Weaning Advice for 18 Month Old

My third child (a girl) was the hardest to wean. My boys weaned pretty easy at 14 months and 17 months. I was pregnant each time I weaned them, so I think that made it easier... She was right about 18 months when I was done nursing (she wasn't but I'd been pregnant or nursing (or pregnant and nursing)) for about 6 years at that point and was really ready for a break.

Anyway - I am a SAHM so I used distraction during the day to cut out one nursing session at a time. I started with the one she "liked the least", for us it was the one first thing in the a.m. We just went straight to breakfast with no nursing. Easy. Then we moved to any nursings that were just "for fun" during the day. If she asked to nurse and it wasn't naptime, I'd stand up and offer her water or a snack. Then I wouldn't sit down again until she was distracted. I'd say it took a week and a half and we were down to nursing only at naptime (she had one nap a day), at 4:30, and then at bedtime. The last 3 were harder to drop... but we started with the 4:30 time, then naptime, and last to go was bedtime.

I tried to make sure we had extra snuggle time when she was full from a meal... I tried to make sure we read extra books, and took time for skin to skin contact (snuggles cheek to cheek, extra hugs, etc.). She'll miss that special quiet time with Mom... don't hesitate to hold her standing and rock her if she needs extra comfort but DON'T SIT DOWN :)

Good luck!
J.

First of all tell anyone who judges you to suck it..... (pun intended)!!!!!

I have heard this advice....... eliminate the *non-emotional* feedings first. So for the first 2 weeks ONLY do morning, after work and then at bedtime. Simply re-direct her when she asks for it and you'll have to be WICKED consistent and NEVER give in or you'll make it 50x harder on yourself.

Then in a weeks or 2 eliminate after work - but spend one on one with your kids eating at the table. That will still give her the emotional fulfillment of mommy being around, but without BF.

Then after 2 weeks pick morning or night and eliminate. Make sure you get a solid routine and stick with it.

Then - eliminate the last one.

Good Luck!

I stopped when mine were about this age. Honestly, my husband would have to pull the boys off of me and distract them the first week or so that I really started weaning. They were pretty aggressive and they began mostly biting and playing... so it was definitely time to stop.

Distraction helps. When she's hungry, make her a snack and play a game with her or some music she can dance too.

Things that help when she is really emotional, is doing a cuddle time. If she wants to nurse for the emotional comfort, snuggle her while reading a book and she can suck on a sippy cup. It will help transition the comfort of nursing, to the comfort of snuggle/bonding time with mom, plus she gets that oral fixation. This technique helped with both of my kids.

I also kept one nursing, usually the morning one because that worked best for me, but you can try keeping just the morning or bedtime one for a few weeks while you transition out of the day time sessions.

Good luck, you have done a wonderful job... don't feel bad to stop nursing just because there are judgmental people out there!

8 days no Boobie time YEAH!!!! My son is almost eighteen month and trust me I sooooo get the enough is enough. I co sleep so that I feel makes it so much harder since he is old enough to grab at them in the middle of the night and latch on his own. I feed him somthing before bed, not a full meal but a yougurt or some other snack. I then go to bed with a bottle of water (he loves drinking out of bottles... thinking the open flow?). I will lay him next to me and we put the tv on for a bit and he has to lay down. when he says "drink" he is offered the water. The 4th night was the worst and I almost gave in but didnt and we are still on the path of no boobie. :) Nights when he gets really restless my husband has to step in and walks with him. Once he falls asleep he goes in his crib, and IF he gets up its only once and then I bring him into bed again.

Are you down to only night time feedings? Otherwise I would take it away one feeding every week, until you get down to he night time feedings. It sucks and it's hard to see your baby crying knowing that you can give them what they want to soothe them, but that's all it is. My son has a blankie now and a stuff animal that only goes to bed with him. I don't let him carry it around it's crib only. Good Luck if you have the right mindset you can make the change. Be prepared for sleepless nights and a broken heart, but it gets better I promise!!

You've done great, mom! If it isn't a comfortable happy experience for you any longer, it's time to stop.

I weaned my son closer to 2 years, but the ages are similar enough, that this might be helpful.

What worked for my son, was to REPLACE nursing with other special connected things (particularly around drinking). Since you just went back to work it sounds like this probably is a matter of keeping the special bonding time. My son is 6 now and he STILL holds my hand and stares at me while he drinks a little bit of water before bed. It has nothing to do with being thirsty, it's just very soothing to him. Experiment and find something that works for you.

Also, at 18 months she's old enough to talk to about this. Explain (briefly) that nursing is starting to hurt mommy's breasts and she is ready to stop. Cut out one session a week (that will also help your body adjust) and let her know what you're doing. "Starting tomorrow, we will not nurse when mommy comes home from work. Instead, we can play a quiet game or read a book together." or whatever makes sense to you.

Hope this helps.

T.

I tried a couple different methods with each kid. All of them worked fine. With the first, I was home so I gradually spread the nursing sessions out an hour or so more each time. In doing this I discovered the two most important times for my son to nurse-- before afternoon nap and before bed. Then after a while I was able to switch him to a bottle for naptime and eventually a bottle before bedtime. With my second baby, when I was getting tired of nursing, I experimented to find out which two nursing times were most important to him. It turned out to be the same as the first with the addition of the early morning (like 6:00). I used the same method of replacing the comforts of food and Mommy time with other foods and other kinds of Mommy time (rocking, singing, stories, dancing, talking). Then to get rid of that last bedtime nursing time, we went out as a family to a fun event that went past his bedtime. He was having too much fun to even think about nursing and when he got hungry we gave him a sippy of milk. He was actually too excited to even drink that. He fell asleep in the car, stayed asleep when we transferred him to bed and slept through the night. The days following that, if he asked to nurse, I just told him he was big and didn't need it anymore, gave him a sippy of milk to drink while we read stories. My daughter I breastfed until she was 2 on purpose. We were able to have a conversation about it and she understood the process better. Good luck! You can do it!