Will any baby self wean from the boob?

[MamaMilkMachine]

Hi everyone, my LO is 1 in a couple of weeks and still absolutely loves the boob.... for comfort and for food. It's my magic tool and it's the only thing that gets her to sleep for me. I'm starting to wonder if I'm going to have to take it off her or if she will wean off it by herself. She eats solids well but we do BLW and she won't be fed by me so I have no control over the amount that goes in. She has point blank refused formula and won't even have breast milk from anywhere other than the boob. I've just returned to work and she's fine without it when I'm not there but when I'm with her she will actually pull my top down and help herself I don't think she's too old for breastfeeding but I do get funny looks when I tel people I'm still doing it. I guess what I want to know is does anyone have any success stories of LO self weaning from the boob or stopping it without upset and tears?

DD sort of self weaned at almost 2. I say sort of because of the following:

1. At around 14mo she started pulling my top down every 5 mins during the day. I wasn’t thrilled about the sudden ethusiasm again so tried some distraction/snack/water offering and she was entirely happy with that. No tears.

1. At around a year she started noticing her older brother had milk in a cup after their bath and started trying to kick his which was causing pre bedtime screaming fits so we just started letting her have a beaker of milk too. I have never liked expressing so it was cows milk. Again entirely happy with this. No tears and the tears about not having the beaker obviously stopped too.

1. By almost 2 we have naturally got down to just a bedtime feed (after the beaker - she wanted both 🙄) and then one day she just chose her dummy only over the boob. I stopped offering and she’s never asked again.

So I guess what I’m saying is that unless you are happy to do natural term weaning (so all babies will naturally wean from the breast but it could be anywhere between 2-7yrs) then you may have to encourage it slightly.

Depends on what you mean by self wean. Both DC weaned off without a fight. DC1 I think 15-18mo and DC2 around 13-14mo. I basically set a time myself and stop offering. Neither were bothered when I gave them a sippy cup of cows milk instead. They didn’t ask for boob. In fact I got engorged after weaning DC2. Must be less than a week? Tried positioning her to suck off the milk but she wouldn’t latch anymore. I had to use my hand to push the milk out instead.

So I’d say it is fairly easy to stop in my experience.

It does help by returning to work. Once I was back to work, it was down to morning and before sleep. I had a short commute with DC1 so wasn’t so bothered to stop. With DC2 my commute was an hour so I really didn’t want to sit down for 10 min to feed! They were both BLW and were eating absolutely fine by that point.

My son did! at 6 months. He was eating quite a bit of solid food and just completely lost interest in the boob. One day I offered it to him as usual when he woke up and he just laughed at me!!

Mine did at 6 months. Completely lost interest. I was devastated!!

Mine did just after he turned 1. Magic trick is to get pregnant again and have your milk dry up... I was quite upset about it as I wanted to feed him until 2ish, but I'm happy that he weaned himself off with no fuss.

Have you thought about trying to dry your milk up if you don't want to feed anymore? Peppermint dried mine up so I was on a mint ban while feeding and I'm sure there was other food I was supposed to avoid.

I'd have a think about "nursing manners" and stop the pulling tops down behaviour:

kellymom.com/ages/older-infant/nursing-manners-2/

You can do "don't offer don't refuse" as a way of winding down too. My DS is nearly 2 and breastfeeding is almost done.

3 weeks ago I would have asked exactly the same question as you, but my 13 month old DD is (unbelievably!) now only taking 2-3 feeds a day, and none at night. Just last month I was still boobing her to sleep and all naps - she had never, ever gone to sleep without it.

I actually didn't want to wean, but found myself having to give up the night feeds because I was suddenly, unexpectedly pregnant, and really struggling with sickness and exhaustion. Miraculously, by the third night of DH putting her to bed, she was drifting off within 5 mins, boob-free. This has had the surprising but immediate effect of reducing her need (and desire) for it in the day too. I'm a bit sad!!

All three of mine weaned before they were one. They just lost interest.

Mine self weaned really suddenly at 15 months. I think it was after she was ill. I actually know quite a few babies who did and a lot more who probably would with very little effort (ie. if they weren’t offered they probably wouldn’t ask). I’d try not to stress to much you might be surprised!

Only time I got one of my DC to self wean was by getting pregnant when was still feeding just before 2nd birthday - presumably milk changed or dried up as before that it was much loved. Never managed to transfer to any cows milk or alternative - only water!

