Cutting Back on Nursing

Personally I think that if you night wean her, you will get more sleep, she might eat more during the day (both solids and nursing) and you may resume your cycles if you aren't nursing 24/7. I used Elizabeth Pantley's No Cry Sleep Solution to night wean my older son at about this age and it worked like a charm. It does require you to be more awake and alert for several days when you wake at night to care for her but it is worth it in the long run. I would get him when he woke and bring him to our bed (as was our usual routine) but he would only get to nurse for a short time then I would take him off. If he got mad then he got to go back on, but for an even shorter time. Gradually he learned that he wasn't really going to get what he wanted and he stopped waking. Was a very nice, natural process.

I breastfed my daughter until she was 2. She hardly ate anything until I quit nursing. When I started weaning her, I actually started about 6 months earlier. I took away one feeding a month. (The first week is the toughest). Start off with the least needy nursing time, like late morning or something. The hardest will be the night time feedings. Until I completely quit nursing all together, my daughter was still waking up 3 and 4 times a night to nurse. It's tough to wean, especially when you produce a lot of milk, I did that too! I got mastitis, and it hurt like crazy, and ANYtime my daughter would cry my milk would let out and it would hurt all the worse. But we both made it and we still have a great bond.
I think quitting cold turkey is extremely harsh on both mom and baby. You need to go through the weaning process because baby will have abandonment issues if you don't.

I hope this helped. Good luck!

When I weened my son, I took one feeding out a week. So if you are at 3 right now, try stopping the AM one first for a week. Then stop the Afternoon feeding. And finally the third week stop the night time feeding. Replace the night feeding with a special cup with milk that she can drink while you read bed time books.

My GF nursed her little girl until 17 months (only at night the last few) and her daughter never slept through the night, UNTIL she stopped nursing her.

Good luck! I know its a challenge, but it will benefit everyone in the long run. :-)

I wouldn't count on waiting for her to be a better sleeper. My daughter woke up all the time in the middle of the night and like Jessica's friend, she did not sleep through the night until I stopped nursing her. (I quit at like 13 months) It wasn't fun, but it was really good to finally get a good night's sleep. For both of us. When she would cry for it in the middle of the night, I would hold her and NOT sit down in the rocking chair to rock her where she usually nursed. She will cry but that doesn't mean she's not ready. It will be rough on you to let her cry, but it won't last long and soon she won't even remember. good luck!

I weaned both of mine around 18-20 months. I got rid of middle of the day nursings, then the morning before breakfast nursing, then the at night before bed nursing. I wouldn't worry too much about the eating thing, if she is gaining weight and your doc isn't concerned, then you shouldn't be, she will probably increase how much she eats and drinks as you wean her.

Mine did great, it took a couple of months to completely wean (my body easily adjusted). My oldest slept with us and nursed at night until about 16 months, then one night she slept thru the night and I thought AH HA! no more middle of the night nursings! She continued to wake after that one night of sleeping straight thru and my husband would soothe her back to sleep which fortunately proved to be very easy. I was also pregnant with #2 by then and SO ready to end night nursing. #2 slept with us and nursed at night until 8 months and then he was sleep trained. My next one will probably be sleep trained at 4 months LOL! Good Luck

ps I honestly don't know how I would have weaned my first had I not had the motivation of having a second...it was a good kick in the butt for me

Nobody is giving you the other side of the coin so I will :)
THe WHO recommends nursing until at least two and the amount of nutrients in the second year is amazing. I'll have to look up the chart I had found. Why would you want her to eat more food instead of breastmilk? SHe will eat more table food when she wants to. I'm a tandem nursing mom who nursed throughout a pregnancy and in my experience, my oldest night-weaned as I became more pregnant, maybe around 17 months. I don't really remember. My son needed a bit of push to night-wean at about 18 months. Was very gentle and not traumatic at all. Dr. Jay Gordon has a nice sleep method. I found what I was looking for on Kelly mom.

In the second year (12-23 months), 448 mL of breastmilk provides:
29% of energy requirements
43% of protein requirements
36% of calcium requirements
75% of vitamin A requirements
76% of folate requirements
94% of vitamin B12 requirements
60% of vitamin C requirements
-- Dewey 2001

ANd that's only like 15 oz I think. If your daughter is getting more than that, just think how much she is thriving. If it were me, I would just get through one more winter so she is as healthy as she can be through flu season being so young. If you want any more advice or someone to talk to who has been there (and survived!) you can message me. I know it seems like you should wean at a year because that's what everyone does but it is far healthier physically and emotionally to let her nurse til she is ready to wean.

I got a period when my daughter was 10 months old and then very sporadically and was pregnant when she was 14 months old. You may be ovulating and just not know it.