Sally Weans from Night Nursing Paperback – September 5, 2013

I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to gently night wean a toddler. This was the only book about night weaning that I found to read to my daughter and the story was SOOO helpful to build her understanding of what was going to happen beforehand. And the section for moms was also super helpful to help mentally prepare me :) My daughter got through it in two nights and stopped expecting it. On the very rare occasion that she does ask for milk at night, I can just tell her “we’ll do milk in the…?” And she responds “morning”!

My sister had been struggling to ween her daughter from night feeding. I wasn't sure how this was going to go but after using this book, my sister was able to night ween her daughter gently in about a week. Both are now sleeping soundly. Highly recommend!

This book was the key to finally getting my 23 month old to sleep through the night. I have always nursed on demand and don't believe in letting her cry it out but I was exhausted! She was still waking multiple times during the night. I started the process by reading this book with her once or twice a day for two solid weeks. Then, on a Friday night, I told her that it was time for her to be a big girl like Sally (the character from the book) and sleep all night long without milk. When she woke crying for milk, I went to her and reminded her that we would have milk when the sun came up. She cried a little but stopped when I sang her a lullaby. When I put her back in bed she went right to sleep! It took a few weeks for her to start sleeping consistently without waking up for milk but the process was painless and she's still really proud of herself.Pros: The book talks about Sally drinking a lot milk as a baby but that big kids don't need milk at night. I particularly like that it addresses the way Sally feels when Mama says no to milk at night (sad and angry). The storytelling here was perfect for my little one. I also really liked that the book is applicable for families who co-sleep as well as for those that don't.Cons: The art is dismal. Those of you who are fussy about the English language will cringe as you read this. The tenses keep changing and there are errors in sentence structure, typography, and grammar. That was frustrating for me but the message was spot on.Tip: I just substituted our own language for nursing as I read the book aloud.Despite the terrible art and poor writing, I would highly recommend this book to any family struggling to night wean.

When I read the reviews before purchasing this book I found it amusing that a common thread was, essentially, "the illustrations aren't great, it reads a little strange, but my kid LOVES this book!" So I had to see for myself. Sure enough, my daughter loves this book! She especially loves the illustrations and all of the toys and objects throughout the book, so my advice is to consider a child's perspective when reading negative reviews. I bought the book a few months before I wanted to attempt night weaning to give my daughter time to conceptualize the process. My daughter was 14 months old when we started reading it and she quickly came to call it the "milk" book and requested to read it often. I substitute the language where needed to suit our vocab (i.e. change "nurse" to "have milk"). I successfully night weaned my daughter at 16 months, with the help of this book and the guidance of Dr. Jay Gordon's plan for night weaning (very gentle, well-paced). It only took three nights for my daughter to go from waking 2-4 times a night to nurse to sleeping 10-12 hours without waking at all, and with basically no crying. Being able to say lines similar to the book like, "Mommy will give you milk in the morning when the sun comes up" and "Now you're a big girl like Sally" was very helpful. My daughter is now 18 months old and still likes to read the "milk" book periodically. Thanks, Lesli Mitchell, for doing something not many other people have and for creating a helpful product!

My daughter loves the pictures in this book, so we're keeping it. I love how it conveys nursing in a family bed with the mattress on the floor, just like we do. However, the tenses in this book are constantly shifting, from past, present, to future, with no apparent reason. My daughter loves the colorful pictures and really seemed to resonate with this book right away (I began with reading it to her from the online pages available, and right away I knew I should by the book). My daughter also really resonates with "Sally" as a real girl, and talks about her - it's nice that this is a story about someone else, but someone who is similar enough to my daughter that she really identifies with and cares for.Downsides: The pictures are really crude and rudimentary. I may actually end up editing the book a little in order to make it less annoying to myself each time I read it! I also worry that the different big emotions that Sally feels (sadness, anger) are reinforcing the idea of upset with my daughter, so that she is more likely to get panicked or upset about the idea of weaning rather than expecting it to be an easeful process. Children are so impressionable! But, she really actually likes this book better than "Nursies When the Sun Shines," which is way more lyrical, soothing, and just plain beautiful artistically. So, I bought both: one book for her (this one), one book for me (NWTSS).FYI my girl is 22 months and we have played around a little with weaning, but have not gone there fully yet. Just reading for preparation. Buying these books and reading the advice in them, as well as seeing my daughter's reaction to the start of weaning, has caused me to pull away from it. I was being influenced by others to do it now, but we're just not ready. I enjoy so much our nightly ritual! So, be careful, these books might make you wistful for nursing and thwart your weaning process, at least momentarily! But I am glad to have them and to have started the psychological process early... it will make it easier to commit when the time is right.