Weaning 21 month old

[mrsg123]

Any advice? Dd1 quit nursing just before her second birthday, so I didn't have to actually do anything. I am unconvinced DD2 will do the same. She mostly just nurses before naps and bedtime, or if she is upset. TIA!

[mrsg123]

Any advice is welcome!

[rootbeerfloat]

What have you tried? Redirection? Changing her sleep routine? Could H put her to bed for awhile so she doesn't rely on on nursing to sleep?

[mrsg123]

Jul 22, 2014 13:47:51 GMT -5 rootbeerfloat said:

What have you tried? Redirection? Changing her sleep routine? Could H put her to bed for awhile so she doesn't rely on on nursing to sleep?

We gave tried H putting her to sleep, and are going to switch up our routine. Thanks for the suggestions!

[justjen]

OK, so, I don't want to jinx it, but it looks like my almost-2-year-old (2.5 more weeks!) MAY have weaned.

Honestly, at 21 months she was still *super* into it. I mean, even a couple of weeks ago, the minute I walked in the door after work it was the first thing she would ask for. So I'm shocked that it might be going this way. But I remember @supergreen saying that her son, who was also very attached to nursing, suddenly lost interest at a certain age. I've been holding on to that story with the hopes that that's how it would go with DD. So there's definitely the option that your DD2 still may self-wean.

FWIW, I'm still not convinced that DD won't ask again, but I haven't nursed her since Wednesday, so fingers crossed.

[Deleted]

My son didn't wean until he was nearly 3, and that was in the end decided by me. I just warned him for a while that "soon" we wouldn't nurse any more and that he'd get a scooter. Then DH had a few days off for Easter, so we gave him a "big boy" scooter and said he was all done nursing. He didn't even really ask, he was just sad for a while. Then he got over it and that was that.

So pretty much, if you want to do it and she doesn't, you resign yourself to a sad kid for a few days. It usually isn't that long, though. After a week, it's all over and you're weaned. Other kids can be more gently weaned, but all that advice got me nowhere.

[teatimefor2]

I weaned at 18.5 months mainly because I was eight weeks pregnant and nursing was becoming very painful.

I was down to one night session. I 'left' and my DH offered him a sippy of milk. Before I left, we explained the daddy was going to put him to bed with a big boy cup of milk. He picked out a new cup that day. DH said he was upset for ten minutes then he took the milk and they rocked and read. He did that for three nights and then I put him to bed. I just kept explaining that he was going to get a big boy cup.

It was over in less than a week. I was more upset than he was.

[redpenmama]

I weaned DD at 18 months. I got her down to naps/bedtime/night pretty easily by offering an alternative -- snack, activity, etc. when she wanted to nurse. I ended up soothing her in other ways for naps (rocking, music, even laying down with her in our bed), and that worked. There was no easy way to do nights, so I just did it cold turkey. She cried and cried (and so did I) for the first night. The first several nights were tough, but I know by night 5, she went to sleep without asking for milk, and we were done just like that.

Good luck!

[hbear]

I weaned DD at 21 months! At that time we only nursed before bed. I set an end date, a Friday. All week I told her 3 more days, then no more nursing, 2 more days, etc. I prepared her for "the end". The first night of no nursing I prepared for the worst, but nope, she barely cared. She went to nurse and I told her we don't do that anymore, she is getting to be a big girl and mommy has no more milk. After about 30 seconds she stopped trying.

She continued to try like that occasionally for a few weeks, and I would just remind her I had no more milk. She would even repeat it: "no more milk?"

But it was so much easier than I expected. For my kid, anyway, talking about big changes ahead of time made them so much easier!

[catbus]

Jul 22, 2014 14:28:31 GMT -5 @starry said:

karinothing
@tokenhoser
anna7602 if not in labor
catbus (maybe)
jenny1980

Yes! Weaned DS at 20 months. No real tricks to share--he was only nursing at bedtime M-F, and then before nap on weekends. We switched to having H read books to DS in the chair in which we previously were nursing. There was a bit of crying for a couple days, but nothing too bad. By day three, he was fine. For a while, he'd point at my breasts and say "milk," (I'd reply, "no more milk; it's all gone") but he's even past that now. He saw me change my shirt the other day, pointed, and said, "no more milk." 

Kid loved to nurse, but wasn't really "pushy" about it, so our weaning experience might have been easier than is typical. 

[anna7602]

Weaning at 25 months sucked, but here's how it went. I started trying to actively drop sessions around 22 months, just after a molar teething spell during which I let her nurse at all times for comfort. It took 3 months to drop our morning, pre-nap and pre-bedtime sessions. I didn't try to do it any faster than this, it's just how it all worked out.

The first session to go was the pre-bedtime. I moved it back further and further, to pre-reading, then pre-bath, then pre-dinner until I just completely dropped it. Having other people around to help with bedtime also helped (usually a babysitter).

Dropping pre-nap also ended up resulting in no more naps at all. I haven't pondered the correlation too much in a long time, although it drove me crazy back then. DD ended up making up for the lost nap in her nighttime sleep, so I stopped actively trying to get her to nap again once it was clear that she could make it through the whole day without a nap.

The morning session was harder because it was part of our start-the-day routine, no matter what else was going on during the day. I went away with her for a weekend and the combo of being elsewhere and having other people around when she first woke up made her kind of forget about nursing for a couple of days. Then, when we came back home, I made sure DH was going into work late every day for a week so he would be the one to get her first thing in the morning (he normally wasn't home when she woke up). I also talked to DD a lot about the end of nursing, per some advice on Kellymom.

[whitemerlot]

My DD is a bit older than that and I'm ready for her not to nurse so often. She is still nursing about six times a day and that's when I tell her no a lot. I think I'm going to have to change our routine a lot in order to make it different.

She's 26 months.

[mrsg123]

Jul 22, 2014 14:26:56 GMT -5 @starry said:

Hiiii how is your dd?

Hi!! @starry! She is a wild hooligan, but a cute one!!! I can't believe they will be 2. My dd1 turned 5 last week, also crazy!!!

[mrsg123]

Thanks, everyone, for the suggestions. Hopefully we can be done soon!!!

[megs193]

I was actually going to post a similar thread today so thanks! My son just turned 2 and we are down to only nursing before bed. I actually started taking a combo birth control which I thought would tank my supply but there was no effect. At this point I feel like I may be making milk forever. My DH and I are going away for 3 nights in September so I would like to wean him before then. I am going to write down all of these tips and just pick a date.

[Deleted]

Like justjen said, my DS self-weaned at 23 months. At 18 months weaning him was UNFATHOMABLE, he was so into it. He was still nursing 4x a day at that point. But gradually over time he lost interest. OP, I would start by cutting the nursing session she cares about the least. At about 21 months, DS wasn't hungry for his "between lunch and nap" nursing session. He was fidgeting on the boob, trying to get down, just generally not interested. So I replaced that session with reading books, and he was thrilled. A month or so later, he wasn't hungry at his pre-bedtime nursing session either, so I replaced it with more books. For the last session first thing in the morning I did "don't offer, don't refuse." He asked every morning for about 6 weeks straight. Then he skipped a day, then it was every other day, and I knew when he skipped 3 days that the next time he asked would likely be the last time. So I snuggled him, smelled his hair, sung songs. And we were done at 23 months. It went really, REALLY well. I just followed his lead.