Need help weaning from pre-nap nursing

[mharling]

We've been down to nursing 4x/day for 2-3 weeks and I'm ready to start dropping nursing before naps. Today I tried giving him a big snack before his nap and he still wanted to nurse (even after offering him a sippy of milk). I realize this isn't going to be easy and I have lots of questions.

1. He naps 2x/day. Should I try dropping one at a time or tackle both together?

2. Our current nap routine is book, diaper change, nurse, down. What was your nap routine when you dropped nursing? Would it help to mix up the order of things so he's not nursing immediately before going down?

3. For those of you that use CIO, did you need to do it for naps during/after weaning? He doesn't cry at all right now when he goes down, but I'm wondering if that will change.

4. How were you successful in doing this? All suggestions and pointers are appreciated!

Mary
Lane 4/6/03

[COElizabeth]

Mary,

Yes, I would change the order first so that the nursing is before the book and diaper change. I think that makes dropping a nursing much easier. Also, I would drop one feeding at a time, mostly for your comfort. Finally, you might want to wait for a couple of days when DH can put Lane down (on the weekend, for example) for naps. Another alternative is having him fall asleep in the car a few times for the nap when you are trying to give up nursing beforehand. That's not ideal, because he will probably not sleep as long or well in the car, but I did do it a few times!

I think it's hard to predict how much more (if at all) he will cry. James did cry more sometimes, and a few times I just gave up on the nap, because he just wasn't settling down. He wouldn't cry the whole time, but he wouldn't go to sleep, either. When you don't have the nursing session to calm him down reliably, I think it becomes even more important to time the naps well (tired, but not too tired). Of course, that nap rebellion might have been just a developmental thing, not related to not nursing beforehand, but I wouldn't be surpised if you experience some of it (especially since you may be hitting the transition to one nap soon). The phase didn't last too long, though, and James is back to napping well now most days.

Good luck!

Elizabeth, Mom to James, 9-20-02
EDD #2, 10-30-04

[sadie427]

Hi Mary! We're doing this ourselves actually--I'm going back to a med school schedule in May that will make it really difficult to pump, so this month I'm weaning him during the day (hope to still BF in the morning and evening as long as my milk sticks around.) So far, it seems to be going ok.

I would definitely drop one pre-nap nursing at a time, both for your comfort and so that he gets at least one good nap if it ends up being a bit of a struggle! We've been dropping one nursing session a week, but you could go faster than that. We have not changed our routine, we have just substituted a bottle, really with no problem except that he doesn't drink all that much from the bottle, but since Lane is quite a bit older perhaps it will be harder. We did use CIO for night wakings, and I was prepared to use it for the nap, but he really just fussed really briefly and went to sleep.

I think my struggle with Sammy will be with the formula, rather than with the sleeping--he really prefers solids if he can't nurse, so I have to start limiting that to get him to drink a reasonable amount of formula, and it's a little hard to tell what that is right now since we still nurse 4 times a day.

Another suggestion--has Lane been put down for a nap or to bed by anyone but you? I think part of why we haven't had a hard time is that he had already gotten used to being put down for a nap by the babysitter, and once or twice put to bed by DH for the night when I had to be somewhere in the evening, just drinking a bottle instead of nursing. I don't know if having your DH or someone else put him down for a nap on the weekend would help.

HTH! (Btw, belated happy birthday to Lane!)

[jubilee]

Mary, I am trying to wean before naps too! I just am concerned Logan won't get an adequate amount of milk now. He won't take milk from a sippy. He will take juice or water from a sippy though. Does Lane take milk from a cup?

[mharling]

Lane will take milk from a cup, thank goodness. We use the Take and Toss cups; he does great with them and loves really cold milk straight from the fridge. If I try to offer a sippy, though, and he wants to nurse instead, he whips the sippy with milk on the floor. :(

Mary
Lane 4/6/03

[mharling]

Thank you Elizabeth and Susan!
I did mix up our order and it worked today (I went ahead and did it for both naps). I think I'll try to replace one of the nursings with a snack next week.

And yes, dh will be on 'put-down-for-nap' duty this weekend!

Mary
Lane 4/6/03