Is this self weaning? 18 Months

[Countryside14]

My dad is very nearly 18 months and for he past week or so has seem uninterested in the bedtime feed. She just keeps stopping and getting up to do something else.

She'll happily feed in the morning but that's it. Would you say this is her weaning?

Should I carry on offering in the morning or not? I'm feeling quite sad about this :(

[LillyBugg]

country that's what happened with my DS. Well, not quite the same as we had formula at bedtime from around 4 months, but he became very very distracted when feeding. He just didn't really seem interested anymore during the day time and kept coming off and looking around, so I dropped those feeds around 10mo. Then at 11mo I realised he didn't really want the morning feed anymore either, and that I was probably doing it more for me than him. I found it really sad and struggled to accept it. I still wonder sometimes now if I'd persevered with offering would we still be feeding (13mo now). I would say while she's happy then keep feeding in the morning! I look back at the early days when I was desperate for breastfeeding to be over and now think it didn't last long enough lol!

[Clarella]

I understand why it's emotional for you but absolutely brilliant for her to choose that she doesn't need it - I'm still feeding ds nearly 3 and sadly have had to make the decision to night wean - I'd do prefer it to be his choice. If it's their choice you can feel confident that they are confident enough not to need it.

It is entirely up to you to keep offering of you want to - you may find that next week she gets poorly and is asking all the time! 'Don't offer don't refuse' is a common approach but if you wish to continue set times (which it sounds like you have?), continue offering.

Women can feel very hormonally emotional after stopping, just to warn you. I was away from ds for 5 days recently and by day 4 had waves of sadness rushing over me. All stopped after first feed! So you might consider continuing the morning feed to wean your body more slowly iykwim? Milk can take months even years to fully dry up due to the sporadic nature of child self weaning - the odd day in a week ca be a pattern for older children.

Great work though!

[daluze]

My DS1 stopped evening feed around that age, but continued the morning feed until he was 2 (and I got pregnant). I nearly cried when one evening I offered a feed, but he took his cup, ran to the fridge and asked for milk from there! In the mornings I kept offering, as I really did not want to stop breastfeeding, but the last few months he didn't take every morning, once even stopped for 3 weeks and then restarted (asked himself), then finally stopped completely just before his 2nd birthday, when I got pregnant with DS2. I felt sad when he was refusing to feed, but I think it is much better than if you wanted to stop and needed to refuse them when they want.