How to wean a 7 month old who nurses to sleep?

Question

I have a 7 month old who has always fallen asleep while nursing.I am trying to wean but he cries a lot.I have not tried the cry it out method.also since he nurses to sleep he does not follow a proper diet schedule.he never eats fully or takes a proper 4 or 5 ounce bottle.he will take little by little.i guess he is a little full always from the nursing.he is also getting up several times at night and wont go back to sleep without nursing so he ends up getting a lot at night and so doesnt take much during the day.should i just go cold turkey or do it slowly.doing it slowly has been frustrating we keep going back and forth.please help

Answer 1

Aww it sounds hard, im going to have to go through this in a few months, my baby also nurses to fall asleep and I have no idea how to break it. Hope you get some good answers and just hang in there!

Answer 2

I HAVE 4 KIDS AND WHEN THEY TURNED 5 MONTHS OLD I STARTED THEM ON A SIPPY CUP AND THEY WERE GREAT WITH IT AND WITH YOUR SITUATION YOU HAVE ONE THAT DONT WANT TO LET GO AND YOU HAVE TO TRAIN THEM, YOU WILL TRY THE SIPY CUP AND AND GIVE IT TO HIM MORE IT WILL WORK AND ALSO I STARTED MY  KIDS ON TABLE FOODS WHEN THEY WERE 3 MONTHS OLD AND IT WORKS AS WELL. GOOOD LUCK TO YOU.

Answer 3

I have a 13 month old little girl and I nursed her until she was a little over one...Towards the end i only nursed her in the middle of the night. The very first night she slept through the night was when I stopped nursing. She has slept through the night pretty much every night since then. And when she did wake up i just didn't nurse her...i gave her a bottle or just walked her around. she didn't really even notice that she wasn't nursing anymore.  Also..the crying it out method didn't help for me at all. it just made me feel bad and made her extremely upset. you might want to try not nursing him to sleep so he doesn't associate that with sleep. I would just hold out for a few more months..i tried to wean around the same time as you are but i figured out it was better to just let her have it for the full 12 months. It will fly by! But if you do decide to go cold turkey JUST DO IT! he will get used to it after a few days and take his bottle...it will pay off in the end. Good luck! i know how you feel...

Answer 4

slowly ease him out of nursing..example day 1-2 nurse him during the day but cut off a nursing and replace with a bottle.day 3-4 replace 2 nursing times with a bottle. day 5-6 the whole day should be a bottle day 7-8 bottle all day.. you don't have to do it that way you could extend the days so it isn't that hard on the baby. don't stop cold turkey you will hurt his feelings, moms say that isn't true but it is, the last thing you want your baby to think is that you dont want him/her. do it easy and nice, be comforting. instead of you putting him to sleep have dad, if possible, lay him to bed. it will be hard the first weeks but you will both be fine after..good luck!

Answer 5

Buy nipple shields and get him use to sucking rubber nipples instead of your bare flesh nipples, then introduce him to pacifier as a soothing tool. He keeps wanting to nurse for comfort not nourishment.

Introduce him to a bottle with warm milk.

Answer 6

I'm going through a similar situation w/ my 8 mo old.  I have 3 older children that I breastfed too.  I do not want to give mine a bottle but rather a sippi cup.  She is starting to take to it but only a little, I'm just trying it over & over.  It takes time & patience.  My 2nd child had a mild protien allergy so I had to stop him cold turkey.  He ended up screaming for about 5 hrs b4 my mother drove an hour to get here & got him to take a bottle.  He would NOT take it from me.  Maybe you could find someone else to give him a bottle or sippi so he will realize he will get full w/ that too.  They can smell your milk or are just in the habit.  Sometimes you just can't do it yourself.  I keep sneaking the paci into my youngest ones mouth at night.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.  Good Luck!!!