Any suggestions on weaning my 16 month old daughter?

Amanda - posted on 09/12/2009

I stopped breastfeeding my son a week after her turned 1. I was down to feeding him twice a day once in the morning and at night before bed. Then I cut out the morning and was down to one at night. Then I just stopped. I knew I had to when I was sitting at my table scrapbooking and he came over to me and pulled my shirt down and just latched on. He was old enough to ask for it...I was done! To be honest I thought he would freak when I didnt bf him anymore but he didnt even seem to notice. I will say that we were still feeding him baby cereal at night to fill him up so he would sleep. Just made it thicker. Hope it helps

Shannon - posted on 09/11/2009

I have been in your shoes (TWICE). I cut the day time feedings first and left there favorite time to nurse till last. ( Night time ) I waited to cut those till they were doing fine during the day. I gave them a sippy cup of whole milk when they got fussy and wanted to nurse. Good luck and it will get easier.

Heather - posted on 09/11/2009

I would keep doing what your doing for a week then cut naptime then deal with that for a couple weeks then cut bedtime. My daughter was younger...but it is still hard emotionally for both of you. I replaced feeding with mommy and me time...cuddle and read a book, color together, etc...something to give the bonding in a new way! Cause that is the part both of you will miss it wont be the milk ;) My daughter is 2 1/2 and we still have bonding time once a day just us set aside. Best of luck!

Jaclyn - posted on 09/11/2009

When I weaned by son, i didn't take away a feeding, I made him go a little longer every couple of days or so. If he was used to eating every three hours I would make him wait an extra half an hour (for at least one feeding). Within a couple of weeks you will have taken away one or two feedings and he won't even know it...and you won't become engourged either.

Sarah - posted on 09/10/2009

With my daughter she was nine months old when I weaned her and I went away for a weekend and left her with my parents and when I came home I followed there lead to keeping her weaned. My son I started weaning at 18 months but didn't actually get it done will he was 2 because of the nightly feedings, he would sneak into my bed and help himself so I had to set and alarm clock for 3am and catch him and put him back in bed and tell him he is a big boy and listen to him cry. The day time feeding were easy to get rid of because he would eat lunch and then be layed down for a nap and not given anything. Think of super nanny's techniques for getting kids to stay in bed every time they get up just put them back no explaination. It is mentally draining but I know you can do it!!!

Jme - posted on 09/10/2009

if u try to wean all at once you can get engorged and get an infection. hearing the baby cry causes u to keep producing milk making it harder to wean. Just taking it away in one day is not really an option for the mothers health.

Danielle - posted on 09/10/2009

I dont know if weaning off the breast is like weaning off the bottle, because all my kids were bottle fed (not by choice) but i just took the bottle completely away one day and replaced it with a cup. I did have grouchy babies, but it only lasted for a couple weeks. My son is 19 months old and i had him off a bottle to a cup when he was 10 months old.

Jme - posted on 09/10/2009

My son got to where he would try to lift up my shirt also. That is how I knew it was time for me to wean him. Easier said than done though. lol I thought maybe I had waited too long also(my son was over 15 months old). We just weaned last month. It was hard on both of us. I might have tried the lemon juice idea except my son loves lemons lol!! Good luck to you and remember every nursing mom goes though this at some point lol.

Laura - posted on 09/09/2009

My son nursed every two hours for 19 months. I knew he was going to be so hard to wean. Nothing seemed to work, and he would lift up my shirt to try to nurse. He could even say nurse. I think that I waited too long to wean, but what I did was put lemon juice on me, so that when we tried to nurse, it tasted bad. Within a few days, he wasn't interested. I am sure that other would disagree, but it worked for me! :)

Jme - posted on 09/09/2009

did you try to offer a sippy cup when she wants to nurse? Maybe that would help, my son had a hard time weaning also.

Angela - posted on 09/09/2009

You are doing the right thing. I was going to suggest just cutting out one feeding a day for a few days then cutting out two for a few days and so on until you are maybe just nursing at night. Then cutting that out when you are ready. Unfortunately I didn't have this issue, so I really am not the best person to help you, but that is what I had planed to do until my little ones just up and quit all on there own.