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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