weaning a 2 1/2 year old - help!

Jenny952

DD still nurses before bedtime and naps, and I'm about ready to be done.  I thought she'd be ready too but she's still holding on for dear life.  I always thought I'd let her wean when she was ready but I never thought it would still be going on at 2 1/2 years old!  The only part that I'm struggling with is that going down for naps literally takes 5 minutes and she's asleep.  At night she doesn't fall asleep on the boob anymore but she does ask for mama milk at bedtime.  Any advice for weaning?  Should I feel like a terrible mom for wanting to be done??

Emerald27

I would start limiting those sessions. You could tell her the nursies/numnums/whatever you call them are sleepy and need to go to bed/take a nap too, so she can only nurse for a minute. Allow her to latch and count to ten slowly or sing a song in your head and then say; "all done. Goodnight, nursies. Let's snuggle!" And snuggle her to sleep. It may help to flip her away from you so that she snuggles her back into your tummy with your arm around her (face in the boobs often = asking for more). Making the session shorter and shorter will make for more snuggles and eventually just snuggles to sleep.

If she fusses and asks for more, you can repeat on the other breast, and let her know this is her "one more" but that they have to go to sleep after this because they're so tired! And she needs to sleep too.

This worked for DS. He still latches on just before naptime and bedtime but for only a few seconds, and we are very nearly done. He says "goodnight bees!" (that's what we call them) and will even be extra quiet so as not to wake them as he goes to sleep. He's so sweet.

kristen714

I'm in the same boat. I have started saying the boobies are tired and need sleep and it does seem to be working. Every few days I have been lessening the amount she can nurse. It is a battle, but I want to get pregnant and I don't want to nurse while being pregnant. Good luck and hopefully we will both be done soon.

skibunny59

I am 13 weeks pregnant and have hopefully  just weaned my 2 year old.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she truly is weaned but she hasn't asked for any nursies since Monday night.  For me, it just became very uncomfortable nursing while pregnant and I had no interest at all in tandem nursing once the new baby comes.  

My DD was also super attached to the boob so I'm very surprised that she is taking this so well.  I started using a "nursies timer" to limit her time at the breast.  When the timer was up she knew that nursies had gone to sleep and it was time to stop.  I also think my milk supply has dropped so that kind of helped encourage her to stop.

Good luck and don't feel bad for wanting to stop.