any current breastfeeding mommies?

srcr2011

I nursed my son for 19 months  (self weaned) and my daughter is a few days shy of 14 months and still nursing.  I am 8 weeks with our 3rd. I am ready to wean her. She never took a bottle which was very hard, but I pushed through. I ended up donating over 3 gallons of frozen milk. I want a break before I start nursing baby #3.  I also want to wait til she is 15 months until she is weaned. I know I need to do it gradually, but I've never weaned a baby before. My goal was 2 years or when she self weaned, but I'm not planning on tandem nursing.  

shevaCC

I'm still BFing my DS, but I'm no help about weaning since I tandem-nursed for quite a while. I'm not sure whether I'll tandem nurse again or push DS to wean by the time baby #3 is born. Right now it's painful, but I *think* last time the painful period was relatively short-lived while I was pregnant.

Greencows4812

How often is she nursing?

muybueno

What's the question? 

It's the worst when babies won't bottle feed- you have my sympathy. I BF'ed DS2 until almost 15 months but I also tried to bottle feed occasionally, due to international work travel. It was stressful as hell figuring out how to keep him nourished while I was away on those trips.

Greencows4812

muybueno said:

What's the question? 

Good point. I assumed the questions was advice on weaning but I reread and there isn't actually a question lol. I probably shouldn't assume, you know what they say. 

srcr2011

Yes! Advice, I need to wean her. I'm against CIO. what other option is there? I am thinking maybe leave her with my parents  for the night/weekend once I start decreasing the times I feed her. Shes going to crying, but at least it might soften the "blow".

mrsmoose5

I was in the middle of the weaning process with DS when I got preggo with this LO. Now we are down to one feeding a day (right before bed), and I am planning on dropping that soon. We just dropped one feeding at a time slowly and it went fine. He never even seemed to miss it or care. Then again, DS was never much a of a comfort nurser and I never nursed him to sleep, so I think that made it easier.

Greencows4812

@srcr2011 how often is she nursing?

LikeICantEven

DS is 20 months now and has shown no signs of self weaning. With this one on the way, I'm determined to wean well before the 3rd trimester. My supply is already dropping and I cut out night nursing months ago.

He's down to once a day and just this week, he's gone 2 days! If you co-sleep wear a high necked t shirt so she can't root around, I've been offering sippys whenever he shows signs of wanting to "Nur" to redirect his thirst. It's super hard being vigilant but you'll get there. They are so flexible and get over phases fast enough. I'm more about wanting my body back before starting again with this baby. I have always loved nursing but it's finally to a point where I'm mentally DONE. It's so much work and he's got to learn other ways to show affection, sate his thirst, self soothe, etc. This is only my experience, I'm absolutely not against tandem nursing. It just isn't what my plan is.

Hope this helped a bit. Congratulations making it so far!

Greencows4812

@srcr2011 how often is she nursing?

srcr2011

Thanks for the advice .  She nurses maybe 3 times a day, less if she eats a lot during the day, and 3-4 times at night. She's a huge comfort nurser. 

atcwag

DS is still nursing at 2.5 (Oct. '13). When I found out I was pregnant this time, I easily weaned him from his AM nursing session. He was really only doing it out of habit and re-directing him and offering breakfast made it a non-issue. After about a week, he stopped asking. 
He still nurses before naps on weekends when I'm home and before bed. Sessions last just a few minutes. I'd be ok with weaning 100% and I think he would be too. At this point, I'm just too exhausted to fight the battle @ bedtime. I'm not against tandem nursing (especially if DS is only nursing 1-2x/day), but I can't say I WANT to do it either. 
It is a hard decision to make. DS had some health issues with a 3 week inpatient stay beginning at 9 weeks where he needed IV nutrition via picc line. I worked my butt off to pump for a solid 6 weeks and get him to return to the breast. It was a very hard battle and I'm so proud of us!  

