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When (if ever) did your toddler self wean?

7 replies

Swimmingplatypus · 29/06/2021 20:39

Dd is almost 3 and still breastfeeds before bed and when she wakes up. It’s been a bit more frequent this week because she’s ill and hasn’t been eating. She seems obsessed with it still, and it’s the first thing she asks for if she hurts herself. It doesn’t bother me, I really want her to self wean but I’m just worried about what others around me think! Stupid I know!

Also, my periods have been really weird these last few years and I’m convinced it’s because of the bfing. Trying for baby number two but it’s not happening and I’m not sure if that’s affecting it?! Sad

OP posts:
justasking111 · 29/06/2021 22:35

Could well be affecting your periods as for fertility only an expert could say. You may have to go cold turkey with your child if this is the case. My friend got pregnant had a baby couldn't cope with feeding a young child and a new baby

nomorespaghetti · 29/06/2021 22:38

I had to wean my DD when she was about 2.5 as I was pregnant and having terrible aversion to bf. It was hard as she was really obsessed, but she got over it really quickly and then seemed to barely remember it! My son self weaned at just over 2. He just wasn’t as bothered, I’d have been happy to continue!

Verbena87 · 29/06/2021 22:41

3 and 2 months. Went down to one feed at bedtime quite a bit before then but honestly until the week before we stopped I thought he’d never wean. When it happened it was quicker and easier than I feared.

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Morechocmorechoc · 29/06/2021 22:43

Mine I'm sure was never going ti wean so in week of 3rd birthday we said every day this was the last week as it goes at 3. Minor protesting but as it was expected it was actually fine. Kept asking for it for a coupl of weeks then passed. No real tears either. Surprising considering he bf to sleep for naps and bed and if he woke in the night.

If you want to stop just prepare your dd for it then do it.

BarryFromEastenders · 29/06/2021 22:45

Mine just stopped when he was 2 years, 10 months. At that point he would only bf at bedtime. One night he just didn’t want milk, but wanted to sit next to me in the comfy chair I used to feed him in. Then he went back to milk for a few days, then another night he didn’t and then I stopped automatically giving/offering him milk, but offered him a story and it was that. It felt easy and pretty mutual.

Bbub · 29/06/2021 22:46

I can't remember how I went about it but stopped at age 3, was having morning and night feeds only at that point. DS didn't seem bothered at all! He was definitely ready, but wouldn't have stopped himself for a good while longer I reckon iyswim

NellWilsonsWhiteHair · 29/06/2021 22:59

DC1 self weaned at 3y9m. Lots of aspects of bf him were really hard but I'm so glad he self weaned, it was a very easy and rewarding end to that time. I'd put my own boundaries in prior to that though, at some point I stopped feeding other than bedtime/first thing/naps, then he stopped napping, and later i stopped the first thing feed so by the time he 'self weaned' id already cut it down to just a bedtime feed. It was a dance for two. Smile

DC2 currently feeding first thing, bedtime, and occasionally during the day (though often I refuse) at 3y3m. I've had a lot of aversion over the past year with her and thought I was going to have to wean (but kept putting it off as I didn't want to stop on a bad day...). The past month I've had some more rest, started taking a calcium/magnesium supplement, and drinking loads of fennel tea, and the aversion has completely gone and I feel more ready to stick with her again. I wouldn't rule out weaning on my terms, I feel like at three years she's had a good run and what I want matters too, but I'd rather let her do it on her terms if I can.

The fb group 'breastfeeding older babies and beyond'(?) is a good place to see all the different sorts of normal.

Final thought - "self weaning" always sounds like one day the child just stops asking, and that's kind of hard to imagine. I know sometimes it genuinely does happen like that, but more often I think it's a change in routine or similar, and you have some control to nudge it in either direction. My DC1 stopped during a bout of mild illness - I think he fell asleep one night early, 'before bedtime', so we missed that feed and then another and kind of got out of the habit. I could have reminded him but I didn't. Then he went back to it for a week or two, and then he really was done, like it had given him the chance to reflect and decide he'd outgrown it. I think the whole process of weaning was filled with opportunities for me to help him miss a feed, or help him remember. The mother isn't entirely helpless IMO.

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