r/weaningsupport

I am planning to wean in the next month or two and my biggest question is HOW DO BABIES FALL ASLEEP WITHOUT BREASTFEEDING?!

For context, my LO is 19 months old and I nurse him to sleep 90% of the time (the other 10% he does a bottle with my partner or a grandparent). We usually do: shower/bath + PJs + teeth brushing + nursing.

I'd love to make brushing his teeth the last thing we do, to help prevent cavities, etc., but I am at a loss for what to do instead of breastfeeding or bottle. He doesn't like stuffed animals or pacifiers.

Would love suggestions + examples of your routines!

My 21 month old nurses to sleep for both her nap and her nighttime sleep. She also wakes 1-2x a night and will only fall back asleep if she nurses. I don’t mind nursing her for her nap. Is it confusing if I cut her off for her nighttime sleep but not her nap?

My daughter is 25 months old and she’s my first. I honestly had no clue how long I was planning on nursing but I just feel like I’m ready and it’s stopping her from getting a good nights sleep. We started reading booby moon and it really didn’t work. I’ve tried patting her butt and even offering chocolate milk like I read online but nothing has helped. What are things that you did that helped?

She has been accumulating a significant sleep debt over the last 2 days so we started a little earlier and also thought my husband should give it a try and may have more luck. She cried mostly off and on for 45 mins with him. I stepped in and calmed her down and then he left. She got to a point where she was rolling around in the bed asking me to help her sleep but just couldn't settle. Eventually she was just walking in circles doing the "peel bananas" song on repeat.

She has a weighted stuffy so I had her through that around for a while and get some sensory release and it did calm her down and she was at least laying down again.. but we soon as sleep starts to creep in she's jolting up.

Ended up taking her downstairs (for the third night in a row) at the 3 hour mark and within 10 mins she asleep in my arms.

She really is internationally keeping herself from sleep and as soon as she puts her guard down she's fast asleep.

Let's hope this extinction burst fades soon because I don't know how much more I can take.

Hi there, I’ve been having a really hard time mentally (and physically) since weaning my daughter. I have been thoroughly evaluated medically and am beginning therapy, but I could really use a chat with someone who is either going through this currently, or has been through it in the past. This is really hard, I’m wondering how others got through it without getting discouraged.

Edit: I should also add that meds are unfortunately not an option due to side effects.

I've got her in bed and lying down within 30 mins now instead of two hours, but she really seems to be understanding now that milk isn't coming back and fighting the actual sleep harder. Groping for me more and crying to go back to our bed where we coslept until about a month ago (I'm still sleeping with her in her new room/bed). I can feel the grief. I brought her down and as soon as we changed locations and she could give up the 'fight' she passed right out.

I have an 18 m old and I’m pregnant with the second. My 18 m old is amazing in everywhere except sleeping, and it’s always been like that. He’s always been so difficult. We’ve always co slept at night, and though it’s been the best option, it still sucks ngl. He constantly is whiney and moves all over and mostly just wants my nipple. Now, naps I can put him down but a lot of the time he wakes up when I try to put him down and just wants my nipple. I’ve been ok with this because I just end up napping too, but I know it’s not going to work long term when I have this baby. I’m just so concerned about the nb trenches. They were so so so hard for me and my husband with our first.

We haven’t tried “sleep training” but we’ve both tried letting him cry or putting him in his crib to go to sleep, and maybe 1/10 times it’ll work with my husband if he stays in the room. But then my 18 m old is crying an hour or two later and needs to be put back to sleep.

I know this too will pass but I also know this is going to be so freaking hard . Honestly, I’ve read so many other Reddit posts about this exact situation and all the comments of tips, I’ll take them, but really I just want to feel heard and like I’m not the only one. Sometimes I feel like I’m failing or a bad mom when it comes to sleep because I’ve just never been able to put him to sleep without my nipple. Even as an infant if I tried to sing and sway and etc etc it just doesn’t work. It works for other people like my husband and mom, but not me. I think I’m too boney. Anyway, if you’re still reading this, thanks.

Also, to add to my rant, can other people stfu about my child’s size and stop comparing him to theirs? I’m so tired of , “omg my baby is 10 m younger and they are like the same size!?!, how much does he weigh!?” How about stfu?

Sorry. lol.

