Weaning 27 mo, hold my hand please!

[FutureNannyOgg]

We've come to the end of bf. DS1 has been losing his latch, his teeth are catching more and we haven't had a pleasant feed in days of not weeks. I have come to the conclusion we need to stop as I'm just resenting it now.

He still wants to nurse, but I think he's big enough to understand. I had to unlatch him 4 times this morning before giving up, he howled and cried then through his tears told me to "give DS2 milk please". Broke my heart. But he knows he hurts me, he recognizes his brother still needs nursing, I think he's ready.

The plan is to feed tomorrow (he only has one feed at day in the morning) then have a chat about it with him and from then on he can have a cuddle and his morning banana instead.

I cried for ages when DH and I decided this. I can't keep feeding him, I don't want to, but I feel really fragile about it.

Happy to hold your hand. My dd is 3 today and i have been telling her for last few weeks we are stopping breastfeeding when she is 3. I am finding it quite uncomfortable at times and have also been advised it could be affecting my fertility (ttc 22 months) so i feel it's time. But now we're there. . Let's hope we can both do this with minimal pain! Part of me is not ready, the other part definitely is!

oh sweetie, it's hard to let go!
I'd tell him it's the last one BEFORE feeding though, so he can enjoy his last hurrah and that will help you too not to change your mind afterwards!

I would also take a photo for happy memories!

Thank you.

We did it, had a little chat, not sure how much he understood, mostly he was fussing asking for milk. Had a long feed, felt like sandpaper but I didn't have the heart to stop him. Talked to him about how proud I was of him growing up now. Took photo (good call, I'd never have thought) had a cuddle after. Next hurdle is tomorrow morning.

I've been through this at exactly the same age. It went better than expected but he kept asking for ages. I just kept telling him it had run out and that mummy was empty. He didn't like it but I always had cow milk on hand and he got used to it. Everywhere now and then he say 'is mummy milk still empty?' or 'can you get some more?'

In here for hand holding. You will be quite sad (well I was) but at the same time I was desperate to stop.

DS1 still trys his luck for daytime feeds when we haven't done them for a couple of months, he knows he's being cheeky though. I can't pretend it ran out as I am still nursing DS2 at 4 mo, so I am pushing the mummy milk is for babies angle.
I'd like to take him out and do some kind of being a big boy treat, not sure what yet.

Aaahhh I hadn't realised, the empty trick won't work.

First boob free day for him today. When he came in to my room I got up, leaving DS2 snoozing with DH and asked him if he wanted to come downstairs for a banana and "chocolate milk" (warm milk with 1/2spoon of drinking choc). He whinged a little, probably sleepiness more than anything, so I carried him down and sat him on the sofa. It has to be said that I found snuggling under a blanket on the sofa with him, watching Cloudbabies and drinking hot milk to be a far nicer bonding experience than trying to distract myself from the toe curling teeth scraping while we get annoyed and frustrated at each other.
Then we went into town and DH took baby so I could take DS1 for a 1 on 1 wander about, went into a lovely traditional toy shop where he chose a Christmas present for his brother and a little treat for himself to celebrate being a big boy.
He woke up from his nap a bit grumpy and nuzzling my boob, but he wouldnt usually feed at that time, so it was fairly easy to distract him.
Really pleased to have a lovely day with him today. I don't think we are out of the woods yet, last week he had an afternoon long tantrum about a toy car he lost a month ago, he doesn't forget too fast, but it's a good start.

glad you stuck to your guns and also that you had a good day!
good job reinforcing that he's a big boy now and giving him an alternative drink/treat.
yes, he might have a few tantrums (or get jealous), but he'll get used to the new situation and as you said there are so many other ways of bonding!

very proud of you!

That sounds really good! Chocolate milk was a great idea.

Sounds like you had a lovely morning :) Hope it's been ok today!

Pretty good. I broke my own system this morning and let him come into bed with me. He asked for milk, and I responded by asking if he wanted to go downstairs for chocolate milk. He whinged a bit about this, but none of the howling tears we have had in the last couple of months when I refused to nurse him because he had come into bed at 4am. On the third refusal he got out of bed, said "come on then mummy, chocolate milk" and went to the stairs.
I am surprised to find I have the extra milk now, I didn't think it would affect my supply much as he only had a short feed once, but he used to take the engorgement off the left side (DS2 only feeds off the right at night) and DS2 isn't catching up during the day, he is spacing his feeds wider now too. So I have ended up expressing 4/5 oz off the left before bed to be comfortable. The first couple I put in the freezer for emergencies, but as I work from home I have no need for EBM very often, so today I gave DS1 the milk from last night chilled in a beaker, which he really liked. So I might keep giving him a little bit of ebm every couple of days with a snack.

It sounds like it is going really well! Brilliant!

well done, proud of you!

Well it's been a week, we've had a few sad moments, but overall that was pretty painless. Thank you so much for your support ladies, you've been a great help