Weaning a toddler

My goal was to BF for a year and I'm so thankful I made it there and even a bit more -- my son is now 13 months old. I love breastfeeding and will be sad when our journey ends but it needs to end soon, totally for personal reasons.

He's only nursing at the most 2x a day (1x a day if I don't get home from work early enough) but I know it's not really for nutrition anymore, it's more for comfort/me being lazy and choosing to nurse back to sleep in the early morning vs. being up with him.

Weaning from the pump was easy, it's these 1-2 nursing sessions per day that are proving to be harder as he's attached to them. Any pointers/support/personal experiences of what worked for you?

Weaning a toddler

We went away for 3 days when I was ready to stop just before 14 months. DD stopped taking bottles around 11 months, so when I went away there was no replacement, but my sister (who was watching her), said she was fine

Re: Weaning a toddler

Weaning a toddler

I weaned my daughter at 16 months old -she was down to two feedings a day morning and bedtime. I dropped the morning one first- instead of bringing her into bed with me and nursing I took her downstairs and fed her breakfast. She loves food so within a few days she stopped asking to nurse. Her evening feeding was harder- she still was still nursing to sleep- I started by letting her nurse a little then ending the session before she fell asleep then we cuddled to sleep. I stopped completely when she bit me very hard because there was no milk. She still asked for a couple of weeks but I told her the milk was all gone because she drank it all.
The best advice I can give is be patient. If you can have your husband wake up with your son or put him to bed that might help.
I personally could not have left my daughter before she was weaned she would have been miserable.

Weaning a toddler

My experience was very different with my two kids so I think you have to trust your instincts about what will work for your child.

Dd1 was 16 months when I weaned. For mornings, I had dh get up with her for a few days. I stayed in my room while they watched sesame street and he gave her breakfast. I also wore high cur tops lol. For bedtime things had become a complete disaster so we finally did cio and I decided I might as well go all out and not nurse her. It worked well and I was shocked she really didn't ask after that.

Dd2 I was in less of a rush but she nursed a LOT all the way till the end at 22 months. Bedtime was actually the first to go and happened pretty naturally. I was nursing her earlier and earlier in the evening and she wasn't complaining. Eventually I just stopped offering after dinner unless she asked which became less and less frequent. Definitely try moving nursing up in the bedtime routine to separate it from sleep more. Mornings were last to go. I just tried to get up and get moving as early as I could and keep busy. I was shocked how she went from nursing 4-5 times a day (and full 10-15 minute sessions) to fully weaned in a few days.

Re: Weaning a toddler

My ds nursed till 2 1/2. I started not offering but not refusing. He weaned very gradually which was the least traumatic route for both of us.

Weaning a toddler

I'd do it as gradually as possible. Nursing is so much more to a baby than solely breastmilk, so going cold turkey seemed a bit cruel to me IMO.
I started with don't offer/don't refuse...then moved to distraction. Morning was the last session to go, and like pp, I would have my DH wake up and give breakfast, play, so the morning routine was already started once I got downstairs. Good luck!!!!

Re: Weaning a toddler

Re: Weaning a toddler

DD is 13 months and I only nurse first thing in the AM and at bedtime. Bottles/sippy cups of regular milk all other times. Some nights she takes the bottle at bed time and she's fine with it, other time she points to my boob and says "baba" and won't take her bottle. It's so damn hard! I'm trying to do like a PP mentioned, not refusing her, but not offering it up either. Good luck! Let me know how it goes!

Re: Weaning a toddler

I stopped Breastfeeding my ds when he was 13-14 months too. I cut back gradually over several months and by then was down to just morning and evenings and then finally got him to just evenings. I cut down the time so he'd only stay on for a couple of minutes and I guess it sent a message to my body not to make much milk anymore so he'd get frustrated he wasn't getting anything and never really tried anymore. I'd give him a full bottle instead and he must have been content with the faster flow so he never looked back. I do remember the very last time he BF, he started hysterically crying out of frustration when he realized it wasn't working anymore.... I felt so guilty and so bad for him. That was the most difficult thing about it. Otherwise weaning wasn't so bad.

Weaning a toddler

My goal was to bfeed up to a yr as well and I'm so grateful it worked out. I decided to start weaning at around 15 months. The first feedings I gradually eliminated was day feedings (mid-day, then late during the day, and then morning ones). The only ones that were left were night feedings (including bedtime feeding) which were a few because I had a night owl! I really had a hard time and was trying to look for gentle ways that wouldn't take too long. A mom from one of my fb groups suggested the Jay Gordon method so I gave it a try. Well it worked over the time but it was a super hard transition! For both of us!

What's making those 2 feedings harder for u? Have u tried to offer food instead or redirect his focus on an activity he likes to do? Eliminating the day feedings weren't actually too hard for us, what I think helped was that I constantly offered solids instead of the boob, whether a meal or snacks that I knew he'd enjoy, plus I think that the fact that he had an older brother that was always amusing him with something new might had also something to do with it.

Weaning a toddler

The sooner you stop, the easier it will be.

My DS was (is) SO attached to nursing. Everyone told me how easy it would be to wean - hahahahahaha!!!!!! He just turned 3 and I am only now starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I honestly think my DS would nurse forever if I let him. I have tried much of the advice people offered above and none of it has worked. I stopped offering around 1.5-2 years old, but he still asked for it ALL the time. I would try to distract him, but it worked maybe 50% of the time. I've gone away for 2-3 days at a time - once he sees me, all he wants is Mommy milk. Around 2-2.25, I got it down to 2 times a day. Then, we were down to 0-1 time a day. He then potty trained and regressed SO badly with nursing - he would nurse probably 3 times a day. I said on his birthday, we were stopping. We've been good, but definitely not perfect.

So needless to say, if you really want to stop, I think 12-15 months is a sweet spot where you can more eaisly do it.