Preparing for the Last Leg of Weaning from the Breast. Help?

Since its only one feeding, I would just try it one night. Substitute the breast feeding with a bottle or cup and see what happens. If it works out the first night, then I would just continue with it. Thats what I did. Lucky for me, my son didn't have a problem. I eliminated a feeding every week. Until he was completely weaned. I hope it works out.

My daughter was breast fed for 23 months. She was exclusively breast fed for the first 6 months and then we slowly started replacing breast feedings with solid meals. I never used a bottle, so she transitioned to a sippy-cup really easily. I picked which breast feedings to replace in a way that would still give my body a regular production schedule. Beyond that, I pretty much let her call the shots. We replaced a couple of feedings with solids and then she let us know when she wanted solids at other feedings and we slowly switched everything in. It worked well for me too, because my body got regular scheduled signals about how much milk to produce, so I wasn't struggling to produce, or overproducing and having to express to relieve discomfort. By the time she was 23 months, she was more interested in toys or books at bedtime that she was in having her "night-cap" so we skipped one night to see what would happen, and she just never asked for it again.

I know that this is not how it works with every child and that there are always exceptions, but I do think that if you let them call the shots to an extent, they will let you know when they are ready and comfortable with giving up that last feeding and it's less stressful for everyone. No sleepless nights with howling upset toddler! :)

Is there a reason you have only 3 weeks? If this is just a desired timeline you are setting up for yourself, and there is not an event or health condition etc. necessitating this change, you may want to let him hold onto that last feeding for a little longer and let him tell you when he's ready to call it quits. I wouldn't go every-other-night if you do decide it's time to cut it off. This will be a irregular and uncomfortable schedule for both you and your baby. If you don't already have a bed-time routine that involves a book, it may be time to start. If he knows that he gets a book and a sippy-cup with milk at bedtime, he may not even cry for a breast feeding, and you can wipe his gums and teeth down with a warm washcloth after he's finished. Snuggle him nice and close while you read, because the need for breast feeding is as much a "contact with Mommy" issue as it is a food issue.

Hope that helps. Best of luck!

With all three of my kids, I weaned the last night-time nursing by setting a small kitchen timer. At first it was set for about the same amount of time they regularly nursed, then I would reduce the time by about a minute each night. The babies began to associate the the beeping of the timer with nursing time being done. By the time we were nursing for just 30-60 seconds, they were fine with stopping completely. However, I think it's important to add in nurturing time in another way once you stop nursing, so that probably helped too.

Hi. What my Dr. told me made sense. He said every night to shorten the time you nurse. If you nurse for 20 minutes go down to 19 then the next night 18 and so on. You don't want to go cold turkey.. everybody's different but when I did that w/ my first child it hurt so bad and I felt so sick. With my 2nd it was a lot easier to slowly wean her. Good luck.

When I weaned each of my kids, we switched to giving them a sippy cup of warm milk instead of getting mommy milk for that last feeding, accompanied with LOTS of cuddle and snuggle time, often in the same chair that we would nurse in. Our transitions seemed to go very smoothly, with them only asking for mommy milk for the first few days of making the switch. Hope it goes well for you! Oh, and I also started off the process by doing it every other day for about a week, then every 3 or 4 days, and so on. How wonderful that you have done such a beautiful thing for your child for such a long time! Good job!

I went cold turkey for the last feeding. My husband was a big part of our success. When it was time for the baby to go to bed, he took over. That way the baby did not smell me. There was some fussing but both of my girls, now 3 and 20 months, did really well and it only took a few days. They were both a year old when we did it.

I did it slowly over a couple months as you are saying you have done as well. The last feeding I just went cold turkey. Just replace that feeding with a bottle or sippy cup, which ever he takes. Your boobs will be sore for about a week if you are like me. But then it just goes away. He will do much better than you think. Good luck.

If you go every other night, you milk might dry up which might make him less interested. Can you have daddy read him a book instead? What if you read him a book, but didn't sit in the same place where you usually nurse? It's hard to say what's best, but if you can skip some nights, your supply should dwindle, which can only help.

I did it cold turkey and it took about a week. After that, my daughter was just fine. Yes, there was fussing, whining, and crying, but she got the point that there wasn't any more milk.

Be strong.

When I weaned my 6 month old so I could return to work, I too fed him only at night during that final transition. I actually found that my breast milk production dropped to the point that he wasn't getting enough to eat. At that point it made it easy for both of us to transition to the bottle. He was getting enough to eat, and I knew that my breast milk was no longer enough so it was easy to let go. Good luck to you!

Hi Sissy -

Yes, this may be the hardest nurse to give up...but you can do it! When I got to this point with each of my two, I chose a time when I could be out of the house so that my husband could put them to bed without me as a distraction. I went cold turkey - I think going every other day would be confusing.

When they asked to nurse, I would tell them, no not now. Let's read a story (or some other distraction). Also don't hold them in a nursing position - sit the child on your lap with their back to you instead.

Good luck! I found it went smoother than I expected. :-)

C.

i just weaned my 14 month old dd last night. when i cut out each feeding, i gradually cut back on minutes. a normal feeding was 10 minutes on each side, so when i cut out that feeding, i went from 10 minutes each night, to 7, 5, then 3 minutes on each side for 2 nights. it worked really well for each feeding we cut back on and i think i'd do it the same way again. tonight will be the true test as it will be her first night (and mine) without bf. good luck!

When my daughter was 16-1/2 months old, she got sick and couldn't nurse. We had just recently weaned down to just the night time feeding. After not nursing for close to a week, it hurt me bad when she tried to nurse, so I just didn't let her. So we basically went cold turkey. She cried for about 45 minutes, and that was it, she never asked again. Good luck! It can be a very emotional moment.

I'm sure the other moms have good advice but with all three of mine when I decided I was done I just stopped. And that was it. None of my three had any weaning/separation issues.

Why do you only have 3 weeks? The problem with doing it cold turkey is that you could possibly get plugged ducts and mastitis. Keep it slow.