Babies Who Nurse to Sleep Are Hard to Wean

“Hi there, Would it be okay to only feed my 11 month old two times a day (morning and night)? I then plan to drop those feeds around 12 months. I cannot replace breastfeeds with formula or cows milk as he has never taken a bottle (and refuses) but he is fantastic with solids. Thanks in advance. submitted by /u/ded892 [link] [comments]”

“My baby is about to turn one in a week and I am completely done breastfeeding for my personal reasons. We have also coslept for months, he will sleep on his own for awhile but I have always found it easier to just cosleep. I am wanting to get him in his own bed as well. I have mostly got him weaned during the day and he no longer feeds to sleep but he will wake up during the night almost every hour just for a comfort boob. i have tried my hardest to get him want a paci or a lovey but at night al”

“Hi! My 9m old nurses to sleep for every nap and bedtime. He wakes up all night crying and I have to nurse him back to sleep every time. It doesn’t take long, but he’s up again. I’m so exhausted from this. I am going back to work in a couple of months and I’m so worried because he doesn’t go to sleep any other way, very attached to the boob, and it just feels like this is never going to end. I have a hard time with ending breastfeeding because I feel guilty. I have no issue with cosleeping but I”

“Hi, My little one is almost one and we're trying to wean her off the boob with absolutely no luck. She's been exclusively breastfed since birth, she has never taken a bottle or a dummy despite us trying to get her used to these things. The only thing she finds comfort in is the breast. She feeds to sleep for all naps and night sleep and seemingly cannot sleep without it. We've been trying to drop just one feed (from her morning nap) for about 3 weeks, and have not been successful onc”

“please help :,) my son is 20 months, he’s co slept with us and nursed to sleep and won’t pop off until he’s in a deep sleep. He wakes up immediately when i take it out and unlatch him. He will not fall asleep any other way unless in the car seat in the car. i need to stop nursing i’m WAY touched out. submitted by /u/anxiousmama02 [link] [comments]”

“I need help figuring out how to stop night nursing and/or feeding my son to sleep. My son is 18 months and breastfeeding is still going strong. I love it, and want to continue another six months if we can. But about three months ago during a tough transition (moving to a new house, getting sick, and moving up to a new class at daycare back-to-back) we backpedaled and started nursing to sleep and cosleeping the second half of the night (he goes down in his crib at 8pm but usually wakes up between”

“My son is almost a year old and I’m so desperate to stop the comfort nursing. He has constant ear infections which I believe contribute to the comfort nursing. He isn’t scheduled to get tubes until January. He comfort nurses all night and during the day when I am around him. He hits my chest until I nurse him. If he has an ear infection, he bites. I get 5 hours of broken sleep per night. I am so incredibly overstimulated. He won’t let his father comfort him. Won’t take a pacifier. Refuses a bott”

“Hi there. My baby will be 12 months in a few weeks and I’m trying to prepare myself to begin weaning her. She has been EBF since birth, started eating purées & soft solids around 5 months, and is doing great. However, sleep is very challenging for her, and she is also very much a “Velcro” baby, so we have found a peaceful truce nursing to sleep, contact napping and cosleeping. Everyone is happier this way and gets better rest. She is a pretty good eater, and while she doesn’t eat in high vol”

“I’d love to hear from people who had an opportunity to organically wean their babies over time. my baby is 10 months old and still exclusively breast-feed alongside solids. However, her intake of solids is not a lot and I am hoping that she will organically start eating more and drinking less milk, but I have not seen this happen yet, and it makes me worry. I’d love to continue breast-feeding past 12 months, but I don’t want to be pumping all day and feeding all night. in my ideal world which I”

“My baby is almost 15mo and we have always nursed to sleep. Until recently it’s what worked. But he’s naturally weaning and honestly I’m not sure how else to help him to sleep. Right now, if he doesn’t fall asleep nursing, it’s a huge fight and takes around an hour to actually get him to sleep. Unfortunately due to my husband’s schedule it’s just me so having dad take over is not an option. Nap time is literally sleep sack, lights off, sound machine on, nurse and he’s out. (Sometimes he falls asl”

