Baby can only sleep while nursing

Sleep
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I think the best option would be night weaning. Baby is old enough to not need milk at night. I understand they are probably nursing just to soothe, but they don’t necessarily NEED to nurse at night anymore. My baby is 14 months, and I’ve been slowly weaning night nursing for a couple of months. I say slowly because he has an older brother in pre-K, so I feel like we’re always sick in this house and I will NEVER not let my baby nurse when he’s sick.

Night weaning is hard. It’s heartbreaking when the baby is pulling at your shirt and wants your boobs. It’s a process. One that takes patience and consistency. Start by counting your average nursing sessions and when they typically happen. Then start cutting some out little by little. OR you can choose time frames. So like every 4 hours. So if the baby wakes before 10 PM, don’t offer boobs. Then if the baby eats at 10, wait another four hours. Then keep stretching the times.

If your baby is eating solids, offer a puree pouch at night to top off in case they’re hungry. Baby can also be getting water, so maybe have some warm water available in a sippy cup. Try other soothing methods when the baby wakes up instead of automatically taking your boobs out. Once you night wean, I truly think it’ll get better. Just know that not giving your baby your boobs at night isn’t mean or going to hurt your baby. Kissing them, shushing them, cuddling them, and rocking them are also soothing methods that baby just needs to adjust to. I’m here for you in spirit. I totally empathize. :heart:

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@Tan
Also, I’m a student as well! What are you going to school for? I’m going for social work. It’s definitely hard balancing school and a clingy breastfed baby!

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My LO used to cry a lot with her first nanny (she started going around 6 months). Turns out she just didn’t like the woman AT ALL or the environment. She would cry every time she saw the woman.

We were lucky enough to find another, and she’s been sooooo much happier since day 1! We didn’t think it was possible!! She adores her nanny, to the point that when we drop her off, it’s almost like we don’t exist :joy::joy::joy:. It has been a great improvement for our mental health to know that she’s happy where she is now. The nanny puts her in her bed, tells her it’s time to sleep, and like magic she falls asleep on her own.

Not the same story at home though :sweat_smile:. I still nurse to sleep at night; this usually takes about 15 minutes because she has played soooo much during the day that she is just exhausted when I pick her up. On the weekends, it’s tough because we just can’t tire her out enough, so sometimes I have to stay with her for her nap, which, like you said, leaves little time for me and my partner. We also refuse to CIO, but we’ve just kind of learned to live with it. However, seeing some of the comments here, I will definitely try some of the gentle sleep training methods because it’s exhausting. Unfortunately, we are forced to bedshare due to space constraints, which makes sleep training a bit more complicated.

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My LO is 7.5 months and would only contact nap and bed share with me at night. Only nurses to sleep. I didn’t want to sleep train, but we started last Friday, and he actually naps and sleeps in his crib now. It’s called the Tinyhood method. We adjusted it so it wasn’t aggressive and followed it a bit, but tweaked it so he still gets boob and snuggles lol.

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@Hadi
I need a detailed explanation of what you’re doing lol.

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Laken said:
@Hadi
I need a detailed explanation of what you’re doing lol.

Omg same.