Hi Teresa,
I am just writing to thank you for your response to my post months ago.
Unfortunately I got very overwhelmed with email at the time and so I
didn't respond. But I greatly appreciated that you took the time to
write and share your experiences and knowledge with me. It was very
helpful and I am still night nursing my 18 month old toddler, with
absolutely no plans or even desire to wean! Thanks again.
Susan
Teresa Pitman wrote:
> Well, Susan, I don't have research on this topic, only my own
> experiences and those of many mothers I've known.
>
> I remember Kathy Dettwyler writing about this at one time and saying
> that in other cultures, toddler nursing at night was simply accepted
> as something that toddlers did. Everyone knew that's what they did, it
> was taken for granted as part of being the mother of a toddler.
>
>> - Why do so many co-sleeping, nursing toddlers wake at night to nurse?
>
> I think that there are many different reasons, but here are some.
> Toddlers are often very busy and active during the day, and may not
> nurse very often because of this, so they make up the feedings at
> night. They are at an age where their imagination kicks in, so they
> may be having vivid dreams and nightmares that scare them so they want
> to nurse to be comforted. They are now aware of separation, and may
> want to nurse to reassure themselves that mom is still here. They may
> be teething (especially those often-painful molars) and want to nurse
> to comfort themselves after being woken up by the pain.
>
> In Canada, many women go back to work when their babies are about a
> year, so the toddler may nurse a lot at night in part because of
> missing Mom and in part to make up feedings that were missed while at
> daycare. Also, the toddler may be picking up germs at daycare or just
> in other toddler interactions (eg, eating bugs) and need to nurse for
> the extra antibodies. Perhaps some high needs toddlers nurse to keep
> Mom from getting pregnant again because it wouldn't be good to have
> another baby too soon.
>
>> - What is known about the effects of night nursing toddlers? What would
>> be the benefits and disadvantages for the child?
>
> I don't know any disadvantages, except perhaps having a more tired mom
> the next day. I think the benefits are clear: comfort, an easy way to
> get back to sleep, lots of good nutrition.
>
>> - Similarly, what would be positive and negative effects of night
>> weaning?
>
> I think these vary a lot depending on the child and the mother. I have
> talked to some mothers whose babies night-weaned easily and then slept
> through the night. Everyone seemed happy and got more sleep. I've seen
> others where the mother stopped nursing the baby at night, but the
> baby all the same kept waking up many times during the night and the
> mother either left the baby to cry for long periods of time or ended
> up walking or rocking or trying to find other ways to soothe the baby
> back to sleep. I've seen toddlers who night weaned without any
> trouble, but developed "comfort habits" such as thumb-sucking,
> hairpulling, etc., that the mother later was not happy about. I've
> seen toddlers who were night-weaned who were so distressed that they
> stopped eating and drinking altogether and seemed to go into a
> depression.
>
>> - Does night weaning create a risk of lower breastmilk intake or
>> complete weaning when that was not intended?
>
> Yes. I've seen it happen. It is especially a risk if mother and baby
> are separated during the day.
>
> Teresa Pitman
> ***********************************************
>
> To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
> To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
> To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
> All commands go to [log in to unmask]
>
> The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
> LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R)
> mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
> http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html
>
***********************************************
To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]
The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html
|