My daughter is now going on three, and I feel comfortable enough now to start weaning her. I do not want to just stop cold turkey. Can anyone suggest weaning methods?

Lise - posted on 06/04/2011

Mary, there are ways to stop a biting nursling. (My daughter drew blood twice - it sounds awful and hurt when it happened, but definitely was not worth stopping.) My daughter has all of her teeth except the 2 year molars and does not bite. The key is consistency - when she bit me, I put her down. She had to wait a few seconds and then could try again. If she bit again, I'd repeat - but put her down for a full minute. The time increased until she stopped. Here is a link on biting: http://www.kellymom.com/bf/older-baby/bi...

Shannon, I believed the same thing for a long time. Then I had her. I realized that technically, a baby's cry is asking for milk. Then she started to sign for it around 6 months, and of course, I thought actual words must be the difference. But you know, when you get there, it's just not that different. Yes, she's bigger than she was as an infant, but nursing a toddler is SO much easier than nursing a baby! And I look at her, and she's still my beautiful little baby girl. She chooses which side she wants ("no, no, mama, IDE!" - which means other side haha), but she's still so little to me.

Shannon - posted on 06/04/2011

Mary and Lisa. before today i was thinking i would bf my daughter till around a yr. to quote myself "if she can say boobie she's too old" I've also thought that if i wanted my daughter to have breastmilk after a yr i would pump and give it to her in a sippie cup but that was before i actually was breast feeding. i really enjoy it and i just don't know how long i will breast feed either. this info was helpful. i have some thinking to do!!

Mary - posted on 06/03/2011

Thank you Lisa for breaking that down, good to know...I am unsure now how long I will breast feed.I just feel like my son will bite me when he starts to get teeth, ouch! :)

Heather - posted on 06/03/2011

I have a friend who extendedly nursed her boys (not too extended just for 2 -2 1/2 yrs i think) but she had a very unsupportive community around her and would be asked constantly by family and friends when she was gonna ween her kiddo (which every one she was nursing at the time) and her response was always "when his wife tells me i need to stop then i will". that is an awsome way to shut people up without being rough by telling them it is none of their business. I thought that was pretty creative and cute response :o)

Teresa - posted on 06/03/2011

If you want to let her self wean I'd just keep talking to her about how she will be all done soon cuz she's getting older. If she only nurses at sleep times.... she's already 'ahead' of my 3 year old son. He nurses at sleep times, wake times, and some other random times... Not EVERY day though. He averages 2-5 times/day. ;)

Heather - posted on 06/03/2011

LIse that is all perfect info thanks for spelling it out...i would also like to point out that the value of mommas milk is not calendar sensative...just becasue a baby gets to a certain age, weight or developemnt does not mean that all of a sudden the value of it diminishes. ON top of the fact that it is really hard to get a balanced diet into a toddler or small child and the fact that cows milk is meant for cows not people there is also the fact that it is proven that the longer a child nurses the more it boosts their IQ and it is a great parenting tool to help settle and sooth a sad, grumpy, over stimulated, hurt, sleepy tot. there are more benifets that i cannot think of but they are numerous. My general rule with my kids was they nurse for at least 2 years then after that it is up to them. My first nursed for 31 mo and i regret that i weened him. My 2nd self weened 2 weeks before his 4th bday all on his own.

Lise - posted on 06/03/2011

"In the second year (12-23 months), 448 mL of breastmilk provides:
29% of energy requirements
43% of protein requirements
36% of calcium requirements
75% of vitamin A requirements
76% of folate requirements
94% of vitamin B12 requirements
60% of vitamin C requirements"

There are a ton of benefits to nursing past a year - including the health of your baby and yourself. For us, there are also a ton of emotional ones - breastfeeding cures all boo-boos (crying from a bad dream, or a fall where she bumped her head), reconnection (I work out of the house), quiet time (that's more of a benefit for me ;-) )...

http://www.kellymom.com/bf/bfextended/eb...

Mary - posted on 06/02/2011

hello, I am just curious what are the benefits of breastfeeding so long? I plan to breast feed until my son is around 1. Can you just try and feed your kids really well and organic foods? What is in breast milk that makes it so nutritious? I know it is so good for baby just wonering why so long?

Jacklyn - posted on 06/02/2011

it's great to see that I'm not alone in this situation. Right now I am fine with leaving her to it, but I know its not going to get easier. I also use facts in reply. Thanks Heather

Heather - posted on 06/02/2011

i totally understand the lack of support. I also came across that with EVERYONE in my life. I had some people who did not say much about it other then the occassional "when are you going to ween that kid" or something like that and then everyone else would just outright tell me i was wrong or doing them harm or whatever. My defense was to educate myself continuously and if i needed to i would throw facts at people that they could not dispute. Or simply say we are weening (for about 2 yrs....heeheehee...really once they are no longer EBF they have started to ween so it was not a lie). I also never had my husbands help with bed so i was never able to have him transition kiddos off the boob either. good luck and do what feels right for you and your kiddo...who cares about the rest of the world :o)

Jacklyn - posted on 06/01/2011

Thank you so much Heather. I have told her that my milk is going to dry up soon and that she will have to go to sleep just snuggling. My husband is overseas so I do not have him to help with it, but thanks for the suggestion Jessica. I would like to let her try and self wean. My husband and family do not support the breastfeeding over the age of 2, so it's really getting harder and harder the longer she goes. I still enjoy our time together. Thanks so much

Heather - posted on 06/01/2011

Here are the things i did with my oldest when i decided to ween him at 31 mos (he was being too rough and i could not take it any more...i had wanted him to self ween but i finally decided i needed to do it...my 2nd self weened 2 wks before his 4th bday)
#1 i talked to him alot about how i was running out of mommas milk becasue he was getting so big.
#2. WHen he tried to nurse i would say "not now, momma just wants to cuddle you right now please"
#3 when he was super demanding i would put 2 sports bras on to help keep him out since he would help himslef all night long.
#4 i put bandaids on my nipples and told him that his mommas milks were broken.
#5 i made sure i cuddled him extra and was very supportive of him but also very consistant that he was not nursing any more.

I really believe you need to be 100% on board and ready to be very consistant in order for it to go smoothly.
Good l;uck

Jessica - posted on 05/21/2011

My son was the same, just nursing to go to bed at night. I had my husband put him to bed two nights in row and I dried up.