“My baby is almost 15mo and we have always nursed to sleep. Until recently it’s what worked. But he’s naturally weaning and honestly I’m not sure how else to help him to sleep. Right now, if he doesn’t fall asleep nursing, it’s a huge fight and takes around an hour to actually get him to sleep. Unfortunately it’s just me so having dad take over is not an option due to his schedule. Nap time is literally sleep sack, lights off, sound machine on, nurse and he’s out. (Sometimes he falls asleep in th”

“I’m sure this question has been asked a million times in this forum but I am a FTM and this feels like an insurmountable challenge so please help! I have an 11mo old daughter who in 2 weeks will be mostly with her dad cause I will start working and he will start his parental leave (we live in Sweden so we both get generous leaves) Our approach has always been prioritizing the sleep of the one that is working so my partner will start sleeping with her during the nights and I will temporarily move”

“I am currently 20 weeks pregnant and trying to wean my 21 month old. We co sleep so I think the night nursing is the worst/hardest part. I tried to wean during the day but he did nothing but cry and throw fits so I gave in. I need to get him weaned before I give birth so i’m panicking. it’s obviously for comfort and it seems it’s the only thing that will calm him down for ANYTHING. I thought about putting bandaids over my nipples, or even buying something to make my nipple taste gross? I just fe”

“Which did you wean first and why? How did you do it? We eat dinner late and he eats breakfast relatively late once he gets to my mom’s/MIL’s so I’m leaning towards weaning bedtime first. Bubs is 13 months and nurses at bedtime, 4ish, and 630ish. submitted by /u/AGrubsGrows [link] [comments]”

“Hello, I’ve nursed my daughter for 26 months, I’ve been wanting to wean for a few months, the plan was to stop at 2 but here we are. She usually nurses to sleep for nap times, bed time, throughout the night and in the morning. We’re going on day 4 of dropping nap nursing session, she’s cried, screamed but eventually I can hold her tight and rock her to sleep in about 15-20 min, however at night its a different story and I’m nervous and partially lazy at sticking with weaning the night feed, I’m”

“My daughter is 12 months, has always been a velcro baby. And yes, she is teething, however even prior to the teething she has always just wanted to nurse all day. She asks for milk atleast every half hour. In the mornings its all she wants to do. If I try to tell her 'no' she gets very upset, I try to divert attention to something else or offer her milk in a cup and she can become inconsolable. She doesnt even seem to drink all that much, she just latches and unlatches over and over agai”

“Our son is 13 months old. He had previously stopped breastfeeding at night, but he has been ill quite frequently over the past six weeks since starting daycare, and my girlfriend started breastfeeding him at night again a couple of weeks ago. Now he is well again, and we're trying to stop night nursing once more. He was found to have fluid in his ears following a middle ear infection a couple of weeks ago, but otherwise seems completely fine during the day. The screaming starts before he eve”

I'm going to start night weaning next week as LO turns 1 and I'm SCARED! Any words of advice, encouragement, tips, tricks, mantras, spells.... all welcome! What method has everyone used? How…

“Ok.. my boy is 18 months.. he exclusively breastfed for most of his life, minus the first month or two when I was getting my supply up. He went through major surgery around 5 months old (another story for another subreddit) and even in the hospital he struggled to take a bottle and we had the nurses hand him to me with all the wires and tubes to feed him .. Now we got to the point where he only needs the boob to sleep, both naps and nighttime settling and resettling. I was putting off weaning hi”

“My little one is 10.5 months old. He’s taking really well to solids and can eat a ton of food. I want to wean breastfeeding by around a year, but I’m not really sure how and I’m a bit overwhelmed. Right now his schedule is: 7:00am wake & BF 8:30am breakfast 9:30am-11:30am nap 11:30 BF 2:00pm Lunch 3:00pm-4:00pm nap 4:00pm BF 5:30pm dinner 6:45pm BF 7:30 bedtime I feel like in the last wake window I’m just constantly feeding him every hour, and I assume the easier would be to drop the 4pm bre”

