Notes from Night Weaning
Image: Jess Prescott
My darling girl is shifting and growing, the soft baby-hood slipping away to reveal something cheeky, brave and more of her own Self.
Recently we night weaned our co-sleeping, milk-obsessed toddler. We’re still breastfeeding a few times during the day and sometimes to sleep, but I was ready to shift away from the demands of nighttime milk. I knew it wouldn’t be easy, but I didn’t know it would be so hard.
We tried a gentle approach first - delaying the breast when she first asked and trying other ways of settling and soothing. The idea was to gradually extend the time between request and feed until it was phased out. This dragged on for months with little progress. I was grumpy, exhausted, and frustrated.
About a month ago, I set a firm boundary and stuck with it, despite the protest, tears, and screaming. I told her that boobie needed sleep too - that after her last feed of the evening, she could say goodnight and see boobie again in the morning. I told her that I was still here, that her Bebe was here too, and that she was safe.
It took about two weeks for her to adjust. She would wake at night and scream at me, clawing at my top, and I would hold her close. My partner would whisper, “Boobie is sleeping now. Who else is sleeping?” It would break the trance of tears. She would reel off everyone and everything she knew who was sleeping: her family, the dogs, our cat, the kookaburras in the trees, the lawn mower (lol). Eventually she acknowledged that boobie was sleeping too. It became our little ritual.
Last night she slept right through, cuddled in close, and half-woke just after 5am mumbling, “Boobie time?” My darling girl is shifting and growing, the soft baby-hood slipping away to reveal something cheeky, brave and more of her own Self. And in these early hours, I was happy to oblige again. To sink in together. To remember the closeness that comes with that milky magic.
11.12.2025
