night weaning

If you're feeling exhausted however, and really need your little one to stop nursing at night, here are some suggestions for successful night weaning.

• Set limits on night nursing for your toddler.
  Tell your child that you will nurse for a set amount of time and then she will need to let "Mee-Mees sleep" (use your child's word for nursing.) Children seem to understand that even Mom's breasts need a break!
  
• Comfort her with something like rocking, reading or cuddling instead. Some children are in the habit of nursing and will wean easily if offered a replacement activity.
  
• Try some Daddy nursing
  To help her adjust, have Daddy standing by for help. Let him walk her around, rock her in a chair, read to her, etc. so she gets Daddy as a distraction. In addition to getting in some one on one time with her Dad, she won't expect to nurse from him. He's not equipped!
  
• Go cold turkey
  Some children won't respect a limit so easily but do better with a cold turkey approach. One Mom says:

"When I was pregnant with my second, the oldest was still nursing at night. During my third trimester I was desperate for rest, so I would pretend to be asleep when my toddler would try to wake me at night. He cried for a minute the first night then went back to sleep when my husband cuddled him for a moment. The second and third nights he hardly made a fuss at all."