Starting Weaning Cold Turkey tonight

[jacksmomtobe]

I posted last week about weaning my 3 1/2 year old dd and my plan to go cold turkey. Well tonight I begin so I could definitely use some BBB mojo!!! Got her a cute cuddly bunny today and a blanket so hopefully those will help ease the pain.

Thanks!

UPDATE: So the first night went relatively well. I kept the kids up a wee bit later than normal. She was asking to nurse and I held my ground. She ended up falling asleep before DS and was cuddling her bunny. She woke up about 5 times and most of the time I got up and walked her around then cuddled her back to sleep. I started to take Sage yesterday to reduce my supply...probably should have done that a bit sooner but overall we're ok. She was very excited to pick a small prize out of a bag and I told her I was very proud of her. Just gotta keep it going! Thanks for everyone's support. It is a bit weird to be nursing an older child (3 1/2 yrs) as I don't have any local peers who have done so and thus I don't always feel comfortable sharing the information with people.

[ThreeofUs]

Good luck to you all! And hugs. :hug::hug:

[elizabethkott]

Good luck!!!!

[LMPC]

Sending PT's to you and your DC!!

[KpbS]

Thinking of you tonight! Hope it goes very well. :hug:

[sunshine873]

I posted last week about weaning my 3 1/2 year old dd and my plan to go cold turkey. Well tonight I begin so I could definitely use some BBB mojo!!! Got her a cute cuddly bunny today and a blanket so hopefully those will help ease the pain.

Thanks!

You go girl! Good luck! Here's hoping the cuddly bunny does the trick!

[elephantmeg]

good luck! Sending mojo!

[wellyes]

Good luck!
We recently weaned DD off her nighttime bottle cold turkey to cut down on soaked diapers/diaper rash and it was shockingly easy. Took just a couple days. I know it's not the same AT ALL but it was a real relief to me how quickly she transitioned. Kids are surprisingly versatile sometimes!

[jent]

Good luck!

[DrSally]

Good luck!!

[Corie]

Good Luck!!

[katydid1971]

good luck :)

[jgenie]

Good luck!!

[jacksmomtobe]

Update on Night #2. Both kids were very tired as they both did a soccer clinic in the morning and then we had trade off playdates (I took the girls, the other Mom took the boys) with their best friends who are brother & sister basically all day long. I was firm with DD and she did ask to nurse. I read her a lot of books and encouraged her to snuggle with her new bunny. I think she was easier to deal with getting to bed than when she woke in the middle of the night. She probably woke up 4 or 5 times and when she asked to nurse I said no. She screamed a bit but still not as much as I expected from her. I did have to get up & rock her a bit during one of the wakings but overall still going pretty smooth. I'm still preparing myself for the worse each night though. I'll update again tomorrow. Thanks again for the support!

[DrSally]

Sounds like it's going well! Each night *should* get easier, as long as you don't nurse her at night. Even once will "reset" the clock so to speak, so stick with it if you really want to night wean for good.

[jacksmomtobe]

Last night went super smooth. DD does have a terrible cough and had a low fever last night. Luckily she did not ask to nurse because I would have stuck to my guns but felt bad about it. Just cuddled her and she was fine. She's now napping & I just heard her murmur "I want to nurse". She's been saying that during the day a bit but expects me to respond "ha ha" like it is a joke so I think she's just having fun with it.

[daphne]

I'm glad to hear it's going well for you! I'm still nursing my 2 1/2 yo DD. I'd like to wean her by her 3rd b'day (June), but I'm already dreading it. Are you glad you waited until 3 1/2 to wean vs. weaning before 3? It's so hard to know what's best...

[jacksmomtobe]

With us waiting until 3 1/2 is just how things played out. My daughter is very stubborn. I honestly hoped to gradually wean her as I did with ds but I was not having any success with her dropping any nursings. She was still nursing about 5 times a night so I just had to mentally get myself psyched up to take her on. I think doing it around some mark such as a birthday is helpful. That worked really well with DS (who nursed until 4 days before he turned 2). With DD when she turned 3 my DH was ill and also job hunting so it was not an ideal time to do anything that would cause disruption. I was so done with nursing and just came to the realization that I needed to do it cold turkey. I really felt that my lack of sleep was impacting my relationship with both kids as I was too tired to have much patience. Once I realized that I picked a week (kids vacation week) and talked with DH (now working a new job & also on medication making him feel almost 100%) of the plan. I think whichever time frame works best for you. Some people say when the child is older (I can't remember if someone told me past 3 or 3 1/2) that it is easier because you can reason with them. In our case there was no reasoning with DD. She was telling me she was "never stopping nursing". I think as long as you are committed to stick with the weaning process you will have success. Rest up as much as possible before you start and prepare for the worst mentally.

Good Luck!!

[Roni]

I have to share how I weaned my dd, at 3.2 yrs. Her big sister out of the blue told her that if she gave up "num" we could go to Chuck E. Cheese's (someone else we knew used that trick). After about a week of not nursing, we went. That night, she asked to nurse, & I reminded her that she couldn't. She cried, and then she was over it.

If I recall correctly, she was just nursing to get to sleep. I had started a sleep ritual (story, music, prayers) that ended with nursing. I kept up with the rest of the ritual, and just eliminated the nursing. I cuddled her instead.

Big sis got shut off at about 2 yrs. 8 months b/c I was pregnant, wasn't producing much, & really didn't want to end up tandem nursing. I think I allowed her to nurse once, about a week after she supposedly weaned, but then we were done.

Good luck to both of you! It's hard.

[jacksmomtobe]

Another Update:
After my last post the next 2 nights went very smooth because DD ended up with a nasty cough and fever so she was completely zonked out. Since then she has woken up a few times asking to nurse but was easily comforted and returned to sleep. She did try to grab my shirt and fight me a bit last night. She was talking about it a lot today. I don't think she is quite herself. She seemed to be talking about it more seriously whereas before she was joking about it and enjoyed when I went HA ha in response. She did make it 7 nights so she got to pick out cupcakes for the whole family and got the crawling baby doll (which we bought before Christmas to try to entice her to nurse & luckily I hide away in a very good spot). We are moving forward and there is no turning back as far as I'm concerned. Though I would have preferred that she didn't announce loudly today in Whole Foods that she wanted to nurse. I'm now feeling like I should have continued taking the sage (1/4 tsp 3 times a day) because I'm feeling a bit uncomfortable. I'll have to get back on that because that seemed to work.

[jacksmomtobe]

Just wanted to provide another update in case this can help someone else in the future. All is well. DD is done with nursing and my supply is gone (sage really helped though it was not the most tasty thing even in peanut butter). DD still asks to nurse frequently...sometimes in a joking manner and sometimes less though. I continue to say no and that is that. She has tugged on my shirt a few times but now knows she is done though she does like to bring up the topic a lot. She is able to co-sleep with me without it being a problem (next move back to her own room & her own bed). She wakes up about once a night and asks to nurse but it isn't a big scene. Overall it was much easier than I expected as she can be quite stubborn.

Thanks for everyone's advice and good thoughts!
Kim

[elephantmeg]

glad it's going well!

[Tammy]

Glad things are going well for you. Hope it continues!