Weaning and Sleeping worries

[jprentice]

Hello, my name is Jess and my son Ryan is 10 months old. He is breastfed and I am hoping to have him weaned by his first birthday. He has never had a bottle, but he does great with a sippy cup. He already has some solid foods for breakfast lunch and dinner and we have gradually increased the time between nursings but he still has to be nursed and rocked to go to sleep.

Ryan is a very active baby and the only time he will let me cuddle him or lay him down is to nurse. If I place him in his crib, even sleepy, he will automatically pull himself up to standing.

We have a very consistant bed time ritual, but I am still worried about how I can get him to sleep when I take the boob away. Any hints?

[wagoner518]

Pay attention to your son. See what activities make him the least likely to want to nurse. For my son, it was time with Daddy. We picked a week that my hubby would be home/ with us all week and whenever my son normally nursed, my hubby stepped in and I stepped out. He only nursed at bed time too (naps and night) and after a week, he didn't even think about nursing. You'll be surprised how quickly he will forget how to nurse. My son did try one more time after a few days without and totally didn't know what to do. That was our last time. (Just a couple of weeks later, my son ended up in the ER with some trama. He never once tried to nurse. I knew then that he was completely over it.) So, my suggestion is to substitue his nursing time with something else he enjoys more. You may need help in this by having someone else do the bedtime routine and put him down so he doesn't realize what he missed. It worked for us like a breeze and I hope it does for you too. Good luck and congrats on nursing him for so long!

[lgarcia]

It seems to me like you have two issues: Weaning AND Creating a bedtime routine that doesn't include nursing. I suggest you tackle one at a time. First, move your nursing up earlier and start a new bedtime routine. For us, it was nursing, then bath, brush teeth, reading time, and a hug goodnight. My daughter cried a lot in the beginning, but eventually learned that bedtime does not equal nursing and was able to start falling asleep on her own. Once you break the bedtime habit, then I think weaning should be easier for you because it won't be a crutch that leads to something else. I broke that evening nursing session by replacing it with vanilla almond milk - a treat that my little one liked <almost> as much as breast milk. Hope that helps.

[chandralynne]

Ditto the previous post. Get the bedtime routine down first, but you can also slowly start substituting a nursing or two during the day for a bottle/sippy cup. I just finished weaning my son at 7 months, but we started at 5 1/2 months and the midday nursings were the first to go. The morning and evening nursings were the last to go and it was a relatively easy transition for my son.

If you are married, I would encourage your husband/partner to take part in the bedtime routine because your son might be more willing to take a bottle/sippy cup from Daddy than you. My husband usually does the entire routine; feeding, bath time, play time in the nursery, bottle, and bed with binkie.

GL and be patient. It takes time and consistency. :)