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
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