Hi Aradhana,

I have read your suggestion for weaning off the child. Could you please let me know how did you wean the child´ s night feeding. Its really getting tough for me to wean her off in the night..She is 1 yr old now and still wakes up 2-3 times in the night, stated srying and ask for feeding and then go back to sleep.

Your reply wpuld be a great help..
thx
Sonu Aradhana replied. Hi Sonu,
Well, I started weaning off my daughter at around 14 months.
I had the same problem she used to get up 3-4 times at night for feed.
Firstly we have to know why they do that. There are two reasons
a) Sucking (either a bottle or the breast or a thumb) is very comforting to the child and it induces sleep.
b) They feel close...i.e. mother is close and they are comforted by that.

I started with her day feeds. She used to only need her feeds during her sleep. Firstly, I ensured that she was full i.e. had a nice meal before I tried putting her to bed. Also I waited till she was really sleepy. Then, I took her to the bed and asked her to sleep. I just refused to breast feed her. If she asked for it I offered her some water (but not from a bottle). She cried... but I had to be strong. It took her around 3 days for a feed but eventually she gave up.
Same with the night feeds. I used to ask my husband to put her to bed at night. He used to tell her stories, pat her and put her to bed. If she got up and asked for a feed, I refused.
She used to cry but I did not give in.
Children cry for whatever they want, and the moment u give in, they know that they get their way by crying. So, you just have to be a lil strong as say no. And believe me children learn very fast. Soon she will realize that no matter how much she cries, you wont give in and will forget.
Some people think it’s cruel to let your child cry, but I think otherwise.
Its tough for a few days, with all the crying, but it pays off.
My daughter started sleeping thru the night once she was weaned off.
So all the best and take care.