“Looking for tips/advice please: We are currently weaning our 10 month old off the dummy. She only ever had it for naps and bedtime. It’s going well in that she is sleeping better at night now. But she fights all sleep when I ( breast feeding mum) try to put her down. When Dad puts her down, she will go down as easy for him as when she had the dummy. I have tried everything I can think of and tried doing what my husband does to get her to sleep and it rarely works. Twice this past week she has on”

“So I’m looking for tips and tricks for how to wean my toddler. Honestly I thought we’d be well done with it by now, and there was a period when he seemed to lose interest and I thought we were on the right track. But now it seems like he wants to feed at least a few times during the day, and I just really want to reduce it naturally until we’re done. I don’t know if that’s possible or if we have to cold turkey it. He still wakes 1-3 times in the middle of the night and has 1 nap during the day w”

“I cannot nurse my 12 month old anymore at night. I’ve always put her to sleep while side-lying nursing (I have a floor bed for us in her room) and we both fall asleep that way. However she is nursing differently now and it’s deeply uncomfortable to the point where I physically CANNOT. I’ve given her Tylenol, made sure her belly was full, it’s literally just that she wants to comfort nurse. 2 nights in a row now of screaming all night. She won’t let me pat her or hold and rock her, she pushes me”

“I may be way ahead of myself here, but I can’t help but wonder how my baby will eventually fall asleep for naps without me. I have had to breastfeed to sleep for all naps, bedtime and night wakes since he was born. The only way my husband ever gets him to nap is in the carrier or in the car, sometimes on a walk in the stroller. But we’ve never been able to put him to sleep in the crib without me feeding him. Drowsy but awake does not work at all. He is still having a hard time connecting sleep c”

“Hi, I have a 21 month old toddler and am a little less than 7 weeks pregnant. My goal is to have my toddler weaned by her 2nd birthday so I have been slowly shortening her nursing sessions. I only have her nurse when she is tired or sad from falling down (comfort nursing upon her request). We have shortened our nursing sessions from 30min+ to about 10min total. I got the okay from my doctor that this nursing schedule should be good for us and that she will be weaned in a time manner good for my”

“My baby is 14 months old, and we’ve been cosleeping since she was 2 months old. I just got her a new big girl bed, a floor bed in her room but I still sleep with her. I didn’t want to stop cosleeping, plus my husband works nights. My LO was never a good eater. She barely touches her food and immediately signs “all done.” That’s a whole other struggle, but I’ve been wanting to stop breastfeeding for a while. I’m not in a rush and I’m not going back to work, so I want to slowly start weaning. I am”

“I have an almost 2.5 year old. She is literally a boob barnacle and would spend all day on the boob if I let her. I’m trying to start weaning. she currently only gets to nurse at nap and bed time. We are on day 3 of weaning at nap time and I had to give in. She won’t stop screaming. She won’t sleep. I tried a timer today and it didn’t help. Pretty sure it made it worse. It’s been 3 days of screaming. Nothing will calm her down. She won’t drink any other milk. She won’t take a stuffed animal. I t”

“Baby is 8.5 months and we started combo feeding about a month ago bc I can’t produce the amounts he needs to stay full for more than 2 hours. Lately I’ve noticed he’s arching his back while on the boob and making grunting and frustrated noises while popping off. Is this him being frustrated with no milk? Or is he frustrated bc he wants solids but instead he’s getting milk? How did you know when it was time to start weaning? submitted by /u/OrangeFew7779 [link] [comments]”

“I’m ready to stop breastfeeding overnight, but I definitely want to continue breastfeeding during the day. We currently nurse throughout the night, mostly for comfort and to get back to sleep. For those who successfully night weaned but continued breastfeeding during the day, how did you do it? submitted by /u/beingagiirl [link] [comments]”

“Edit to add: he is 26 months old. I’m at the end of my rope and hanging onto sanity by a thread. How, how on earth is it possible to get a breast addicted, co sleeping asshole toddler off my boobs out of my bed? It’s ruining my marriage, my career, obviously my mental health. He nurses all fucking day whenever I sit down. There’s hardly anything left but he’s still sucking. insane tantrum if I try to say no. I never crib/sleep trained him which is my number one all time regret of my life. About”

