I wasn’t planning on night weaning when I did. I had decided to try it, start it, and just never stuck to it. I really wanted to do Dr. Jay Gordon’s method, but I was having trouble sticking to it. I wouldn’t wake up enough to put her back to sleep awake and ended up nursing instead. The crying was too much, and I felt so guilty for keeping my hard-working husband up at night. I couldn’t bear the thought of my daughter crying so much…and us all losing so much sleep.

And then I cracked. Last Wednesday night/Thursday morning, she woke up. I was not in the mood to deal with her in bed with me for the rest of the night. I’ve been needing my space more and more lately, and I snapped. Not only was she going to night wean, she was getting out of our bed, too. I put her in the crib we have beside our bed…that she never slept in. Not well, anyway. And not all night, either. That made her mad. Especially when Mama wasn’t letting her in bed with her and making her stay in the crib. Like I said, this wasn’t well thought out. She cried, screamed, and wailed on and off for about 2-3 hours before falling asleep with my hand against her head. She woke up at 6:30 the next morning, after the 7 hours that I had set aside for the no-nursing rule, and nursed to sleep. We both got some much-needed rest, and I wondered if what I was doing was working at all.

The next night, she woke up again. And it was almost 2 hours before her Daddy realized that she had a dirty diaper that needed changing!! I felt awful, but she was asleep again withing 30 minutes. This time, she slept until around 6:30 again…and immediately wanted to get in bed and nurse to sleep. Again, I let her, wondering if we would ever have a full night of sleep again!

Friday night, she slept. Until 4 AM! I had slept enough that I was easily able to handle her. I picked her up and held her while bouncing her to sleep. It worked perfectly! Within 15 minutes, I was back asleep in my bed. She didn’t wake up again until 8! Both my husband and I woke up sore, not having slept that long without waking up in months.

I thought for sure that it wasn’t over, but the past 2 nights have been the same. She’ll wake up for a few minutes, I’ll pat her back, and she’s off to sleep again. But now? I’m the one staying up at night. Honestly, I think I’ve gotten so used to waking up with her that I don’t know what to do with myself after sleeping for so long! I’m so thankful that I snapped, that I stuck to my guns, because I’m finally getting what this pregnant mama needs: some sleep!

Have you tried night weaning? What worked or didn’t work for you?