Weaning from breastfeeding

bumpuser7846882

This has probably been discussed before and I've missed it, but we're having a tough time weaning.

When we started, I was all for extended breastfeeding and self-weaning. However, now that I'm pregnant my nipples are pretty sore and I'm really over it. I'm not really interested in tandem nursing if I can avoid it. Plus he's just gotten teeth and has bitten me a few times. We don't nurse much, if at all, during the day except maybe at nap time and when he wakes up. He is really fighting giving up the bedtime nursing session. I've been giving a bottle of formula (in early pregnancy my milk had nearly dried up, so he had formula most of the time from 10-12 months) or wcm and sometimes he takes it but most of the time he pushes it away, screaming, until I whip out a boob. Then when I'm empty, he'll drink the wcm if he hasn't already fallen asleep.

Any resources or experiences you can share? I did some googling, but it wasn't really satisfying.

And I KNOW he can fall asleep without a bottle or nursing because he does it at daycare twice a week without incident, but I can't seem to replicate the experience at home.

bumpuser7846882

DH is reluctant to take over bedtime because he travels for work and hobbies so frequently. I did get him to do it yesterday though, and it was glorious (until he woke up at 2:30 and then again at 5:30...)!

jmcgra06

We still nurse, but cut out MOTN nursing sessions last month and there was a lot of fussing and some angry crying. I rubbed her back and snuggled her, and after two weeks of whimpering, she doesn't wake up at all anymore at night. She sleeps with us, otherwise I think it would have happened sooner. I felt badly that she missed those nursing times, but I reminded myself that she wasn't hungry and I was comforting her, just not in the way that she might have preferred. Good luck!

singahappysong

huckleberry08 said:

No advice, but wanted to say you are a rock star for making it this far, especially when pregnant!

Ditto this!! I'm 12 weeks pregnant. We only nurse before naps and at bedtime, and about a minute into it I'm ready to be done. Whatever you find works for you, let me know!!! I don't know which to wean first. The bedtime one or nap time. I'm a chicken so I'm avoiding it all together. And I'll just be so sad (regardless of the pain) when we are done nursing.

LaBellaVida

I'm in the same boat as you! Owen won't give up the nursing sessions for naps or bed. He'll go all day just fine without nursing. I'm very frustrated too, and I'm also not interested in tandem nursing. I was hoping I'd have more help from my husband during the last 17 days of leave and he'd take Owen during those times, but clearly he wasn't interested.
I really feel dried up, and I'm not even sure how much, if anything he's getting. I feel like he's using me for comfort only, and not milk.