Someone please tell me how to stop breastfeeding!

[throughgrittedteeth]

DS is going to be two in 3 weeks and I just cannot stop. It’s only when he goes to sleep but lord alive I’m so fed up with it.
I’m sure the consensus will be cold turkey, but I wanted to have a check I wasn’t missing something obvious first.
He won’t take a bottle or any other cup for milk FYI 🙄

Same boat here 18 months and showing no signs of stopping. We tried it last night with no luck. following and also bumping 😊

At 2 I don't think there's any need to replace bf with milk in bottles or cups.

Do you mean bf once before bed, or for naps and night waking as well?

If it's the second, I would completely cut out night feeds, then naps, then finally the before bed feed. Maybe leave 2 weeks between each reduction. If you have a partner who can help, get them to comfort / settle to sleep while you break the expectation for bf.

Once you've decided to do it, stick to it and never cave, be consistent. Good luck!!!

Don’t stop cold turkey, you really run the risk of mastitis!

Have you tried the “don’t offer, don’t refuse” way of cutting down feeds? Does he have a dummy/comforter when he sleeps?

I did a lot of cutting feeds short and saying, "mummy is running out of milk, let's cuddle while I make some more for you", then offering a little more after a break and repeating, gradually giving fewer and shorter feeds. I think it helps to get a child used to cuddles instead of milk, without having to deal with the huge frustration that an outright refusal creates.

(Apologies - written this and realised it's long winded and boring!)

I'm revelling (probably naively and prematurely ) in the success of DD (23m) going to sleep without a BF for the first time ever last night!

It has been a long process removing this last feed. I started talking to her after Christmas about how as she grows up she would stop having 'the boob', that she has other drinks instead and that big girls don't have breastfeeds. I've also pointed out when we've seen toddlers doing cool things like riding scooters 'oh look at this big girl on her scooter' to give a positive framework for what being a big girl is all about.

I also talked about what bedtime would look like without a BF ('we can sit together and read a story while you have your cup of milk, we'll have cuddles, then clean your teeth and then you'll go in your cot'.

At first when I talked about how she would soon stop having the boob she became quite insistent at bedtime as if worried I'd refuse a feed and seemed upset at the idea.

Every 2-3 days at bedtime I've said, 'would you like a cup of milk tonight or would you like the boob'. Probably on 20 occasions the answer has been firmly that she wanted a BF. Then last night to my huge surprise (and disbelief) she stated she would have a cup of milk. I checked with her that she understood that cup of milk meant no boob and she agreed. I couldn't believe it when she actually went to sleep after the milk. I was convinced she would kick up a huge fuss but she didn't.

This took weeks of preparation but I wasn't willing for it to be traumatic for either of us (we had a difficult start to our BF which both of us found distressing).