Partial Night Weaning

Let me start by saying I am not a fan of weaning babies from breast feeding. I think child led weaning is best. However, I haven't  had more than a few hours sleep since I was 28 weeks pregnant, and not more than 2 hours of sleep in a row since the Bean was about 5 months old. Mama is tired!

I am actually not weaning Bean or even completely night weaning, but I think I am going to go mental if I don't start getting more sleep. The plan is to partially night wean, in the hope that Bean will start sleeping longer, allowing the whole family to get a good nights rest. There was a period between four and five months where he went to sleep at 11 pm, slept until 3, nursed until 4, then slept until about 7 am. For whatever reason, around 5 months, he started waking every two hours. The last couple of months it has been every hour or hour and a half, which has led us to this point.

I am following a modified version of Dr. Jay Gordon's gentle night weaning. I have been seriously planning on making the change for about a month and have felt sick to my stomach every time I think about it. I have worked really hard to establish a bond of trust with my sweet baby that I want to last a lifetime. I have been worried about breaking that trust or causing him to feel abandoned by his mama. I want him to know that I am here for him anytime as long as I live. I can't imagine leaving him to cry alone in his crib, especially since he is used to sleeping with me. My hope is that he will realize mama is there to comfort him, just in a different way than he is used to. I have a feeling he is not going to be happy about it in the beginning!

I don't expect this to be a quick or easy process. I am going to document what happens for the next 10 - 14 days. Hopefully that post will find Family Karamesic well rested!