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Breastfeeding
newfather81
member
Weaning Toddler
newfather81
member
My LO is almost 3 and is breastfeeding with no signs of stopping on his own. He eats well and typically doesn't necessarily need to BF to augment his meals. He seems to do it out of comfort more than anything else. He consistently asks for it during the day and even worse at night.
It leaves my wife with not being able to sleep well, and definitely not through the night. It's been like that since he was born. I'm trying to be supportive, but anytime I bring up weaning she gets upset as it's easier to let him feed than not, so she gets some sleep rather than none all. LO is rather quite persistent/forceful about getting his boobies and will scream if he doesn't get them when he wants. Although she agrees he needs to be weaned, I cant really bring it up. Any tips on how to get started? Like I said he's almost three now and it's time.
It leaves my wife with not being able to sleep well, and definitely not through the night. It's been like that since he was born. I'm trying to be supportive, but anytime I bring up weaning she gets upset as it's easier to let him feed than not, so she gets some sleep rather than none all. LO is rather quite persistent/forceful about getting his boobies and will scream if he doesn't get them when he wants. Although she agrees he needs to be weaned, I cant really bring it up. Any tips on how to get started? Like I said he's almost three now and it's time.
Re: Weaning Toddler
If she says yes, I'd focus on night weaning and sleep training (if he sleeps through the night, he's not waking her to eat). YOU offer to sleep train; it's easier for the non-nursing parent. Depending on your house set-up, she can sleep in a spare room, or she keeps the bedroom and you have the monitor on the couch, or she can spend a few nights/days away with friends, family, or on her own. She may need noise canceling headphones, ear plugs, or a white noise machine. At that age, you'll probably have to do Cry It Out/ extinction. Research sleep training, join Facebook groups or reddit to get support and info. But you do it all. It can take up to 2 weeks, but you typically see improvement within a few days. If she takes a little vacation instead of sleeping in the spare room or staying with friends just at night, he may totally wean when he doesn't have access to her for a few days.
If *she* wants to completely wean, then you can look into that next, but at this point it sounds like she wants sleep, but you think LO is too old to be nursing; she may feel some pressure from you on that, so being supportive may mean supporting her choice to continue breastfeeding. LO does still get benefits at this age, on top of comfort, such as immune support.