# At what age is night weaning okay for milk supply?



## Alvenchrst (Feb 3, 2003)

I am asking this because my ds 10 months has recently started sleeping through the night ( we co-sleept for a while, then he slept great in an Amby and now in a porta crib in his own room), and that with a slight increase in solids has WRECKED my milk supply. the only time he really nursed all day was this morning and the other times he just keeps pulling off and fussing, which makes things worse. We ARE NOT ready to wean and I really need to get my supply back so i moved his porta crib into our room (actually in our walk in closet which is 2 feet from my side of the bed so that we can still have a little romantic privacy) and plan to wake him early am which is the most recent feeding he began sleeping through. I know that is is possible for moms to extend BF babies who sleep through the night, but this is too early and a result of our lack of co-sleeping. We did try co-sleeping for 3 months but I was a zombie and a horrible mother, this is the best solution for my whole family, but I refuse to let anything come inbetween our breastfeeding relationship. i guess my question is at what age are co-sleeping mothers typically night-weaning their children, if they decided to do so. What is the acceptable age around here if any? I just kind of need a mark as to how long I need to continue waking him, or make sure he's feeding. I know most kids are still nursing at night by 18 months, but would that be the lower marker, or is it 2 years. What does NCSS say, I can't remembe. I loned my copy to a friend and I don't think I'm ever going to see it again









Okay well thanks for listening to my long post, I'm getting about this. i know this isn't the BF board, but I would certianly welcome BF esp solids advice too. I kind of started more solids because he wasn't even on the charts short at the DR., she didn't mind in the least, which was great, but it mad em ea little nervous like I was doing something wrong.

Okay I'll stop, I could go on . . .

Thanks for the advice!

Ashley


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## alegna (Jan 14, 2003)

I generally say don't TRY to nightwean before 18 months (I understand though- you didn't try...). Would you consider putting your babe in bed with you for just the last part of the night/early morning? That might help.

good luck!

-Angela


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## anarchamama (Mar 4, 2005)

I nightweaned ds at 18 months, but I think my milk supply was hsot around 15 from my next pregnancy. Ds nursed through 2 m/c and 1 pregnancy and is happy that the milk is back. So I guess it doesen't really apply, except that he kept night nursing even after my milk was gone.


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## mollyeilis (Mar 6, 2004)

He's 10 months old and isn't nursing much? Two words...Nursing Strike.

NOT weaning. Not even night weaning.

I bet at some point, especially now that you've mentioned it in "public", the sleeping through the night is going to change... Everytime I got used to something and talked about it, DS would change it up on me.







:

My guy is 2 yrs 4 months and I can't even fathom night-weaning him. He's SO busy during the day, I don't know when he'd get his good nutrition and calories, if it weren't for nursing at night! So there's one vote for "um, I never night weaned", in case you were wondering if anyone did NOT do it.









If this seems like a nursing strike sort of thing (my guy had not even had solids yet, but still went through a nursing strike at 9 months!), just offer offer offer. You don't want to respond with fear that he's going to starve, by giving him more solids, you just need to offer offer offer and get through it. If he's like my guy, he'll figure it out quickly (once he stops playing and moving and scooting and just doing every thing he can possibly think of in a day!) and get back to nursing.

Good luck!


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## secondseconds (Jun 22, 2005)

Sounds like a nursing strike to me too. I didn't night wean my older ones until about 20 months.


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## Mommy2Jackson (Dec 5, 2005)

I think if you could get him to sleep with you it would really be the BEST for your supply. When I had low supply issues early on (and wasn't cosleeping all the time) my lacataion consultant said cosleeping would help more then anything else I could do.

I won't even consider night weaning until ds is 2, even then we'll see depends on when we have number 2.

Good luck


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## wannabe (Jul 4, 2005)

Are you sure you have supply problems, or could he just be a ten month old who wants to play rather than eat?

If he is naturally sleeping all night I would prefer to let him do it - if he's doing it himself, he NEEDS that sleep - KWIM?


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## wombatclay (Sep 4, 2005)

Heyla mama!

You might also want to explore the information about milk supply on the kellymom site (http://www.kellymom.com/bf/supply/index.html). Nurse, nurse, nurse is the best cure for a nursing strike, but some of the other information on supply (low supply, building up supply, maintaining supply) could be really helpful too.

There's also information about solids and the breastfed baby/toddler (http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/index.html) which could help...keep in mind that breastfed babes often don't follow the height/weight charts for formula fed babes!

As a pp mentioned...maybe pull your little one into bed with you just for the early morning hours? Say if they wake at 6am but you don't have to get out of bed till 8? Or have them in bed for a few hours in the early evening and then move them into the porta-crib later on?

And for your other question (as I too blather on and on!)...dd is 18mo and I have just started to think about partial night-weaning (she wakes 5-6 times a night to nurse and at this point I know the nursing isn't for "nutrition") with the eventual goal of only 1-2 night nursings by the time she's 2yo. Mostly since both dd and I NEED longer periods of sleep these days or we're both crabby as can be!


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