@ s/o- how to wean?

[ering1115]

So my goal was one year of bfing and we are now going on 16 months.....
- We are using the last of the freezer stash in the next week or 2 and switching to whole milk for daycare and snacks
- I am trying to drop our morning nursing session this week by sneaking out of the house before DS wakes up. So far, so good
- We are only consistently (as of Monday) nursing before bed
- I am leaving for Bulgaria on Sunday and will be gone for 8 days

Should I treat this trip as my cold turkey opportunity to wean DS? I am more emotional than I thought I would be about all of this. While I cannot wait to get my body back, I am really going to miss him nursing. I know this is all normal but I am feeling super sad about him growing up and not needing me like that anymore.

If I don't use this trip to wean, thoughts?

I know I just need to suck it up and not nurse him when I get back but I am hoping he won't want it either. I will be heartbroken if he tries and isn't able to.

Sorry for the rambling.

[gbck]

My kid went on a cross-country trip for a week (at 20ish months) and I dropped my last pumping/feeding then.

She came back and wanted to nurse...and I still had plenty of milk. It was a godawful week or 2 (plus the week she was gone) of her wanting and not being able to do it.

I'd expect him to try to nurse when you get back...if he tries and you don't produce anything...that might be ideal. Otherwise, saying no sucks, but it passes fast. Being able to give my kid something she loved (uh, chocolate milk here) and cuddling with her in the chair we used to nurse in, with a book was what I did. She wasn't happy but she got the same mount of 'attention' and I think that helped.

(FWIW, she didn't sleep through the night until I weaned...and then...poof, she did. Worth it on that level

[Deleted]

i did cold turkey with DS1 (I had to travel for work) OUCH.

I used sudafed with DS2 and DS3 to dry me up. They were both pretty old though. DS2 was 16 mos (and I was 7 mos pg) and DS3 was 2 when he finally weaned.

[pixy0stix]

I stopped pumping during the day, and then one day just quit cold turkey. I would definitely use the trip as a way to wean.

I was a mess, too. :/ Good luck!

[ringstrue]

Are you still pumping? As soon as I stopped that and ramped down my supply DD didn't want to work at nursing the bit I had left and was content with bottles.

Maybe others can give advice, but I wonder if there are a few tricks you can do if he really just wants to comfort nurse (even if you only have a bit) and is using you as a paci? Does he use a paci or other oral items now? I think there is usually a bit of a transition period where they have to figure out that they can still sit on your lap and cuddle or hangout and don't have to be attached to you to get that comfort from you, kwim?

[crazytalk]

I weaned after a work trip, sort of on a whim. Baby was 19 months, and I was kind of ambivalent about weaning right at that point, but when I got home from the trip, I decided to try to wean. I figured if he cried like a maniac about it, I'd probably give in (ambivalent, see), and if he accepted being weaned, then great. Anyway, he cried for a couple days, and that was it, so it worked out really well for us.

I just substituted a sippy of milk, while snuggling on the couch reading. He loves books, so that went over well for the most part.

Good luck. At least you know this is what you're doing (with the trip), so you can plan for it.

Oh, and FYI, he was really extra "mommy, mommy" clingy after I weaned him, for a few weeks. I didn't realize that it was b/c of weaning him - we both kept thinking it was b/c of my trip, but in retrospect it must have been the weaning.

[sonrisa]

When she started whole milk, she weaned herself.

[ering1115]

Thanks for the advice ladies! I am buying some behind the counter sudafed in case I need it while I am out of town. I will let you know how it goes.

I am thinking a sippy of cold milk (DS thinks that warm liquid goes in bottles, cold liquid goes in sippys), hanging in the rocker, and any book with some ducks in it will be our move when I get home. If he is a maniac, I will probably cave and let him nurse. I have no will power when it comes to DS being unhappy.