when will my son sleep through the night?

[markim]

I have 17 month old son who is breastfed. (thought I should throw that in. )
He still gets up about 3 times a night. I have tried to stop the breastfeeding but he gets violent. Did anyone else go through this and if so please show me the light at the end of the tunnel. Thanks

[learnercouponer]

It will get better, absolutely. I nursed my 3 guys, (they're 6,4,2) for around the same length as you and what I found was that it would take a few nights of replacing their feedings with lots of rocking and shishing.

You are trying to change their routine and babies don't like that so he's fighting for the routine to remain (alot of this fighting is that they nurse whilst still almost asleep so the change wakes them up and they're not happy about being woken) - the night feedings at this age are more about warmth and security than hunger or nutrition so if you can replace the nursing with cuddling and comfort he'll be content and weaned faster.

I made sure not to make any other changes at all at this time, no moving him into a different bed or a different room or anything at all, geared myself for having to rock him for a time during the night, kept him real close so he felt secure and it worked. For 2 of them I would put their head on my tummy, same skin to skin comfort just no milk! In just 2/3 nights they didn't want to nurse and 2/3 nights later they stopped stirring at all.

The hardest part was me knowing my babies were getting big!

[Bear]

I breastfeed my twins until they were 2 years old. They also would get up in the night to feed but luckly only once a night. DH was the one really bothered by them getting up at night. So I went on a 3 day business trip (when they were about 9 months) and hubby had them sleeping through the night when I got back. He was much stronger than me when it came to hearing the boys cry (helps he has a hearing defict) and he just let them cry. The first night they cried for at least and hour, the second night 20 minutes, and the third night they stopped waking up. I don't think I could have done it myself, but it worked.

[markim]

Originally Posted by learnercouponer

It will get better, absolutely. I nursed my 3 guys, (they're 6,4,2) for around the same length as you and what I found was that it would take a few nights of replacing their feedings with lots of rocking and shishing.

You are trying to change their routine and babies don't like that so he's fighting for the routine to remain (alot of this fighting is that they nurse whilst still almost asleep so the change wakes them up and they're not happy about being woken) - the night feedings at this age are more about warmth and security than hunger or nutrition so if you can replace the nursing with cuddling and comfort he'll be content and weaned faster.

I made sure not to make any other changes at all at this time, no moving him into a different bed or a different room or anything at all, geared myself for having to rock him for a time during the night, kept him real close so he felt secure and it worked. For 2 of them I would put their head on my tummy, same skin to skin comfort just no milk! In just 2/3 nights they didn't want to nurse and 2/3 nights later they stopped stirring at all.

The hardest part was me knowing my babies were getting big!

This is great advice thank you