How to stop breastfeeding my toddler

[EJ85]

Hi All,

I never thought I’d be in this position as I intended to just breastfeed for a year but here I am, 13 weeks pregnant with a 2 year old that still has 1-2 breastfeeds a day.
I know that I don’t want to tandem feed and I’m thinking about getting my son through the winter with the breastfeeding but I’d love some advice on when / how to stop. Baby is due in May.
He’s particularly keen on his morning feed so I know this will be hard for him. 💔
Thanks in advance! 🙏

I would recommend stopping as soon as possible. Ideally before he knows about the new baby. And I'd avoid the "you're a big boy, milk is for babies" messaging too. Can you tell him it's all gone and then distract like mad?

Go on holiday. It will be easier to distract and refuse to feed as all the usual cues won't be there.

I find do not offer, do not refuse - bit first try a distraction!

DD is 27 months and we are down to feeding to sleep and night comfort feeding which we are struggling much more with than when we reduced the day feeds!

It’s quite likely your milk will dry up in pregnancy or maybe just change taste which can put them off. He may wish to dry nurse still but some find success in weaning during pregnancy.

my dd was 18 months when I weaned her off so a bit younger. I found success in distraction and keeping her full up with food e.g. first thing in the morning whipping her out of bed, bowl of porridge immediately. Soon enough she wasn’t expecting a feed.

You might find your milk supply drops off and they self wean. This is what happened with my ds.

DD was 2 years 8 months when I stopped. At about 2 I told her boobs are for bedtime and offered cuddles, cup of milk and a treat when she wanted to feed in the day (usually after getting home from the child minder). She was fine with that and stopped asking. I then told her for a couple of days my milk would be finished soon but I’d always have cuddles . Then one night I took a cup of vows milk up to bed, said my milk was finished. She cuddled up on my lap, drank her milk, had a couple of tears and slept. She went to sleep cuddled on my lap for quite a while and even now at 4.5 likes DP or I to sleep with her.
as reassurance, she was ready. It hasn’t affected our relationship and even now if she’s sick she likes to snuggle in my lap.
I now have 7 month old bf baby and DD is not in anyway bothered by me feeding him .

I did hold off on weaning as at 2 she got hand foot and mouth and needed to feed do we went once from no daytime feed to lots but she needed it. We just did the first bit twice!