Trying to wean 21 month old off the breast..HELP!!

[LadyWottinger]

..or at least cut down her feeds to one before bedtime.

I've never seen such a 'boobie baby' as my DD. She climbs on laps and pulls at tops, the boobies aren't only mine but friends too. She screams 'boobie!' if she doesn't get an immediate whip-out. This also happens in public.

I've tried everything: offering her milk in a cup, offering her other drinks, making sure there is always something solid on offer if she gets hungry. She will reluctantly nibble at the solid item, drink from the cup and its back to 'boobie!' again.

I nurse her at bedtime and she'll fall asleep only to wake three hours later screaming for boobie. If I don't oblige she then wakes up full, gets out of bed, staggers around half asleep 'boobie! boobie! boobie!' I give in and she gets boobie. This will happen a couple of times in the night too and she ends up in bed with us where I can roll over and nurse her.

I know I shouldnt give in but I have a 13 year old who needs to get sleep and the screaming wakes him. Then there's DH with work in the morning.

I want her de-boobed by the time shes 2. At this rate its looking unlikely. HELP!

That was the exact age I weaned DS (now 5.7) and it was simple so I thought but the fact he could remember my boobs has stuck with him ever since! Even now, at 5, he likes to snuggle onto my chest and if he could, he'd drink milk from me!

Basically, I did what you've already tried and changed the morning and bedtime routine so that instead of him waking to a feed and sleeping after a feed, I woke him, took him down before he could ask, let him watch a bit of tv whilst I got him brekkie and then gave him a hot chocolate.

At night, I bathed then read a story to dd (then 4) whilst he cuddled and listened. He did ask for 'mummy milk' whislt sat there on my knee but I was strong and said there wasn't any left and he could have big boy milk. It worked but I did have to give him loads of extra snuggles instead for him to be satisfied. He still doesn't fully understand why I don't have anymore milk or why he can't snuggle up to my boobs whenever he feels like it!

For youe situation though, I rekcon you need to take control before DD asks for her milk. So time it, if you can, so you offer her boobie at a time convenient to you and say it's boobie time (perhaps with a simple picture/chart so she knwos it's milk time). Then increase the gaps and eventually, it'll be like Pavlov's bell when she won't ask until you say it's time. Then as feeds get further and further apart, eventually, it'll stop. You need to tell her though when/if she asks "no, it's not boobie time yet" and be really strong and try to distract her.

Hope this helps a bit. Good luck - let us know how you get on.

i don't know how you'll feelabout this (not sure what i thinkof it either tbh!!) but a friend of mine mentioned to me yesterday that she weaned her 22 month DS off the breast by putting lemon juice on her breasts every time her son wanted some milk- she said it worked a treat! perhaps not relevant if you want to keep some of the feeds, but maybe worth remembering if you get desperate...

Hi luciemule and muslimah28,

Thanks for your suggestions. I've heard the one about lemon juice before, I once had some shower gel residue I didn't wash off and when DD went to suckle she started spitting and going crazy. I'd like to keep going with a night feed so I don't want to completely nastify the boobies if you see what I mean.

I've noticed she asks for boobie when she's not engaged in something else or we're cuddled up together. If she's busy at Playgroup she never asks. I wonder if it could be a boredom/comfort thing and maybe I should approach it from that angle?