Question for those that have night weaned difficult sleepers: I’m wondering if I should consider night weaning my 18 month old dd. Sometimes I think it might be good for her if it helps her get a better quality sleep and definitely better for my relationship with my husband. But, I also feel heartbroken just thinking about taking her ‘yum-yums’ away. I know it will be very tearful and difficult for her. I’ve read a lot of different techniques from the no-cry sleep solution to Dr. Jay Gordon. But, she is very alert (never drowsy) and extremely persistent so no matter what approach I use, I know she’ll be awake, crying and really upset.

I also wonder if she’s such a troubled sleeper, is it even going to get better once she’s weaned. What if she still wakes up all the time and then we lose a very effective way of soothing her back to sleep? Has anyone had experience with this?

Some background it you have time to read it: My dd has always had a really hard time going to sleep and staying asleep. She needs to be bounced and nursed to sleep and still wakes every 1-2 hours all night long and needs to be nursed back to sleep. She would prefer to nurse constantly all night (and nap). I sometimes can sneak out for 30 min – 1 hour at night but she is very alert so if I don’t nurse her back to sleep immediately once she wakes (or if I try to soother her any other way) she gets completely woken up and then is up for 3-4 hours before she can go to sleep again. That is a killer!

My husband can’t help at night because he sleeps in another room - he’s a loud sleeper and has irregular work hours – and DD doesn’t accept any comforting from him. So far dh has been supportive of our sleep arrangement and is still ok with bed sharing but he’s starting to loose patience with the frequent night waking, extended awake hours during the middle of the night and the zero time together.