How to stop breastfeeding!!

[coco111]

I really really want to stop breastfeeding my 15 month old. There's a lot of reasons why I want to stop including the fact that she spends the majority of the night just hanging off my boob and I haven't had a proper sleep in so so long. The problem is she is literally addicted to boob and I don't know where I'm going to start. The other night I was refusing to give her the boob and she cried for around an hour until I gave in. I live in quite a small flat and I have other children so I worry about her crying at night and waking them up so I just give in.what can I do? I don't know where to start. Has anybody got any advice?

Have a look at Emma Pickett on social media, she has some great resources on toddler weaning.

I introduced a bottle with cows milk at bed time to start with. Then we stopped when we were away for a weekend with PIL. They provided a distraction. They had regularly babysat so DH was used to having warm milk with them and settling for the night.
DH was very good at helping himself so I bought a couple of thick, high neck, fitted t shirts to wear at night so he couldn’t access easily.
It only took a couple of nights.
I had a bottle with water or milk handy to offer him if he woke me up but he wasn’t interested in drinking, just in using my boob as comfort. As he was co sleeping he just shoved has hand down my top and was satisfied with just kneading. Anyone who does extended bf will know that they continue to do this for quite some time after stopping bf, usually when tired or unsure.

Thanks for your replies. We have managed to cut down during the day and during the day she will take a warm bottle of cows milk and go to sleep. It's just the night times that are the main problem for us. Some nights she will be up every hour, definitely just using me as a comfort she is not hungry. We are still co sleeping so I guess that's making it harder. She's very very clingy with me. She will scream unless I'm with her even if she's with my partner. The other night I offered her a beaker with water in and she threw it and I kept offering her milk but she was refusing it. She was just screaming and screaming until I gave her the boob. It's so tiring and so so hard. I know I just need to stick with it and stop giving in but in the middle of the night when she's screaming, I worry that she's going to wake the whole house up.

I’m assuming you mean DS and not DH! 🤣 Although it could be I suppose 🤣

We did this
https://amzn.eu/d/c3HmGqW
Book called booby moon. My little one was 16 months

Oh really. How long did it take?

We read it every day for a couple of weeks before and then just decided a day when i/we were ready for it and went for it. It's says do it on their second birthday but I just did it when I was ready. 16 months. She still talks about her "feed" going to the moon for new babies to have now and she's 3. Very cute

Clicked on this thread to say exactly this! She is a lactation consultant and the queen of weaning! Good luck. www.instagram.com/emmapickettibclc?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==

I'm in the same boat over here with my nearly 14 month old. She feeds so many times through the night but I'm sure it's just for comfort at this point. We also co sleep as it's the only way anyone gets any rest. She will not settle at all for my partner, screams and gets herself into such a state. Does the same if I try and settle her back to sleep without feeding her. It's awful and I also have 2 older children who have to get up for school in the mornings, I just can't have her screaming all night!

She's not a big eater, took to weaning really late and is still not fussed about food now so wants to bf throughout the day still too. Even if I don't feed her, she still hardly eats actual food so I figure she must be hungry! She will just follow me about crying until I give in. No amount of distractions or actual food and water offered helps.

My 2 older boys just naturally weaned so easily. They were both big eaters so just cut down the bf themselves and were pretty much weaned by 1. I have no idea what to do with this girly!

My phone is expert level at autocorrect🤣
Texting and messaging can be a nightmare times.

Just a suggestion not to replace it with something you aren't happy to keep doing for as long as they need to have support to sleep - so think twice about introducing a bottle at this age (strictly speaking these are damaging to teeth after 1) and just another thing to eventually take away.

As a disclaimer I know this is specific to my scenario but I was like you and it seemed impossible that I'd ever get them off the boob. I hadn't been able to leave at bed time for 18 months!! We had at that point however completely cut out feeds in the day. Naps were in the car or pram.

My LO was a serial bottle refuser and BF to sleep and every few hours at night when I got pregnant with DC2 at a similar age and I had to stop due to the sensitivity. I started off with the going to sleep feed and replaced it cold turkey with cuddles. There was tears and I know that's hard for you in your living situation but it was over in a few days. We cuddled / stroked hair / bum pats anything that seemed to sooth them untill they settled and fell asleep. The consistency is key as giving in after tears shows they are right to be sad in the first place (if that makes sense) and can confuse them! I know that is much easier said than done. I did also still did feed back to sleep when they woke in the night (worked full time and first trimester tiredness meant I needed quick back to sleep). When there were no more tears at bed time I bit the bullet and didn't feed one night on waking and to my surprise there wasn't a tear to be seen! We then didn't look back and that was the end of BF for us. We partially co slept (still do!) where me (or now DH) will join them on their first wake usually for the rest of the night. If anything I think it helped the change because the comfort and closeness was still available too them.

I hope at least this gives you a bit of comfort that you can get there!

@coco111 I’ve just posted a similar post, or am in very similar situation. Small flat, two children one breastfeeding at night sleeping in the same room.

How did it go? Did you manage to wean yet? And if so how did you do it?