Weaning, a curiosity

CNYBride05

It seems like a lot of mamas here are weaning at or around 12 mos. I'm not even close to weaning and just curious what drives your choices to wean or not? I would love to get a bit more sleep at nite.... But that's another story

CNYBride05

Yeah, I'll go until they (or I) am ready to stop. I love nursing (except all freakin nite long!) and so do they

surpriseaddition

I guess even though I have written about starting to wean my 16 month old, it will be a gradual process. I guess more of what I'm trying to do is get down to only 4 or so feeding per day. I BF my middle child to 18 months, and then he weaned himself when he ended up with hand, foot, and mouth and it was too painful to nurse for several days. Once he was better, he never went back to wanting it. I will let this LO decide the time too. She is too darn cute when she picks up her boppy and brings it to me at night when she wants to nurse. Who could turn that away?

BootsOrHearts

Wanting to try for a sibling is ultimately what made me stop early but also EPing is such a pain in the rear. If the next kid can nurse, I will probably go as long as he or she wants.

MuchlyGen

I nursed my first until 2 years and my second until 2.5. They had already cut down a great deal by that point, and then with each of them I got pregnant which was motivating to wean completely because my nipples got super sensitive. 

My first started sleeping through the night as soon as he weaned. My second is now 3 and he's still waking up 1-3 times a night, and needs to be settled... sigh. Only two months 'til new baby comes. Wish me luck. 

SV917

nursedesi said:

Ive also wondered why some stop at a year when its so easy.

Because it's not easy for everyone. I wish breastfeeding was was all sunshine and rainbows for me but it's really just been one thunderstorm after another. My goal has always been just make it to a year. I would reevaluate at that point. My son has stopped breastfeeding at 10 1/2 months so it doesn't even matter any more. I'm pushing through to pump so he gets breastmilk for a year, but that first birthday can't come fast enough.

BootsOrHearts

theresat858 said:

Neither of us were ready at one year. I did stop pumping at work then. We also started TTC then...unless you need fertility treatments (some meds are not compatible), that in itself isn't a reason to wean, though it did take me a lot longer to conceive while nursing. Dd dropped her night feeding on her own very gradually from 9 months on, but still nursed 1x/night when she did wake up, 2ish days a week, at 20 mo old. I night weaned her then. She still wasnt ready to wean at 2 when I cut her off. (I was 18w pregnant and my nipples were really sore).

True, except that if the BFing is inhibiting your cycles (which it's supposed to do) makes it hard to get knocked up. We are planning an FET at some point too but we've had zero luck with any fertility treatments so I'm not holding out a lot of hope for anything other than charting as a fertility aid. 

Unknown

This content has been removed.

BootsOrHearts

muffin87 said:

DD was 16 months and I still didn't have AF back after gradually cutting back to 2 nursing sessions. We wanted to TTC so I decided to wean her. Otherwise I wouldnt have stopped until at least 2 (unless she wanted to).

How long after you weaned did AF show up? Not to thread jack but just curious.

R314159

I wasn't planning to wean, but my 14 month old has been so congested for the last few days and has refused to nurse. Still not 100% sure we are finished, but I think we are, even though I am not happy about it. So illness is definitely a reason. (

CNYBride05

Aww @R314159‌, that's crappy! I'm sorry

Kfran84

Err... I'm hoping he will be down to just morning and night nursing sessions by 12 months. I'm done pumping at work. Done, I tell you!

I'm hoping AF comes back when I quit pumping so I can TTC when DS is about 14 months but if it doesn't I will consider totally weaning for TTC. 14 months is a good run in my book and much farther than I ever thought we'd make it when I had back to back mastitis at 6 and 8 weeks old.

We are trying to achieve a certain spacing and seasonality with our kids, due to our careers (I'm a CPA and busy Jan- Apr and DH is In construction busy Apr - Sept) and leaving time to TTC a 3rd if we decide to do so.