TheBorg7of9

I wouldn't cio, I would try other methods. Cut out one feeding at a time and if that's too hard, then start shortening feelings by s couple minutes. Do feedings at different times. Start to change it up a little. Like if you read a book and then nurse to sleep, start nursing first, then read the book and put the baby down. If he nurses first thing in the morning, do something else fun first... Delay a little longer each day. Replace nursing with a sippy cup of water and cuddling.  Have your husband go try to soothe the baby one time per night. Good luck!

shevaCC

@atcwag, you should feel really proud of overcoming those challenges and going on to have such a successful nursing relationship!

I agree with PPs that distraction/substituting a sippy/snack is a great method for cutting back daytime nursing sessions. Nighttime I prefer Jay Gordon's method of explaining after bedtime no more nursing until sunrise (or some fixed time). I plan to night wean DS pretty soon.

sweetlyuntied

Still nursing my almost 18-month old but working on weaning (we are 100% nighttime weaned and nurse 2-3 times during the day). I'm trying to drop the mid-day one, which is the easiest because she already doesn't do that one on the days I'm working. We try to be out an about or doing something to keep her mind off it. There have been a few times where she's wanted to nurse off the cuff, she will usually fuss for a few minutes but is getting to the point where she'll settle down with some snuggles and Mom-recharge time.

sweetlyuntied

HomeyDontPlayThat said:

DS is 20 months now and has shown no signs of self weaning. With this one on the way, I'm determined to wean well before the 3rd trimester. My supply is already dropping and I cut out night nursing months ago.

He's down to once a day and just this week, he's gone 2 days! If you co-sleep wear a high necked t shirt so she can't root around, I've been offering sippys whenever he shows signs of wanting to "Nur" to redirect his thirst. It's super hard being vigilant but you'll get there. They are so flexible and get over phases fast enough. I'm more about wanting my body back before starting again with this baby. I have always loved nursing but it's finally to a point where I'm mentally DONE. It's so much work and he's got to learn other ways to show affection, sate his thirst, self soothe, etc. This is only my experience, I'm absolutely not against tandem nursing. It just isn't what my plan is.

Hope this helped a bit. Congratulations making it so far!

Lol, so much this! And my DD says "Nur" too!

muybueno

She's 14 months and still nursing every few hours at night?! I can't even imagine how tired you are.

Since she's very developmentally capable of SSTN without nursing, my strategy would be to night wean first. I'm guessing you co-sleep? Have you thought about transitioning her to her own bed? I have absolutely no problem with co-sleeping it's just that she's using you as a soothing mechanism throughout the night and since she's done it for this long, it might be very difficult to allow her to stay in bed with you but deny access to nursing. If she doesn't already have another soothing mechanism, like a lovey, perhaps try to get her attached to something before moving her. 

The other recommendations- sippy cups of milk, doing something fun during the usual nursing time- are great but they don't apply to night weaning a 14 month old. The high necked t-shirt is an interesting idea, but I'm guessing a kid that nurses that often in the night isn't going to be easily dissuaded by a piece of cotton

Keep us posted!

NurseMamaB

Same boat here! My daughter will my 2 years old in a few weeks....the big problem is she a boob addict at night! We cosleep and some nights she HAS to be on the boob all night, or at least twiddling. My breasts are very sensitive right now and I am ready to be done with breastfeeding! She has been a difficult one, she never took a bottle or pacifier...same story I pumped and saved a large amount and she never took it. Anyways...I also want a little break before baby #3 arrives! I really like the website "ThemilkMeg". Check it out! Tonight, I plan on starting to gently wean her. Good luck to you! 

RaeJ004

I'm still BFing my second, but she is slowly (verrrrry sloooowly) weaning herself.  She is 21 months.  When I weaned my first (at 18 months) I would just try to divert her attention when she asked.  I would offer her a snack or ask if she wanted to go outside instead.  And eventually she just stopped asking. 
It's going to be easier if you night wean first, and that might take quite a bit of help from your SO.  If I went into her room at night she was not going back to sleep until I nursed her. 

rooftop

Still nursing DD at 2 1/2. if she self weans that's fine if not I plan to tandem nurse so I'm not much help for weaning advice. what PP have said sounds pretty accurate though.

srcr2011

Thanks all!  Yes,  am extremely tired.  She has in a  bed in our room. It's a matter of having more will power than her.  I'm putting my foot down tonight.