So, I have finally started the process of weaning my 18 mo (exclusively breastfed though only at night for the last several months. Wanted to stop earlier but my pead is a bit of Breastfeeding nazi). My daughter was in the habit of feeding herself to sleep so sleep training and weaning is going side by side…
NOW I do understand that the crying is normal..and that I should comfort her but not give in but I do have several questions
(oh BTW, we cosleep… Her cot is attached to our bed…she mostly sleeps in it..infact rolls over in her sleep towards the cot)
should i let her have some sort of a security toy or blanket or something?
last night, after alot of crying, she cried herself to sleep on her cot but tonight she fell asleep on top of me… should I let that happen? Sometimes I think that it’s comforting for her in what’s probably a difficult time but other times I’m thinking that I should pat her to sleep in her cot no matter how much she cries :s… What’s the best approach? Gradual one of letting her cuddle but no Breastfeeding or make a clean break of it?
i do keep water at hand and give it to her…she does drink a fair amount.. And i start panicking…(what if she’s hungry.. Am I starving my daughter?) i do try to follow the 3 meals 2 snacks rule but it’s almost impossible because she eats too slowly and and there doesn’t seem to be enough time in the day to feed her 5 times..
How often did you feed your little ones? How many hours in between meals so that s/he eats properly? Could you post your meal plan if you had any? How long after het last meal/milk should i put her to sleep? An hour?
I’ll add more questions later… Too tired and sleepy
Sherlocked i just weaned my 17 month old. Reading your post was like me reading my own confusions/questions i had at that time. I too went through the same phase but i did few things differently.
If u are weaning her bf are you introducing formula/bottle ? I started giving my lil one a sippy cup around 13-14 months and bttle around 15 months. I switched to bottle because i didnt think he could drink tummy full from the cup. His was both sippy and straw cups. Both cups at 13-14 months and bottle @15 months wre only introduction. He would play more with the 30 ml milk (yes only 30 ml) and drink one -2 sips. Some nights he wont drink at all. Rarely he would drink more. I only introduced at night.
He was ebf and i was bf 3 times. Gradually reduced to 2 times, cut the early morning one. Close to 16.5 minths my doc told me to stop bf and i did AH.
Having his older bro who also drinks bottle helped. Singing helps when she is craving your milk. Yes for me cuddlung and chest sleeping were all ok. He still sleeps hugging me and initially during first few nights of no bf, he did wake up where i had to walk him to get him back to sleep at 4 am each night for 4-5 consecutive nights (and i work too). And it would happen that after the walks he would fall asleep only to wake up as soon as i lied down and if i lied down with him on my chest, he would stay asleep.
I did everuthing gradually. Gradually introduced bottle , gradually cut his bf, gradually stopped walking him when he would wake up and just patted him and he would sleep withour demanding chest AH.
Every child is different. For your kid, gradual may work or cutting it clean altogether may work.
I hope my experience would help. Let me know if you have more ?s.
^ How are u weaning off bfeeding? I stopped bf'ing my son at 18 months as well.. for a couple of months it was night only and then instarted skipping a day for one week, then 2 days and then stopped completely. No painful boobs! :D lol
As for putting them to bed in the crib... my son has been sleeping in his crib, in his own room since 13 months. I would feed him then lay him down in his crib. Once i stopped bf'ing, i would lay him next to me until he was sleepy but not asleep yet and then down in the crib. Eventually he went straight to sleep in his own crib.