Weaning Stories

[CamilikinsMama]

I think it would be great to have a thread devoted to everyone's weaning stories. Everyone weans at different times for different reasons and I would LOVE to hear them when the time comes to wean my LO.

When did your LO wean?
Why?
Tell us the story!

[ethansmom01042007]

Unfortunately I weaned my first DS before I was ready. He just decided he didn't want to nurse anymore around 8 months. It was tough, but was too frustrating to try to make him nurse when he didn't want to. I was able to pump for another month so he could have the BM, but without him nursing regularly, my supply took a dive. Looking back there are definitely pros and cons of the way Ethan weaned. It was his choice, so I didn't feel like it was hard on him, but it was definitely hard on me.

With my second DS I am really hoping that we can make until at least a year, but if we can't I'll be happy with however far we make it.

[tlaquepaque]

I will probably get flamed for this one but I used a different technique for weaning DD. She seemed ready to wean and was down to nursing maybe once a day. She did not nurse to sleep for naps or bedtime. She wanted to nurse in the morning and sometimes throughout the day. I figured out it was because she was hungry and it's easier to nurse than to eat. She never has nursed for comfort, it's always been about food.

So, anyway, as we were approaching 18 months I was getting more and more ready to wean because of a lot of reasons including just feeling "done" with nursing. She seemed ready too and the morning nursing session was more out of habit. I tried just saying no or distracting her but that didn't work because she would keep coming back until I gave in. I figured out that with her personality it would need to be her decision to wean. Since I'm not wanting to nurse her until she is 3 I needed to help her make this decision.

Here's my secret I painted my nipples with Gentian Violet. I used it occasionally while battling my awful thrush infections while still nursing and I remember having to coax and encourage her to nurse while I had purple nipples. So, to give her that little push I offered her a purple nipple one morning. She giggled, looked at me and said "no thanks!" and that was that! She hasn't nursed since. For the next couple days she would look at my chest and laugh and shake her head but she was not going there.

It has been three weeks since she weaned and I have tiny pangs of sadness about it but mostly I feel relieved. Nursing both of my kids was such a struggle for me from the beginning that I'm happy to be moving on from that stage.

[Psychomom]

I was tandem nursing and weaned both my boys at the same time this past September. Aydin was 3.5 years old and Asher was a couple of weeks shy of his 2nd birthday.

It was VERY easy to completely wean; I had day-weaned the boys a long time ago so it was just the before bed nursing for Aydin and the 3 times a night nursing for Asher that we needed to cut out.

Whenever Asher would stir at night and want to nurse, I explained to him that it was sleepy time, rubbed his head, and snuggled with him until he went back to sleep. Before when I would just nurse him, I would hurry up and latch him on before he woke anyone up (and before he was really awake himself.) We cosleep with both boys and Aydin particularly already has a difficult time sleeping (other health issues) so I just did whatever I had to to keep the room quiet. Well, as it turned out, Asher was fine without nursing. I had planned on gently cutting back a session or two over a month, but it went so well that after 3 days, he was completely done. It's been 5 weeks and 4 days since he last nursed and he hasn't even asked.

Aydin--the 3.5 year old--still asks to nurse. I am actually more sad about weaning him than I am my two year old. I'm sure it's because we nursed a lot longer and part of me wishes I could have followed child led weaning. I had never, ever intended on nursing that long but we both enjoyed it so much. Now when we go to bed, instead of nursing, he asks, "Can I touch your boob?" He puts his hand on my breast and goes right to sleep!

I weaned the boys because I am planning a breast reduction surgery this January. I have been putting it off for years because I wanted to be done birthing babies and breastfeeding. I suppose I could've waited another year, but I have been praying for this since I was 14 years old and it's just time.

