Breastfeeding 2yr old

[BubblesAndBabys]

Hi all,

I am still breastfeeding my 2yr 2month old

I am proud of our journey and breastfeeding her brought us so close, but I am wondering if anyone has any advice to wean her off me?

During lockdown now it's so hard to distract her without her wanting breastfeeding

P.s. we co-sleep and she will be breastfed in the night too. So I am ready to stop for my own sanity and sleep deprivation ( partner not to supportive in helping wean her off even thou he says I am weird for feeding her this long - I asked him to help and possibly do bed time so she doesn't want breastfeeding and he is busy playing poker - so extra points for helping me find a solution to do this alone.

Xx

I’m sorry I can’t really help but I’m in the same boat- my son is 2 and during lockdown has barely even eaten as all he wants is milk, and screams bloody murder for it!! Part of me thinks I’ll keep it going for a while due to the virus (antibodies etc) but am keen to stop ASAP afterwards!

I think it’ll be really hard trying to do it alone. I read a really lovely article on kellymom about how the little one will grieve for it in a way, and about how you say “oh, I know it’s very sad, but the milk is all gone now! Would you like instead?” I’ll try and find it!

The only advice I have is either distraction or putting a plaster over your nipple. That's what I had to do with a 3 year old and just tell her it's broken. She wanted to see for herself that it was broken.

My ds was older, 3 1/2 and I just told him no more, he took it well, I had to tackle the Co sleeping too, that took much longer

Watching with interest. I thought I was amazing when I weaned my 19 month old daughter- gradually cut down feeds, distracted with cup of milk/water or a story etc. Only minimal crying when going to sleep for 2 nights and then she never looked for it again.
Now I realise she weaned herself..

My 20month old son is having none of it. Screams blue murder if I try and distract him out of a feed. My husband tried the other night to put him back down when he woke for a feed.. he cried for an hour and made himself sick. ..
I've really had enough of breastfeeding now but have no idea how to move him towards accepting that..

DS was 20 months when I decided I was done. I changed jobs, so was around more during the day, but the unexpected side affect was he suddenly wanted to feed all the time, so similar to what your experiencing now.

For us cold turkey was the only way. At first I tried to reduce slowly but he didn't understand why he was allowed sometimes but not others, so was constantly getting upset. When I just stopped feeding all together, he stopped asking within a few days.

During the day I managed by keeping him super busy (though might be harder in lockdown). This work surprisingly well and made me realise how much he had been boredom feeding.

Night time was far more problematic, as I had been feeding to sleep. I foolishly swapped to a bottle at bedtime, thinking it would be a temporary transition thing. DO NOT DO THIS. getting him to give up the bottle later is far harder

I sent mine to his grandparents for a weekend- cold turkey. When he came home he grabbed my hand and wanted a feed and I said we can't do that anymore. He didn't cry, was fine and hasn't looked back. Gave him some good cuddles and then some play time. He was 3 at this point but wasn't ready before then.

Another person in exactly the same boat here with a 2 year old except we no longer co-sleep. I was pulling my hair out last week but over the past couple of days have tried to limit the number of feeds each day as otherwise it’d be constant. What is worked for us is insisting he eats a meal or snack first (ie breakfast before his early morning feed), cutting down the length of time he feeds for and trying to distract him or just say no when it’s not one of his main feeds (his favourite feeds are early morning, before nap, before dinner and before bed).

I don’t know how we’ll manage to wean him off completely now or in the future because it is the easiest way to get him to sleep and we live in a small flat so there’s nowhere I can hide while DH puts him to bed.

You sound like you’re in two minds - you’re proud for feeding your daughter for this long, but also feeling as though you need to stop because you’re getting so tired and touched out.

This article is good, with some suggestions for weaning an older child: www.emmapickettbreastfeedingsupport.com/twitter-and-blog/weaning-toddler-bob-and-pre-schooler-billie-how-do-you-stop-breastfeeding-an-older-child

Also he was asking to feed every time I sat down so I’m doing more standing up!

I’ve just weaned my 2 year 9 month old. I started reducing the number of feeds eg offering a drink or pouch instead and leaping out of bed quick in the morning. I got it down to two feeds, then one feed in the middle of the night.
I let him watch something on the iPad in bed and have a special biscuit before bed to get rid of bedtime feeds.
His latch has never been great but did get a lot worse and when he had colds he sort of chewed on me so that reduced the duration of each feed greatly
Then some nights he slept through so didn’t feed at all. And the latch stayed chewy, I got fed up and told him they don’t work anymore as I don’t have a baby anymore, I have a big boy. He still asks but doesn’t get upset when I say no.

Thank you ladies for the comments.

Glad to know I am not alone!
Xx

@NoMorePoliticsPlease what an incredibly unhelpful and pointless post.

Extended breastfeeding is the biological norm. The op hasn’t ‘set herself up’ for anything There’s nothing wrong with breastfeeding for as long as you and your lo want. There’s equally nothing wrong with deciding it’s time for you to stop!

TRy to limit the feeds, erhaps to bed and nap time. TRy to shorten them. I itended stopping around 2 ended up stopping at 4. What you do is fine either way but if you want to stop try offering a drink instead or a story is there an oh who could cuddle the 2 year old instead at bed time.

@JustinMyJustin thank you for that, I am new to this and didn't know how to reply directly to her.

@NoMorePoliticsPlease i haven't set myself up, I choose to feed my daughter and now I have decided to stop, is that so bad?

I didn’t bf so might be completely on the wrong track but when we got both DS’s to stop with bottles overnight I would only offer them some water in their water bottle instead. Once they realised they weren’t getting cuddles and a nice warm baby bottle of milk they settled down.
It took about 2/3 nights and the wakings went down to practically zero.
Even now if my 6 yr old wakes he has a sip of water and drops back off.

@NoMorePoliticsPlease what a silly thing to say. ‘Set yourself up’ by feeding your child as intended by nature?! Are you in for feeding only on exact 4 hour increments and in their own rooms at 6 weeks as well?

I think right now it would be more difficult because of the lockdown but I went with the don't ask don't reuse method with my two and a half year old. Eventually my milk just dried up and he declared it 'aw gon'
Distraction can work well if possible but it can be exhausting especially if you can't go out anywhere.
Congratulations on nursing till and beyond two xxxx

@nomorepolitics incredibly unhelpful. You sound like someone who gave big bottles of formula at weeks old to force them to sleep through alone