How to cut out final toddler feeds?

[Ccjop]

DD is nearly 3 and still breastfeeds once at bedtime and once first thing in the morning. I’d love to know if anyone had experience of gently weaning their toddler off those final feeds?

Bit of background - I night weaned her about three months ago using the Tommy Tippee sleep trailer clock and it was a massive success. She feeds at bedtime, sleeps through the night and has a feed at 5.45am when the clock lights up.

Feeding is still a big comfort for her at bedtime and she’s really excited to do it in the morning. It’s getting to the point now though where it’s often painful or uncomfortable to feed her because my milk supply has dwindled. Plus the bedtime feed doesn’t send her off to sleep anymore because it’s much quicker.

Any advice about how to introduce the idea of the end of breastfeeding to a toddler/experiences doing it would be much appreciated.

thanks!

Warm milk in a beaker with a bit of chocolate syrup. Sorry, but it works.

There are some books you can get to read with toddlers and then effectively wave it off and give her a little present.

Honestly no idea if it works though. I tried the "don't offer, dont refuse" approach from about 3 and finally weaned at 4.8, 3 weeks before she started school!

Love this idea - honestly not opposed to trying anything to make it as pain free as possible!

Oh wow, well done! I’m in awe of women who do it for that long.

Yeah I might think about a book and a present - the Sally Weans book was so useful for the night weaning.

thanks!

@SquigglePigswas that night feeding too? Just wondering out of interest how it played out up until nearly age 5.

We night weaned her at about 14 months. She was a slow feeder so every feed was 45-60 mins and I just couldn't hack it once I went back to work.

I got really close to wearing her at 4.5, then nursery started talking about the transition to school and she turned into a limpet pseudo 2-yr old!!

More than happy to answer any questions!

I went into it aiming for 6 months and hoping for 12! But we were both happy with how things were so I just let it roll.

Can understand you wanting to wean if your little one is mostly dry nursing!

I stopped when I was about 7 months pregnant due to nipple sensitivity. I would have happily fed her until about 4ish.

DC was only about 2ish, but it was a simple ‘no milk, boobies hurt, milk finished’.

She repeated ‘milk all gone?’, I said yes and had a drink of water instead (from a ridiculous glittery tumbler). Never fed again and was never brought up, even when she saw a younger sibling feeding.

This was a child who LOVED the boob and fed often.

It was honestly fine. I was more upset than her that it was so abrupt.

At 3 I would just try a ‘boobies finished, milk all gone’ and offer water, just see.

I think exploring stopping via books like booby moon and a lots of chats are better for older children weaning.