Weaning from Breast at 11 Months..

do it gradually and talk to her about the process as you decrease feedings day by day. These little guys understand a lot of what we say.
Good for you for not having her cry it out. When she starts going to sleep without mamas milk, you could rock her in a rocking chair, read to her, etc. then lay her in crib and massage her and sing to her and be near her while she falls asleep.

Weaning is not going to solve your nighttime problem. the baby will only want to get up for bottles or cups of milk. The best thing to do for baby is to continue to nurse during the day and wean the nighttime waking, not nursing. The first few nights will be miserable and if you are doing it right, you will probably sit outside in tears listening to your baby cry. Make sure you have a nightime routine. Bathe, change into pajamas, nurse, change diaper one last time if wet and nurse again, but make sure to slightly wake the baby if she has fallen asleep to help her learn to self-soothe herself back to sleep. Add a sound machine ( I LOVE the first years machine, it goes all night long), read a story if that's your thing and then say goodnight. If she gets back up and cries, let her cry for a few minutes and go in, give her a kiss but do NOT pick her up, tell her it's time to go to sleep darling, good night and lay her down with her paci or blanket or whatever she likes and walk out. In about 10 minutes, repeat, but do not take as much time, just lay her down and say, it's sleeping time, goodnight. After about another 10 minutes, repeat, but say only goodnight, and lay her down then walk out. After another 10 minutes, go to her door and say goodnight then walk away, dont go in or touch her. She will eventually give up and lay down from sheer exhaustion. Repeat this process all throughout the night, you will be exhausted, she will be exhausted, but she will learn that she can go back to sleep without eating or without holding her. It's pure habit at this age and the inability to put herself to sleep. You are teaching her a valuable lesson that you are there for her, you hear her, but that she needs to go to sleep by herself. For your own sanity, you have to follow through. If you give up at 4 am on the first night or the second night, you are only teaching her to push and push and push until you give in. This will only make her more miserable. You will find that at week two, she will only wake about once every other day for a few minutes, will cry for about 5 and will go back to sleep on her own. Dont rush into see her, wait until she is inconsolable, then settle her down and leave. She will be a well rested, happier baby during the day and will take better naps, too. Nurse her first thing in the morning and wait about an hour and a half to offer her her favorite foods for breakfast. Then feed lunch about 10:30 or 11:00 and nurse about 1pm before her afternoon nap. Then offer a yummy snack when she wakes up, fruit or something she really likes followed by nursing, or pumped milk in a cup. Feed dinner with the family and top her off before bedtime. That's all she needs. You can of course nurse her when she needs emotional support during the day, such as when she is over stimulated or got hurt. Nursing offers more than just milk, it helps realign the mood of a toddler.

At 11 months old, your baby should be sleeping through the night instead of waking to nurse. Since she is used to you giving her the breast during the night, she is waking up for comfort, not hunger. IF she is thirsty, at her age, I would give her only water in a sippy cup, not a bottle. Eventually she will understand that waking up during the night is not giving her what she wants and she'll begin sleeping through the night.

If weaning her from the breast entirely is what you want, then do it gradually. You begin by removing one nursing session at at time. Babies are not eager to give up the first in the morning or last session of the day, so begin by removing one from the day time. When she looks or goes for the breast, substitute that session with a sippy cup of milk and maybe some play time on the floor...or perhaps a snack. The idea is to substitute each nursing session removed with something else and I personally, would wait a week before removing another session. When you get to the last two remaining sessions (early morning and bedtime), she may be reluctant to let those two go so do it slowly...meaning, don't take her morning session away for a week and then take the night session away immediately afterwards. It may take two weeks (or more) before removing the last session. When I weaned my 3 yr old, I substituted each session removed with cuddles, hugs, kisses and play time. I made sure to NOT wear my nursing bra and I would tell my daughter that her milk was sleeping and that we'd have to do something else instead. Once you take the last session away, she may not take it well and you might have to continue nursing her longer until you can completely remove the session without tears. Good luck..it's not an easy transition for a baby but if you do it with lots of love, and do it slowly, eventually she will be weaned.

Call LaLeche
They will provide support over the phone if you are unable to attend a local meeting.