[Sewing4Girls]

I weaned my first from bfing to a bottle when she was 4-5 mo. The dr recommended that I stop bfing b/c I had some strange illness. She took a bottle just fine and I think that weaning was harder for me than for her!
My second pretty much self weaned about 15 mo. I was pregnant and had just begun having issues with preterm labor. Ds only nursed to sleep at night and for naps and upon waking so maybe 3-4 times in 24hrs. I just started cuddling him to sleep at nap times and feeding him breakfast or a snack as soon as he woke up. That knocked down to once a day and I stopped offering that bedtime nurse and he often forgot about it. And that was that. When the new baby was born a month later, Ds1 refused to go back to bfing. I still rocked/cuddled him to sleep every night. Then a month later when the baby came home from the hospital, Ds1 was very upset by it all. I started giving him a bottle at bedtime- I was pumping for the new baby too so I just pumped for him as well. Sometime just before his 2nd birthday, he went off the bottles as well. Just forgot about it and I didn't remind him.
With baby #3, we haven't weaned yet. We are working on it.

[hlstevens]

First I want to share something that i wrote to a friend when we were amidst weaning. I was having a hard time accepting it but its part of our "story"

We have been down to nursing just once at night. Every few days or so, Cooper would wake and cry for milk and point at my shirt. Made me want to cry everytime. Still does just thinking about it. This morning, when he woke up for the day, he asked for milk. only this time he was pointing towards the fridge. So i went up and got him a sippy cup of milk and he took it right away and drank some. Usually if I offer the cup, he would get mad. I'm guessing he is now associating 'milk' as cows milk and not mommys milk. Man, this is so hard! He really has been doing this on his own once I started the Dr Jay Gordon method. I think he was ready. Two nights now, he slept until 3 a.m.-4 a.m. before he woke up and then went right back to sleep for a few more hours. A few weeks ago this kid was up every two hours. My baby is growing up, and its a lot harder on me than I thought it would be. Something we've depended on for 21 months will soon be no more.

I think weaning was so much easier for us, due in part that we would travel a lot to see our family on the weekends. When Cooper was just over a year, I noticed that when we were up north, he wouldnt nurse at all during the day. There was just too much going on. and A lot of the time, he wouldnt nurse during a nap either, but still at nighttime. I thought he would get back to nursing during the day when we got home b/c thats what usually happened. But it didnt. So I realized he did very well with distraction. So he would nurse during the night and when he woke up, nap time and at night before bed. In between, it was very easy to keep him entertained to distract him. Although, he didnt seem to want it anyway, so I really dont think I need to go out of my way to distract him. He really eliminated day time nursing on his own and fast.
Then when I had my trip away last month (went away overnight for my bday), DH said we should use that as an opportunity to night wean him, since he would be with out for a night anyway. So I looked up Dr Jay Gordons method for night weaning, made sure DH read it b/c he never reads anything RE: parenting. And when I got back, thats what we did. And it went so smoothly. I did modify so that I could take a bit longer with each step than he says (3 days per step)Cooper did get mad a few times, but it was so easy to get him back to sleep. I just had to talk to him and let him know i was there, pat his back. I took that as a sign that he was ready. He was nursing at least 5 times during the night some nights more, some less (rarely) and within two weeks he was down to one nursing session. After a week of this, I just didnt offer the breast to see what he would do. Nothing, no fussing, crying, grabbing at me. He literally rolled over and went to sleep when I started rubbing his back.

Eliminating nap time was pretty easy too. He would wake up two or three times during his nap, and i would nurse him back to sleep. one day I just didnt do it, I picked him up and rocked him back to sleep. Or walked him around, or layed next to him and rubbed his back. Just two days later, he was finally sleeping 2 hours straight without waking. No issues with waking since.

I dont know if I was just lucky, or if he was just plain ready.
I've always had a friend who was one step ahead of me in everything, her son was a few months older. it was nice to have someone who went through it before me so I knew what to expect. Her son weaned just as smoothly, so I have faith BIG TIME in the fact that they wean when they are ready. But for us it did take some gently pushing, but he went with it.
Every day I think about how much I miss it. But I miss cuddling on the couch and nursing and we havent done that in almost a year. I dont know if its weird that I miss it so much, but I do. I hope with my next child, we can be successful in BF too.

Sweet book i just wrote there...sorry. But i thought if I shared how we did it, it might help someone else too!