She fell asleep in the car on the way home and survived the transfer but woke up after a few hours really distressed. She was probably expecting milk as usual and was crying really hard and asking for hugs but not letting me touch her or comfort her.

She eventually calmed down and wanted to only sleep on top of me and didn't settle until I was settled and sleeping next to her and she had both hands up the back of my shirt. She woke up maybe another hour or two later and rooted a little trying to lift my shirt for milk then went back to sleep.

How I'm doing? Amazing. They say nursing is like running a marathon everyday in terms of metabolic energy? Well I have so much energy, I'm getting more than 4 consecutive hours a night consistently, and I'm not starving all the time.

I feel so refreshed and motivated!

My lo is 19 m/o I’ve mainly breastfed since day one at this point we only breastfed for one nap and throughout the night. I’ve asked multiple people what they think I’m absolutely over it but also I don’t have the energy to quit. Everyone says to use different comfort methods like rocking them to sleep, but every single time I try he screams and flails and will not calm down what so ever I’ve tried reading books he just closes them and reaches for the boob. He has so much outside time and when it’s time to go to sleep he’s ready but doesn’t want anything but the boob unless dad is here but if he knows I’m available he wants the boob. I got to the point after trying so many things that I decided I’d just wait until he decides he is done but I can’t wait anymore I’m almost to the point of wearing tight turtleneck body suits just so he can’t have easy access. I wanted to start weaning at nap time and then once he’s fine with it start weaning bed time. I just don’t know what to do. I’m sore and tired and my body can’t keep up with the amount of nutrients I’m losing I’m taking so many supplements rn all bc I can’t figure out how to wean.

I'm trying to wean my daughter (likely neurodivergent). She is down to no naps, only has milk before bed and occasionally in the middle of the night if she is having teething pain. I'm able to put her back to sleep in the middle of the night without milk as long as she has some sleep inertia.

She doesn't seem too emotionally attached to the breast milk and doesn't usually ask for it it's mostly out of sight out of mind. She does associated with sleep sometimes and refuses it if she doesn't want to go to bed.

She hates sleep and it always trying to fight it. She's on a floor bed in her own room that she moved into a few weeks ago and I'm still sleeping in there with her at night.

I've tried keeping her in the bed but she gets up wanders looks for books in the room tries to leave the room. She's able to turn almost anything into a distraction. If I try to prevent her from leaving the bed she gets hysterical and cries. I've tried waiting it out in hopes that she just tires herself out and goes to sleep but rather than tie herself out and getting into the bed or sleeping on the floor she will just leave the room.

I'm also worried that when I let her try and sleep on her own she gets progressively more tired and more manic and then it becomes even less likely that she'll fall asleep on her own.

I haven't been able to do more than one or two days in a row of attempting to wean because of these issues. Am I part of the problem? Do I just need to keep doing it consistently and eventually she'll stop trying to distract herself and allow herself to sleep? How long did it take for your toddlers to learn to sleep on their own without milk the first few nights? How many hours?

She is able to fall asleep in the car so we have used that on occasion.

My next step is to remove all the toys and books from her room so that she doesn't have anything she can distract herself with. Bring a cup of warm milk up with me in hopes that it will help her to calm down but then I run into the issue of teeth brushing as she's already brushed her teeth and if I brush her teeth after the warm milk it kind of defeats the purpose of her using that warm milk to power down.

The issue here doesn't seem to be her wanting milk or her asking for milk or her being emotionally attached to the milk but rather just not knowing how to fall asleep without it.

I’ve read many posts, but everyone seem to consider weaning when baby is older. Just curious: has anyone decided to wean after 6 months because EBF was no longer necessary?

My almost 13 month old wakes up multiple times during the night to comfort nurse (every 1-3 hours). Im exhausted and so ready to wean her but i still want to feed her at least once or twice during the day. I want support figuring out how to go about with it. She is nursed + rocked to sleep and then just nursed back to sleep for the subsequent wakeup. She is a FOMO baby so just nursing or just rocking is not enough for her to fall asleep. Id like to continue to do so to put her to sleep and then offer water and then just rock for any nightly wakeups. Does this sound like a good plan? Or should i go cold turkey and stick it out? Im so nervous about the sleepless nights because im already so exhausted. I just need any reassurance i can get 😭