“I am feeling so mixed about weaning...my LO is 20mo old and part of me is ready to be DONE and part of me is not, but I think no matter what I'll always be a little sad that we are done. Anyway, we are ttc #2. My LO nurses for comfort a lot (like...nurse to sleep, 5am, wake at 730am, several times throughout the day and evening). I know it will be rough for him, especially when he is trying to get himself back to sleep but just can't, etc. What strategies did you use to gently wean? Nigh”

“My LO is almost 18mo and has been weaned to just a morning and bedtime feed. I've noticed for the past 2w or so that he doesn't sleep on the boob anymore and sings until he falls asleep or sometimes asks for a bottle, which makes me think he's not getting enough anymore. I do give him a 5oz bottle every night before we settle for the bedtime routine, but in bed he would sometimes ask for more after getting the boob. With my first he naturally just weaned off himself at almost 15mo, s”

“My baby just turned 1 and still wakes up every 2-3 hours at night and only wants to be nursed back to sleep (he will scream and will not fall back asleep if we try rocking him). I’ve heard weaning can help with sleep… is it time to start weaning? should I start with night weaning? any tips on night weaning a baby who will only nurse back to sleep in the MOTN is greatly appreciated. submitted by /u/newtbooker [link] [comments]”

“She nurses a few times during the day, not at night. She has 16 teeth since 14 months, she bites. She wants to spend a lot of time on the boob. Of course she gets bored so she wants to play at the same time. I'm pregnant, second trimester, I don't want to tandem feed. If I don't give her, she freaks out, screaming, kind of forgets to breathe 🙉 Anyway, I'm so over it. Drop some tips, please. submitted by /u/Longjumping-Lion-617 [link] [comments]”

“My baby is 10 weeks old and feeds to sleep for pretty much all contact naps and at night, unless she falls asleep in the baby carrier. We have naturally fallen into a bit of an eat → play → eat → sleep routine, and honestly it works really well for us right now. But I’m starting to wonder whether I should be changing things up now to prepare for sleep training later on? Should I be trying to move towards eat → play → sleep, or getting her used to falling asleep without feeding? It is so hard to”

“Hey everyone, My 3.5 month old will do a 20-30min carrier nap in the morning and usually in the evening, but otherwise will only nap when nursing. This is concerning because I return to work this month and my husband will be home with baby, and as the temps drop we won't always want to walk her in carrier. We've tried to get baby down in pack n play, crib, or holding (not in carrier) but lately we've had no success here (we have successfully gotten LO to nap off nip in the past). By”

“My baby is 8 months old and EBF and she only wants to be nursed to sleep for naps and usually stay latched. This is fine with me because I stay home with her however this means she won’t nap on my husband. If he tries to rock her or hold her to sleep she ends up screaming and crying to the point that she has to be calmed down with nursing or eventually falls asleep from exhaustion. This also happens if she is tired in her car seat but that’s a different issue. I’m not sure what to do because it’”

“So I need some tips on something I started working nights so this transition is very hard for me, my husband, and my 8month old... when I'm with my 8month old only give him breast I'm lazy, I don't pump or prep bottles only if I know I got to work that night and have bottles ready for my husband, but during the hours of 5pm-11pm are hard I "try" to go to sleep but sometimes my husbands wants to follow and sleep as well as for my baby it's too early anyway he couldn'”

“I’m a first time mom with a 14 month old, and I’m really hoping to hear from other moms who have been through something similar. I’ve been breastfeeding since birth. I don’t really offer nursing anymore, but I also don’t refuse her when she asks. She’s always preferred breast milk over solids. She does eat, but she has never been a great eater and is pretty picky. During the day, she can go for quite a while without nursing if she’s busy playing or we’re out, so it’s really not much of an issue”

“I still bf my 22 month old at night, to sleep and then again maybe 1-2 times through the night in case she wakes up. Several months - probably a year or so ago I stopped nursing from my right boob altogether because it produced less and only nurse from the left side to this date. I’ve recently tested positive for pregnancy - very early, only 5 weeks - but I’ve been struck with the thought: with me neglecting my right boob so long, could it cause problems when I nurse my second? Also - for those”

