skiesthelimit - how did it go

[laurack]

Night weaning, attempt 1: how was it?!

skiesthelimit

[skiesthelimit]

Hey! I was just coming on to post about it, thanks for asking! I feel special

Ok so Night 1, Friday night. 

I nursed him at bedtime, DH took him to his room, read him a story and put him down.  He babbled to himself and was out within minutes.  That was 6:30pm.

10:44 he wakes up crying.  DH goes in, picks him up, rubs his back, tells him it's time for sleep and puts him back down with his bunny (he uses a stuffed bunny as a lovey).  DH comes back to our room and we start timing.  He was going to go back in and do a check every 10 minutes if he was crying.  At the 3 minute mark he passed out.  He didn't wake up again until 6:30am.  He woke up laughing and as happy as can be.  It was amazing.

Night 2

He went down great at 6:30pm.  I went out to dinner with some girlfriends and it was awesome.  I didn't have to rush back to nurse him and I was able to have a couple 3 glasses of wine.  I got home at 11 and he woke up (apparently I made too much noise when I got home).  DH went in and did the same soothing technique and came back to our room.  X kept crying and then started doing the "cry so hard I'm going to puke" cry.  DH went back in at the 10minute mark and tried to soothe him again.  DH was just about to go back in and do another check when X fell asleep.  It was so funny, he went from full out crying to all of a sudden silent.  We had to turn the monitor up to make sure he was still alive, and sure enough he was snoring.  It was 11:23pm so 23 minutes of crying.

Night 3, last night

He was off schedule because we were out and about all day and our second car is in the shop so I had to go pick up DH at 6pm and so we didn't have dinner until later, etc. etc.  Anyway, he went to bed at 8pm.  He slept right until 4:16!!  He woke up crying and at 4:20 he was back to sleep, DH didn't even have to go in.  But then at 4:30 he woke up crying again.  DH went in and tried to soothe him.  He cried until 4:37 then fell asleep.  But then I had to get up and pee, I seriously could not hold it anymore.  And that woke him up again.  DH didn't go in though, he cried from 4:43 to 4:47 and passed out again.  Then he got up at 6 screaming and crying.  I knew he was still tired because normally he wakes up laughing and babbling.  I let him cry to see if he would fall back asleep but he didn't.  So I got up and nursed him and kept him awake.  We don't normally wake up until 7 so it wasn't too bad. 

So I did it!  3 nights without MOTN feedings.  He seems to be crying more and more as the nights go on, instead of less and less.  Is that normal?  He did sleep 8 hours straight so that was amazing though.  I'm hoping tonight maybe he'll sleep right till 6am. 

I feel this sense of relief, like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders.  I never went out after I put him to bed because I had to be home incase he woke up and needed to nurse.  I would never drink at night incase I had to nurse in the MOTN.  Now I feel free.  I feel like he doesn't need ME and only ME to put him down.  Now I feel so much more comfortable leaving him with DH or my mom at night.  It's very liberating.  And it went so much better than I expected.  I was expecting hours and hours of crying all.night.long, this was much easier than I expected.

Thanks for all your support ladies!

[skiesthelimit]

And if my post wasn't long enough I have more to add.

He seems to be nursing less during the day now, since I weaned MOTN feeds. I was expecting the opposite. Last Sunday he nursed 11 times in 24 hours, and this Sunday only 4 times. Is it normal for toddlers to drop day feeds when you night wean them? Aren't they supposed to nurse more during the day? I had to pump a few times yesterday because I was in pain from being so engorged.

[jfh]

That is so great to hear! I don't know about the issue with crying more - I'd say since it's only been 3 days, it's hard to say whether or not it's a pattern.

ETA: Arrrg I keep hitting send too soon! Anyway, just wanted to give you a thumbs up and I hope it keeps going well. I'm glad you can finally feel like you have a little more independence at night.

[Deleted]

Sounds like it is going pretty good!

I wonder if he is nursing less during the day because he isn't using nursing as a comfort thing as much? When Ada stopped nursing at night she didn't add any daytime sessions, but she also didn't drop any.

[raynes]

I'm glad to hear it went well! This gives me hope for when we go this route.

[skiesthelimit]

Jun 3, 2013 8:26:28 GMT -5 @lindy said:

Sounds like it is going pretty good!

I wonder if he is nursing less during the day because he isn't using nursing as a comfort thing as much? When Ada stopped nursing at night she didn't add any daytime sessions, but she also didn't drop any.

That's a good point.  He did nurse for comfort a lot so maybe now he knows he can self soothe so he doesn't need to comfort nurse. 

[laurack]

this is AMAZING news. It couldn't have gone much better really!! I am so happy for you!

I'm not sure if there are some babies out there who benefit from the sleep training then amazingly become always great sleepers, but that's not the case for us. Her sleep is still somewhat of a "russian roulette" except now instead of almost all the chambers being filled its just one. hahaha.

So I'd say, expect some inconsistency still but for us, she is way improved and I'll take it!

[laurack]

Jun 3, 2013 8:25:38 GMT -5 jfh said:

That is so great to hear! I don't know about the issue with crying more - I'd say since it's only been 3 days, it's hard to say whether or not it's a pattern.

ETA: Arrrg I keep hitting send too soon! Anyway, just wanted to give you a thumbs up and I hope it keeps going well. I'm glad you can finally feel like you have a little more independence at night.

I felt your answer was slightly strange.

[jfh]

Jun 3, 2013 8:30:27 GMT -5 laurack said:

Her sleep is still somewhat of a "russian roulette" except now instead of almost all the chambers being filled its just one. hahaha.

This is such a great way to put it! That's the case here too. The more empty chambers the better.

[laurack]

Jun 3, 2013 8:40:53 GMT -5 jfh said:

Jun 3, 2013 8:30:27 GMT -5 laurack said:

Her sleep is still somewhat of a "russian roulette" except now instead of almost all the chambers being filled its just one. hahaha.

This is such a great way to put it! That's the case here too. The more empty chambers the better.

We've had two nights of zero wakeups after I did the ferber checkins one night. I'm delighted but another tooth/sickness/travel/invisible sleep ghost is just around the corner! hehehe