and eating just fine and drinking other things from cups. Too.

My friends, to wean their child from breast... actually put Band-Aids in their nipples... and told their child "Mommy has a boo-boo...." or "Mommy's milk is broken...." and they said this worked for them with no anguish from their child.

Also, with my daughter, when she wanted to nurse, I told her "In a minute, Mommy is busy..." and then I would NOT sit down and made myself 'busy.' Then, my daughter would get distracted or even forget about it.

OR, when your child wants to nurse... you can... but ONLY for a short moment. Don't let her just hang there. Shorten the duration of it.

each child is different.... so what worked for one child may be different or not work for the other.

Also, give your child a "Lovey" to comfort with and to sleep with.

all the best,
Susan

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J.Q.

answers from Las Vegas on

Dr. Jack Newman has a great program for gently night-weaning.
http://drjaygordon.com/attachment/sleeppattern.html

Getting dad involved really does help baby find other ways to sleep without nursing. Both my kids weaned when I got pregnant again, so that helped us. And if you want to encourage weaning during the day, distraction does help, as another posted said...see if a snack or playing would do when she asks to nurse.

Good luck!

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