“I breastfed my daughter from birth until around age 2. Her whole life, nursing was also a huge part of how she regulated and fell asleep and stayed sleep for up to 10-12 hours. She has now been weaned for about 2 months, with only a couple slip-ups early on. She had not adapted, and still reaches for my breast at night, puts her hand down my shirt, and does the repetitive side-to-side motion she used to do while nursing. I have to wear large bandaids to cover them or else she’ll latch. I underst”

“I am starting to feel that the waking for - at least - 3 times at night is just too much on my nervous system. Plus my daughter is eating great other food. I would like to wean the night first and then the day feeds too. Do you have any advice what is the best time to wean, when the breastfeeding doesnt really serve the main purpose of calories plus soothing. What is the best approach to end the breastfeeding? submitted by /u/Kamane3000 [link] [comments]”

“I really need someone to tell me what to do, bc I’m at a loss. I’ll keep it as brief as I can. First baby: very linear process. Woke up every 3 hours from birth, over time slept longer stretches and at 6 months she was sleeping thru the night 7pm-5/6am. Second baby - the baby in question: comes out of the womb sleeping thru the night. Amazing. Didn’t even know that was possible. At 3 months, went back to work and reduced BF sessions and she was still doing well. At that point I was putting her d”

“My 2 year old son is a BOOB MONSTER, he is absolutely obsessed. We started night weaning 3.5 weeks ago, and it was going really well. We had dropped all feeds through the night and was only feeding 3 times a day. He adjusted really well to being told no, however in the last week he seems to have regressed and gone back to asking for the boob constantly and being devastated when I refuse. The issue is, he is barely eating any food. The only thing he’ll really show interest in is porridge or bran”

“My baby is 8mo and since she was like 3mo she basically stopped nursing to sleep for anything. She nurses back to sleep at night however. At night I put her to sleep in the carrier and sometimes make the transition smoother to the floorbed through nursing. She accepts dad to out her to bed as well. I roll away and go about my own things, but always within 30-40 minutes and regardless if she ate before bed or not , she’s awake again and wants to nurse, often eating quite a lot as well. She still”

“Hi all, my little baby turns 1 tomorrow and I’m unsure how weaning works since I know it’s really personal and individual. I do like breastfeeding and it would be great if babe would self-wean so I don’t have to make the decision to figure it out but I know not all do. Additionally, he’s a late teether and bf has been really helpful for soothing as he’s quite a sensitive soul. So I don’t know if I should wait and see if it happens organically? Do I try with the day first or night? He’s nursed to”

“I’ll start by saying that LO is 11 months, sleeps on his own in his crib, and can sleep through the night without a feed. I haven’t night weaned him because he sort of did it himself, but we’re teething again so back to a wake or two for a comfort feed since it’s the only thing that really settles him, even with meds. I’m not trying to wean him while teething, but I’m hoping to be done nursing around a year, and would love to know how you settle your teething kiddo at night without it. *Bonus po”

“Hi moms! Need some advice on weaning. Lately my baby’s nap schedule has gone out the window, and I was actively trying to drop a feed, but now I’m not really sure where I’m at with it anymore lol. Right now he’s nursing 6 times a day (although a couple are quick feed-to-sleep sessions): 5:45–6am - Feed 1: Wakes and I nurse him back to sleep until around 6:30am 6:30am: Official wake up 7:30–8am: Solids 9am - Feed 2 : Nurse before nap 9:30am - Feed 3 : Quick nurse to sleep for nap 1. I only starte”

“My girl is currently nursing when she wakes, before a nap (once or twice since we’re shifting nap schedules) and before bed. But at night time she wakes maybe once or twice crying for boob. We cosleep part of the night so I can sleep better. I’d like to start weaning her so she can spend the full night in crib/ not wake me up if we cosleep. I’ve read lots of stories and most of them include cows milk or more milk with a bottle but my girl has refused a bottle from the start. Any tips appreciated”

