Stopping bedtime breastfeeding.

[SprinGarden]

I only breastfeed my 17month old to sleep now. No other feeds in 24hrs.I would really like to stop it as I am pregnant and it has become really painful and not enjoyable anymore. We do have a bedtime routine and she does drink milk through a sippy cup however she always wants the breast to finally go to sleep. Any helps, tips, ideas how to go about doing it would be highly appreciated.. Thanks

Start by separating the feed and sleep. I did this by giving a feed, then we had a story and song rather than the other way around. It was really tough for a few days because she kept trying to feed, but I kept saying no and giving her a cuddle instead.

I made the feeds progressively shorter and eventually we started skipping them. We actually kept the morning feeds for a long while after we dropped the bedtime ones, and they fizzled out naturally one Christmas!

I went out for a few nights around bedtime. I knew they'd have a cup of milk with DH if I wasn't there, so I just made sure I wasn't there until they got used to it. Only took about 3 or 4 evenings.

I did have to wait until DH was home for a few days though as he had rather erratic working hours

The top part here is how we stopped BF to sleep. We do a feed downstairs (which we still do as baby is younger) and then bath, bed, story upstairs. Took a few nights before a feed wasn't then expected. Cuddled to sleep instead for a while.

@Latenightreader thanks a lot.. I will try that in a couple of days.. At the moment I m trying to explain to her that it s gonna have to stop.. She answers with 'more'.. So we ll see

Get someone else to put her to bed. I managed to stop the night time breastfeeds by going back to work in the evenings

You'll never stop it easily when you are there. I just went out for a walk few nights in a row, much the best way

@PolaroidPrincess i did try that but only for one night and she didn't sleep, she just cried and wanted mummy.. However my partner did say he thinks he would have managed if I stayed out later.. Maybe I should do a couple of nights in a row too

For me they had to know I was out, not downstairs or coming back anytime soon

Thank you all for your advice.. Really appreciate it.. Hopefully some of it will work as I m truly ready to stop xx

Did you have any luck with this?

Heya... What we did in the end was prep her from weeks in advance that we were gonna stop bf and it won't be available anymore and that if she wants she can have milk or water in her cup. When we came to the day she did cry that she wanted it... My partner used to go in with her... I had to stop bf as it was painful due to being pregnant again, I probably would have caved if I wasn't. The thing is within a couple of days she was fine with it... She just accepted it and drank cow s milk.. She did ask for bf but we said no and she knew she wouldnt get any