So you still feed your toddler at night….. you’re not alone, and don’t panic. If you weren’t ready to night wean until now, that’s cool we are all different.
The first thing to think about if you want to night wean your toddler is how they fall asleep at bed time. If they rely on the breast or bottle at bed time to go to sleep, this is the first place for us to work on change. There is huge physiological drive to sleep at bed time which makes this process successful quickly. I am not suggesting you cut this feed altogether, but that your toddler is awake after this feed, you could brush their teeth in their bedroom, or read a story after the feed, then settle your toddler to sleep without feeding. This creates a disassociation between feeding and sleeping, which in some cases means the toddlers quickly night wean with no more intervention from mum or dad.
But many toddlers will still wake for a feed through the night. Assuming your toddler is thriving and healthy we can choose to only offer nursing as comfort as we teach your toddler to settle in another way without a full feed, or we can have another parent settle your toddler back to sleep so nursing isn’t even an option.
The goals when night weaning a toddler is to be clear with them and verbally explain that there will be no more night feeds, only milk during the day, and that you will support them through this big change.
If you need help with the settling without feeding, click the link below and book a chat with our team, we have helped thousands of toddlers night wean without crying it out.
