Need to Start Weaning My 2-Year-old.

i am a f/t sahm with a 10 year old boy that stopped nursing 10 days before his third birthday and have a 3 year old boy that is still nursing. He was 3 in beginning of february. I wanted to stop at 3 but like your child, he did not want to give it up. He has some issues, like allergies with dairy at this time and asthma induced with allergies to environment and weather changes, and the dairy. I went to my annual gyno appt. and they said that it is fine that I am still nursing, but he does not need it for anything anymore, all it is now is habit and comfort. With that I came home and talked with my 3 year old and explained that we have to slowly stop, because mommy needs to go to a different doctor for a mammagram and can't be nursing anymore when it is time. I am 47 going on 48 in august. Realizing the work that was cut out for both of us, I started in April with him knowing that he can have me once before waking in the morning and once upon going to sleep. He tested both his and my will power the first couple days, but here we are 23 days later and all is going well. We basically cut out the habit feedings and he is only having the comfort ones. Starting May 1st he will only get the night time feeding and hopefully we will be done by June 1st. I told him that when ever he wants and needs too that we can always cuddle. In the beginning he kept making me stop anything to cuddle. It is great. Personally I think this is the way to do it. Because it is a special bonding the whole nursing thing and for you to have to just cut him off one day would not be fair or pleasant for either of you. Either way I do not think it would result in anger or saddness. If necessary, you should go away for a long weekend with a girlfriend or something and let your child be with his father or grandparent or someone he enjoys and believe me when you are not around they are not heavily thinking about it. Hope this was helpful. If you need to or want to talk, email me at ____@____.com or call me at ###-###-####. Good luck. Regards, Franny

Hmmmm...I'm not sure how many times a day he is nursing, but I would first try to get him down to three predictable times a day--morning, naptime and bed time. For me, the easiest one to cut out was naptime, and then morning, followed by bedtime. If you do it gradually, I think it will be easier on both of you. As to actually how to go about it, I used a lot of distraction--I'll admit it's maybe not the best solution, but the morning one was cut out by me suggesting we go downstairs instead of bringing him into my bed when he'd wake up. Once downstairs, sometimes the only thing that would interest him would be the tv. But at this time of year, maybe the prospect of getting up and outside would help? Or something he likes to do but doesn't do everyday, like painting, playdough, coloring, etc? This is what they call the "distraction" technique. Many people offer a cup of milk or something to replace the feeding--that never worked for me. I did try to make sure though that he had just eaten a meal or had a snack and a drink before bed and naptime so that he wouldn't be hungry or thirsty. Maybe get a new book or two for story time before nap and bed, so that he's distracted with that? Some people also suggest you leaving the house at bedtime for a few nights and just having your husband put him to bed so that he breaks that association. I say do whatever works for you in your situation. Try a few things--you can always change your tactics. One thing that helped me was that I decided I would never say "No"--I would always say "later." For some reason, that made me feel better about things, and better able to move forward, because I felt that I wasn't flat out denying him or suddenly cutting him off. Good luck. P.S. The La Leche League chapter near me has special toddler meetings where they specifically discuss issues and ideas surrounding the weaning of toddlers. You might want to check your local chapter too.

Hi J.,
When my son turned one, I cut out one feeding each week until we were left with just one feeding - first thing in the morning. That was the hardest one to stop since he would wake up so early.
Weaning will be easier if you are already limiting him to nursing only at certain times and in one particular place (a certain room and/or chair). Try to wear clothes that will limit his access. I know some toddlers like to just help themselves.
The best advice I have is distract, distract, distract. If he is indicating that he wants to nurse, try to get him interested in a toy or project. I finally cut out the morning feeding when my son was 18 mos, due to a terrible breast infection. I found that simply changing his routine was all I needed to do. I used to bring him back to our bed once he woke up. I would nurse him, then we would both go back to sleep for a few hours. When I had to cut him off, I would bring him into the living room in the morning, give him a sippy cup and a bowl of dry cereal and put his favorite DVD on. After a week he completely forgot about nursing.
I know this will be tough (on your son and on you!), but you will get through it! You are a great mom for breastfeeding as long as you did! Best of luck to you!

My son was two when I stopped nursing him. I thought it would be impossible to wean him because he nursed constantly throughout the day and before each nap(that's how I got him to sleep) and before bedtime.
I got to the point where I wasn't sleeping because he would wake up all throughout the night to nurse and I couldn't take it anymore. So this is what I did....I put bandaids over my nipples and told them I had boo boos. I never thought this would work and I heard others say it worked for them but I never believed it.
The first time he saw them he looked stunned and disgusted. He didn't know what to make of it but he also didn't want to nurse. Before nap when he would cry to nurse because he forgot the bandaids were there I would just show him my boo boos and he would immediately stop crying.
At night when he would wake up to nurse I would give him a sippy with water in it.
It took a but two weeks but it worked!
Good luck!

Hi, I breastfed all 4 of my children. 17,16,8, and 2 1/2. the longest feeder was my son, now 8, at 18 months. It took about 1 month to wean him, by leaving out 1 feeding a day every week. At the end, he was down to 1 feeding and that was at night. Instead of nursing, I would offer him a sippy cup and tell him what a big boy he was.
At night, I would give him a small cuppy with warm milk to drink before he went to bed. He accepted that and wasnt upset about not getting mommy.
good luck

I don't know if you have a time constraint in weaning, but if you have the time, I would pick a couple times a day when you are willing to nurse (before nap and bed perhaps) and other times he wants to nurse just explain that he needs to wait until nap or bed or whatever time marker you pick. Give him a week or so to adjust to that and then cut out some of the feedings you agreed to, let him adjust again, and then finally cut out the last. LOTS and LOTS of praise to him for being patient and waiting, offer lots of the things he likes to drink instead. Oh and if he is accustomed to only nursing in a certain place...try to avoid that place while you are weaning. Maybe being out and about would help distract him. While I believe that child led weaning is the ideal...sometimes, for whatever reason...you just need to be done and that is ok! He will be okay and so will you!