“I have been gradually weaning my 16 month old. We started around the beginning of August, cutting back to only nursing to sleep for naps and night and nighttime feeds, then we cut the middle of the night feeds, and now we haven't nursed at all for a whole week (woo hoo!). My issue is, she is still begging for milk all the time, pointing at the breast, pinching my nipples, trying to lift up my shirt. Anyone with experience, how much longer do I have to endure this? submitted by /u”

“My baby is 17 months and still nurses a few times a day. I’m wanting to get pregnant again in the next couple months but am not necessarily looking to wean. For anyone who has nursed a toddler while TTC and/or during a pregnancy can you tell me what your journey was like? I’ve always wanted to waited until my baby self weans, but I don’t know how that works if I were to get pregnant. Is it harmful to nurse while pregnant? Is it harder to get pregnant? submitted by /u/slgirlie11 [link”

“I’m about to start the weaning process, baby is going to be 1 soon and is nursing for shorter durations and doesn’t seem as interested in daytime feeds. Bedtime and morning wake feeds are still happening and I’m gonna keep those going until we’re ready to fully start weaning. My baby has always been EBF and never taken a pacifier. He really depends on nursing for calming down if he gets super upset. It’s usually only if he wakes overnight teething or is fighting sleep and gets over tired. I don’”

“I believe I’m experiencing my 12 month old self weaning, he isn’t interested in nursing anymore what’s so ever I can barely get him to latch at nighttime even while he’s half asleep. It’s been two days now with no nursing at all even at night which has been a little difficult because I would nurse him to sleep which was much quicker than rocking him to sleep like I have been the last two nights. Anytime I go to offer breast he gives a little bite instead, he’s eating lots of solids during the da”

“Any tips for weaning? LO just turned one and I’m working on stopping pumping at work and over night feeds to get her back to sleep. She’s been up for almost 2 hours 😅 wanting to nurse. submitted by /u/dudes-pink-hydrangea [link] [comments]”

“I started sleep work my son at 3.5 months. By sleep work I mean teaching him to fall asleep without any crutches so that he could connect his sleep cycles on his own. We have a night routine before the sleeping and such but it was weighing on my mental health to rock him for 2 hours every night desperately trying to get him to sleep with my partner away from work and just me at home with the baby. Anyways, it took about a month and he now falls asleep pretty quickly most naps and nights without”

“Ladies I need help. I am trying to night wean my 11mo old in preparation for complete weaning in a few months. At the very least I would like to go to one feeding in the middle of the night. He wakes and nurses for comfort or to eat every 2 hours still. My first is 2.5 and sleeps so good. We stopped cosleeping at 10/11 months and he has since slept in his own room all night (8pm-6am). But he stopped eating overnight around 4mo, but he was bottle fed breastmilk so it was way different. Now with m”

“hello all! i currently have a 9 month old, & i plan to start weaning at 12 months to give my body a few months of attention before trying for another baby. i’m looking for advice on what has worked with other moms for weaning! currently, we are actually night weaning & it’s going really well. we barely started a week ago & he didn’t need to nurse after his bedtime feed (7p) until 4a! our set up for that is baby & i stopped cosleeping, baby & dad cosleep in nursery on a floor”

“My baby is 10 months old almost 11. I exclusively breastfed him, with a bottle only a few times at the beginning. He never really took a pacifier or sucked his thumb. He would often fall asleep at the breast, or otherwise after crying for a while. At night, he wakes up every 2 hours. I’ve bought pretty much every type of pacifier possible, but he wants nothing to do with any of them. I’ve tried showing him that he can suck his thumb or fingers, but he isn’t interested at all. I’m trying to gradu”

“My baby is 10 months old almost 11. I exclusively breastfed him, with a bottle only a few times at the beginning. He never really took a pacifier or sucked his thumb. He would often fall asleep at the breast, or otherwise after crying for a while. At night, he wakes up every 2 hours. I’ve bought pretty much every type of pacifier possible, but he wants nothing to do with any of them. I’ve tried showing him that he can suck his thumb or fingers, but he isn’t interested at all. I’m trying to gradu”