Please help me with stopping breastfeeding

[PronounsBaby]

I'm so done. I'm really starting to hate it. It's not the feeding so much as the twiddling and constant touching, pulling my top down etc.

I've asked before around this and someone said don't offer don't refuse and they will stop when ready but I am ready now and she's is just boob mad.

As soon as she is home from nursery then all night. She's waking a lot during the night to feed and I can't take it anymore.
I'm feel like I'm just walking boobs to her.
She's 20 months and eats well. We co-sleep.
😪

Do you have someone else who can give her drinks in a cup for a few days? Nothing else worked for DD and we tried it all.

Put plasters on them and tell her they are broken, I had a couple of days with some tears but it worked. But only do this if you are sure you can carry it through, otherwise you wont be able to pull this stunt again. xx

My DS is 21 months and I’m in the process of stopping. He naturally cut down to 2/3 times a day and I’ve just cut out the morning feed. We are lucky in that he doesn’t wake up at night anymore. We broke that habit when he was around 13 months - my partner would go in to settle him so that milk wasn’t an option. Is this something you could try? There was some protest to begin with but he quickly got used to it as he’s very quickly accepted there’s no milk in the morning anymore. The bedtime feed is going to be the most challenging for us to cut out I think.
If you’ve got someone who can support with offering different options/ways of settling at night then that would definitely be my first port of call.

Sorry, I’ve just seen you co-sleep. I imagine that makes it a lot harder as you can’t remove yourself. Is putting DD into her own room something you’re considering doing?

I felt the same at times my son would just whinge and want on me whenever I came home from work or when he saw me in general and I hated that he only saw me as milk and not his mum. I had to just set a feed schedule to stick to and then gradually removed one of them over the weeks until eventually we were down to the bedtime feed only. Distraction for the feed that is being removed is all you can do as they will often still look for it. I used to co-sleep until my son was about 14 months and he'd also wake every hour or so for a feed when I did. When I moved him into his own room he continued to wake every hour or so at first but it was easier to gradually replace some of those wake ups with an alternative to just feeding back to sleep... rocking and singing mostly which was a bit draining but he did eventually sleep longer stretches and my husband went through for some of the wake ups rather than it always being me. I've recently switched out the final bedtime feed which I was dreading but he was fine with me just cradle holding him just like I would when he fed to sleep and instead just singing and swaying. Just be careful to do it gradually as you don't want to end up with mastitis.

Thanks for your replies and stories of your experiences.

I would love to carry on until we come to a natural end but I think I will need to be bit firmer and try out some more strategies.

Her bedroom is ready, but she has a toddler bed not cot and we just to fit another stair gate before I can think about making the move.

I did wonder if it would all be too much at once, no boob and a new environment but it is worth a go.

The plaster idea did make me chuckle! Thank you!

I am very fortunate to have a partner willing to help so will utilise him a bit more also.

@PronounsBaby yeah I kept breastfeeding when he moved into his own room as I didn't want to change too much. It will be hard to come off the feeding but it's easier in a way at this age as you know they are getting plenty of food now so they don't need it as much. You've done really well getting to 21 months! 21 months is when I stopped the bedtime feed and I'll be honest I was forced to do that when I got pregnant (which sadly was an early loss) but it pushed me to do it as I didn't fancy being pregnant and still feeding my son. It's often easier to just pop them on than the hassle of trying to wean. You'll get there

We cut out all daytime feeds first with a simple 'all gone' when asked. Bedtime feeds were hardest and the middle of the night feeds (also co-sleep). Made a decision of a date (18 months old) and just went cold turkey. I wore tight gym bras and T-shirts for bed so he couldn't easy access and we had a couple days of tears. But then, all fine.

I’m another one who did plasters and said they were broken. First night maybe an hour of crying and woke up twice, second night woke up once, third night slept through. It was surprisingly easy. Like you thought I was done and felt strong because the alternative was worse. Also a co sleeper.
boobs hurt like mad though and I had to self express in the bath.
You can do this. Mine was 2 years old, and wouldn’t have given up willingly.