Weaning a happy breastfeeding/cosleeping 18months old of the breast

[bidou]

I have been demand feeding my 18months old since day 1. But I am looking forward to the day/nights i will be able to stay with my breast away...
She has a good varied diet, so no worries there. She usually feeds lots at night (Co-sleeping and would like to carry on...)
Please give advice on how to start weaning off the breast.
Should I start day time weaning or night time first?

Thanks so much for help. Looking forward to reading some tips...

[elsieanjoanne]

i would think daytime should be easier as the night feeds may be a comforter now, when i weaned my 11month dd off bf (age 6weeks)with starting with the first milk being formula, for a week then i did every other milk formula! i also found expressing milk to give her from bottle to get her used to the bottle was a help as it also relieved my boobs! you may find she will drink out of a beaker/cup better that will be a lot easier in the long run! hope this helps good luck

[pastalady]

Hi Bidou

I've just successfully weaned my part co-sleeping 2 year old off the breast.

Basically I took the long, slowly-slowly approach. I started by gradually cutting his day feeds down using distraction and seeing if he would accept the idea of 'havung some milkies later' without getting to upset. As he got older he wasn't to bothered about BF in the day anyway and at some point, I'm not sure when, he ended up stopping day feeds totally. I then fell pregnant and my milk supply dwindled. He still wanted to feed when he came into out bed at night, before bed and before naps. As a comforter. I started giving him less and less time on the breast at each of those feeds, breaking him off - singing him songs, cuddling him to sleep. If he got very upset, I let him feed but then tried to break him off again. It wasn't until it about a month ago when I really felt that now was the time to end BF. My instinct was that he was ready and my pregnant body needed it. I became a little stricter breaking him off but he soon accepted about 30 seconds on each breast and then it was quite easy to go from that to nothing. I thought it would be a total, heart-renching nightmare but it wasn't. It was very painless for both of us. Because he's not being breastfed to sleep, it is taking him quite a while to settle at night but we are working on that and he is not upset or crying for the breast.

I always had a soft-tipped beacker of cows milk to give him at his normal BF times and that helped too.

It can be a daunting thing weaning, but following your instincts can help. Let them be your guide, you know your child and yourself better than anyone and the best way is what works for you.

Good luck!

[bidou]

Thanks so much for the advice.
I just put my dd to bed, and had to spend 2h trying to settle her down. As soon as I remove the breast she wakes up and starts crying. She used to fall asleep within 10 min but now won't let me go at all...
I have to say in her defence that she has started nursery 5 weeks ago, so is a bit unsettled.
I'll definetly try your approach.