If breastfed my DD to just over 2 and still going with 15mo DS. If you don't like her pulling your top, don't let her. She's old enough that it doesn't have to be as on demand as it once was - there's a balance.

For me, 12mo would be too young to wean but I did want more control (and to wear clothes that weren't necessarily BF friendly!) so I've become stricter at just feeding to sleep not during the day. Having said that, they get ill and what can you do if they're not eating!

So basically my point is you can set rules and routine if you want to cut down or you can wean. The chances of a just 1 year old self-weaning are slim IME but you might get lucky!

Mine self-weaned around 10 months. I was really upset and spent ages trying to get him to feed. Apparently it's more common than la leche league etc would have you believe though and in the end I just embraced the positives of stopping!

We just had visitors whose 5yo is still bf and regularly asks "where is my tit?"

DS self weaned at 21 months. A couple of months before he started refusing the morning feed (was just doing morning and evening at that point) and one evening I sat down to feed him and he just shook his head and pointed to his bed. I still kept offering every night for about a month and he took it once when he wasn't very well but other than that it was a definite refusal. Made me very sad but I'm really glad he did it himself.

I night weaned DS at 12/13 months as I was just sick of getting up every single night and developing a nursing aversion (just at night). It was a really rough week. But once I’d done that he actually started taking a bottle - and weirdly, gradually, over the next 2 months he self weaned off his other feeds (morning and evening at that stage). Last feed to go was his morning feed and I would offer, he’d smile and shake his head and run off to play with his toys. Like other pps I was a bit sad but just embraced the new phase.

Weirdly he still likes to stick a hand down my top when falling asleep at bedtime but he’s otherwise very happy.

So would say for us it was possible once we’d done the night weaning.

Dd1 I had to gently encourage her to stop at 3y4m. Dd2 self weaned at about 18m. Different babies do different stuff. With dd1 I had her on a timer and limited her feeds like that.

Is there a reason you want to stop? Ignore the comments/looks and respond with the fact the WHO reccomends feeding until atleast 2.

I still feed 21 month old but by the 13 month mark she dropped feeds by herself and now only has milk at bedtime and for a nap (in morning) if we are home. It doesn't interupt our day or anything and it still works for us.

Mine sort of self weaned at about 19 months- I thought it would never end at one point! There was a reduced amount of feeds and then I encouraged it more towards the end by a mixture of not offering and also offering a different drink etc in a special cup. I really loved bf but I’d definitely had enough by 19 months!

Dd I partially weaned at 12 months by offering alternatives and then she self weaned around 18 months. We were staying with my parents and my niece was visiting also and Dd wanted big girl milk in a beaker like her cousin and that was that.
I was a bit sad as I probably would have carried on a bit longer so with ds I made no effort to wean and he weaned naturally at 2.5 years.
I really wouldn't bother what anyone else says it's not really anyone else's business how you feed your child.

My DS has recently weaned around his first birthday. He has never been a prolific feeder and I always got the sense he did it because he had to. Not for comfort, if that makes sense!
Him weaning was due to a combination of factors I think and I guess encouraged it slightly. He was teething and biting a lot during feeds so I offered less and gave cows milk instead. He realised that was a lot less effort and stopped wanting to try to bf I think! I kept trying for a few weeks but he wasn’t interested. I always thought we’d feed till around 2, so I’m still a bit upset about it. Plus, I have no idea how to settle him at night without it and he’s just started waking again!!

If you want to carry on feeding her, do and who cares what other people think! You’re doing an amazing thing. You might spot a natural opportunity to encourage her to wean in a few months time if that’s what you want.

My first two 'self weaned' when I got pregnant with the next child at 15 months and 3 years because my milk dried up. I did wonder if I'd have to keep using the same tactic but DS self weaned just before his 4th birthday. That may sound horrendous to you but DC2&3 both were only having a few feeds a week after 2y. And DS had a CMPA so I was offering the boob regularly up to the age of 2 since he doesn't like soya milk.

Mine stopped over the course of a week at around 8 months old. I was quite upset (and uncomfortable!)

I'm so glad there are other babies on here who self weaned early as I was SO upset when DS did it. And the LL league woman I spoke to was adamant it was something I was doing wrong because a normal age for self weaning is well after two.

My DD self weaned at 11 months, she just wasn’t interested any more. But I think that you might get the impression from this thread that this is more common than it actually is (because the people responding are self selecting). Most DC need some encouragement IME.