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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Stopping Breastfeeding for my 20 month old toddler

4 replies

BreastfeedingMomma2019andup · 03/07/2021 21:42

Hello,

I am wondering if any mommas out there have been through a similar journey to me and can offer tips and advice on weaning my LO off the boob. She feeds to sleep at night and recently has been wanting more and more comfort in the day.

I am ready to reduce this and want to be able to get her to bed without her feeding to sleep. She knows no other way so it’s going to be a really tough transition. At the moment we have the evening wo down, get into bed have a book then she feeds, then she wants more and more. Any advice please?

OP posts:
Diamond263 · 03/07/2021 21:51

Not sure how much advice I can offer, I've just switched around my 12 month old DD bedtime routine because it was always feeding to sleep (and asking for more and more through day). Now we have feed in the bathroom after bath, then to bedroom for books and I lie next to her cot whilst she goes to sleep. Shes actually not bothered by the change at all, you may be surprised too. Or you may have a battle on your hands but I'd suggest either reducing feeding times gradually, talking to her about it before bed (are you finished? Shall we say night night boobies!), or books after feed just to change up routine. I think feeding in a different room brings the point home to them more too. Distraction through the day with asking for feeds, favourite/new snacks for a while. You might have some tears, stay by her (if that works for you, sometimes a bit of space helps too), and she will gently get used to the new way. Good luck, sorry if not much use!

BrownEyedSquirrel · 03/07/2021 22:56

Following as I'm in the same position with my 19mo.
I had been reducing feeds so we were down to morning, before nap, before bed and middle of night.
However, the last few weeks he's been insatiable and is demanding boob all the time!
I don't want to fully wean but want to cut down a lot.

CoffeeDay · 03/07/2021 23:44

I finally weaned DD at 27 months after wanting to stop for ages but just not knowing how, and not having the mental energy to deal with the tears. I also read on MN that only usually takes 3 days and easier if you are physically not there. Some women did it successfully during a trip away or had their partner do bedtimes & naptimes.

DH has always been useless at putting her to bed so this was how the timeline went for me without a partner's help. I was also doing feeds in the morning, before naptime and before bed (thankfully DD slept through the night).

Saturday - Sunday
DD slept overnight with my parents so that was one evening without BF taken care of.

Sunday Afternoon
She'd normally expect a feed before naptime but we were doing a 2 hour drive from my parents place so that was one situation where she would nap in the car. As fate would have it, she refused to sleep that day and basically whined and cried for two hours.

Sunday Evening
By the time we got home it was too late for a nap so I stretched her until bedtime. She was utterly exhausted by this point so I decided to try putting her to bed without BF for the first time. I gave her a sippy cup of milk instead and she whined a bit but fell asleep quickly. Letting your DS/DD skip a nap on the days where you want to put them to bed without nursing is a good tactic!

Monday Morning
Mondays are when DH takes DD to his parents for a day so I get to skip the morning and naptime feed. I was already on the longest streak without BF so I decided I had to go with it and wean.

Monday Evening
This was probably the hardest night since she expected our usual routine. Instead of lying in her bed to nurse, I sat next to her and read a few books and then left her with a sippy cup of milk. She cried for about 5-10mins but then went to sleep.

Tuesday Morning
I normally nurse in order to snooze a bit myself but this time I picked DD up and went downstairs right away. Gave her a sippy cup of milk and some TV and she was totally happy. This was the easiest feed to drop.

Tuesday Afternoon
I can't remember exactly what I did, either I let her skip the nap or left her to sleep with the milk.

Tuesday Evening
Same new routine, a few books and sippy cup of milk. This time she literally only cried for 30seconds and went to sleep. And that was all it took.

She also stopped wanting milk at bedtime very quickly, about 1-2 weeks. I only needed to pump away some milk for the first 24 hours and my boobs adjusted very quickly after that.

BunnyRuddington · 04/07/2021 09:50

We did a few things that helped.

DH got them up before the morning feed and gave them breakfast straightaway.

I started only feeding in one seat and just never sitting there.

You can offer a drink and snack instead, hot chocolate went down well or a homemade lolly.

As fir putting her to bed, if you're ready to stop that feed, just leave the house for a couple of hours each night when you're about to start the bedtime routine. Make sure that DH knows to keep things calm and just offer a cup of milk.

The PP was right. Both of mine dropped the bedtime feed after 3 days of doing this Smile

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