When the child is ready, he/she will be distracted from the breast and ready to explore the world. That's your break-point...Run!!! Get a bottle and give it !
You may even be able to take a shower!
Blessings

C., I feel your pain. Both my daughter were so attached to the breast. I was so exhausted by my second. i don't think i had a full nights sleep for 3 1/2 years. Her is what i finally had to do. i realized that at 1 year or so that it was just a habit for her to do two or sometimes three times a night. she was eating good during the day also. So i had to enlist my husband. he was not happy with this but i had to. he would go in instead of me. she didn;t like it because she wanted to nurse so she cried. he would maybe rock her or pat her back. the first few nights she would cry and he would go back then we let her cry about five minutes or so. in a few nights it was better and now they are 3 and 5 and sleep great. i am a big believer in a good night's sleep for kids. they have a good bed time and the little one naps. She had to know that i was not coming in to nurse her. if i did all would be lost. so enlist your husband to help. it may take some crying but it will bot be forever and she will be better for having a good night's sleep. Oh, how i remember those days and thought they would never end but it gets better.

Well, have you tried formula? or even expressed milk into a bottle? Making the transition over from breast to bottle can be fairly easy. My son was the same way (territorial)... I started to give him a bottle instead of the breast and he transferred just fine! Sometimes, though, he would want the breast in the late afternoon, early evening, so I would give it to him then. So, my advice would be to give your child a bottle and see how that works.

congratulations makeing it this far! i nursed both of my boys until 15 months- howerver, I was 'down' to just 2 nursing times at 12 months- 1st thing in am & before bed & then by 15 months we were done...
I say choose one nursing time to stop andstart there- so choose 2am or 4am
get husband to go in and offer water or pacifier or both at that time-it will only take a few days for her to realize it's not worth it to get up at that time...

so then after another week or two you address the 2nd one- either 2am or 4am
and before you know it there's no more 2am or 4am feeding

for daytime- figure out how many times you're nursing and just take 'one' session at a time- so ex: if it's 11:00 am then sit her down at that time w/ a snack of yogurt or some fruit & cheese...just take it one nursing time at atime- you can do it gently!

I feel your pain and we share the same beliefs! I hate making my daughter cry it out!! I just can't stand it. I am going through the same thing with my 18 month old. However, just so you know you don't have to quit altoghether - just wean from the nightime feedings! This is what I'm doing now... Someone else wrote about going in and not picking the baby up for 10 minutes, then 5, etc... this I have to say is a great idea. However, my daughter gets absolutely uncosolable once this happens (she even throws up). However, enlisting my husband to help has helped a bit. This way, I know that she's at least being cared for - Of course, she's not happy about it, but I'm hoping that it will get to the point where we can all have a good night's sleep - SOON! Best of Luck to you!

Bless your heart! I have breast fed all 4 of my babies! It is a special time in life that goes too quickly. Basically she's using you for a pacifier. She wakes and can't go back to sleep unless she nurses. Unless you're willing to let her cry a little there is no hope for it to stop.--Sorry. When I did this w/ my first, I just took away 1 feeding at a time. Maybe Daddy can get up to help console her? If she smells or gets near you it will take her WAY longer to calm down. Suprisingly, it didn't take my son long to stop crying and learn to sleep on his own. Of course, it SEEMS like forever when they're crying, but in reality it was minutes! Trust me ,it is not cruel or heartless, it is actually teaching her a very valuable skill that she needs. Blessings to you as you raise your little princess!

If you are truly serious about stopping bf (make sure you are) I would start now and take the next month or so to slowly ween her off of all daytime feedings. Let the middle of the night feedings stay for now, and let her get used to not breastfeeding during the day first. IMO this will be easier for her and YOU! This is what I had to do with my daughter. I dropped one feeding every 4 days until I was only bf before bed and the middle of the night. Then work on before bed. After all the feedings are dropped but the middle of the night start working on that. I think this made it easier on my daughter bc she was used to not bf anymore. Hope this helps :)

she should be starting on regular milk. Give her juice or water at night. Now, I bet you don't want to give up on nursing. If she fusses expand the time it takes you to go to her and keep expanding it.

i'm in a similar situation, my baby 9mos. going to leave the breast around one. she now sleeps through the night, but i had to let her cry it out. the first time lasted 10 minutes,(i don't know if it was harder for her or me...) but then she realized the new routine, and will wake up and cry for a minute and go back to sleep. i know when these babies are young we are in a fierce protection mode, but the sooner you give her skills to cope in this harsh world the more you will be doing for her.