The great wean has begun

[ShanaMama]

So, at 2y4m we are officially weaning. I bought DD2 the Wocket from Kohl's along with There's a Wocket in my Pocket. I tried to convince her that the new bedtime routine = reading & snuggling her Wocket instead of nursing Mommy. It went semi-ok. DH had to come in & do the final tuck-in because I felt like I was teasing her by being there. I think I'm going to have him put her to bed for the next few nights.
Are there any tips you can share for making this go successfully? I really don't want to give in & nurse her again & do this over & over. I feel that it's finally time to just stop. Do I go cold turkey & say no more nursing ever? Or just cut bedtime nursing while allowing morning nursing? Any tips to prevent engorgement/ discomfort for me? I have a pretty decent supply, at least on one side.
TIA

DD1 wants to know why the Wocket is not mentioned in the book at all. I had no answer.

[sarahsthreads]

I'll be watching this thread for ideas for my own 2y4m DD who I've affectionately dubbed the "milk monster".

DD1 was down to one nursing session at this age (morning) and one morning she skipped it, and the next morning, and the morning after that, and we were done.

DD2 would nurse a dozen times a day if I let her. I seriously can't sit down for the whole morning, then I nurse her before "nap" time (she rarely actually naps anymore) and then at bedtime if I'm home (I work some evenings.) I have no idea how to set any more limits than this without going cold turkey - which I don't really want to do yet.

I have had some success with telling her "the milks are sleeping" (she insists that my breasts are called "milks") but if she's at all tired or crabby (most of the time now since she refuses to nap) she gets frantic and overwrought if I refuse. Hence the not sitting down ever in the morning.

I think if you can get her away from the bedtime nursing by having your DH put her to bed for a while, that would be a good start. I think the reason DD1 weaned on her own so easily was that eventually, there were far more interesting things to do first thing in the morning than nurse - at bedtime there's nothing more interesting and it's a great way to put off going to bed, kwim? I wish DD2 and I were in a routine where we could do this, but we're often way too busy in the morning getting DD1 ready for the bus to nurse then, so we're stuck at the naptime/bedtime sessions. I keep reminding myself that this is just a phase and she likely won't be nursing all that much longer. Probably.

Oh, and the Wocket is actually the "yot in the pot", though my girls still call it a wocket.

Good luck!
Sarah

[Dr C]

I'd probably drop one session at a time--probably do the bedtime one first and then get rid of the AM one, mainly because it will be easier on your body.
The other thing you can do to reduce your supply is to take some sudafed. It will cause the blood vessels in your breasts to constrict and therefore less fluid can collect in your milk ducts (because less blood flow). This is why you don't want to take Sudafed while nursing in general--it is safe for baby but can sometimes irreversibly damage your supply.
If your supply decreases, your DD may become less interested in nursing and wean herself (or in any case it may be an easier wean).

[egoldber]

I'd probably drop one session at a time--probably do the bedtime one first and then get rid of the AM one, mainly because it will be easier on your body.

I dropped the bedtime nursing long before we stopped nursing in general. I just had DH put her to bed 90%+ of the time and that basically did the trick.

I also went back to work when she was 2.5 and left in the mornings before she woke up, so then she didn't nurse in the morning or during the day either. But she nursed when I got home from work for several months after that. But it was literally for about 30 seconds.

I thought she would never self wean, but then at 3.5 she magically did. But because I didn't feel like I "had" to nurse her all day, I did not feel like it was burdensome to continue nursing.

[dec756]

my son is 11 months and just gave up daytime nursings. i think he was just ready? we still do bedtime and morning but NOT the middle of the night. if i had to guess, we are in the homestretch.

[Snow mom]

I weaned my DD at 22 mos so a bit younger but still very opinionated about milk. We had dropped to just before bed nursing at about 20 mos so I had already worked down to nursing just once per day. We dropped the AM feeding by me just trying to whisk her off to eat breakfast the moment she woke up and being really enthusiastic about eating breakfast, getting ready, etc. The PM feeding was harder to get rid of because it was such an ingrained part of putting her to bed. For the first few week or two she got a cup of milk at bed (which there were some tears over) and would insist on having a teething biscuit. I didn't want to wean her onto a bad habit but we managed to work away from the cup of milk and biscuit pretty quickly. For the most part I still put DD to bed, even the first few nights after weaning. I know lots of other people find it easier to have their DH do bedtime but that was too big of a change for DD because I've always rocked her before bed. Basically for me the key was once she had gone 24 hours without nursing we weren't going back. The second or third night was the worst in terms of her throwing a fit about it. I didn't have any problems with engorgement when I weaned her. If you start feeling some engorgement I would just express a tiny bit of milk to relieve it. Your body should respond to the lack of nursing quickly, although I hear it's normal to have a bit of milk for months after weaning.

[MommyofAmaya]

I have another totally addicted 2y 4mo old. Last night, I tried to put him to bed without nursing for the first time. He eventually fell asleep after about 40 minutes of shrieking while I sang, rocked, read, snuggled, etc. I had terrible nightmares and heard (imaginary) screaming in my sleep all night long.... needless to say, I think we will be waiting a while before we try that again.

Good luck to you and I'll be watching this thread for ideas to use on our next attempt.

[ShanaMama]

I'll be watching this thread for ideas for my own 2y4m DD who I've affectionately dubbed the "milk monster".

DD1 was down to one nursing session at this age (morning) and one morning she skipped it, and the next morning, and the morning after that, and we were done.

DD2 would nurse a dozen times a day if I let her. I seriously can't sit down for the whole morning, then I nurse her before "nap" time (she rarely actually naps anymore) and then at bedtime if I'm home (I work some evenings.) I have no idea how to set any more limits than this without going cold turkey - which I don't really want to do yet.
(snip)
I have had some success with telling her "the milks are sleeping" (she insists that my breasts are called "milks")
(snip)
Oh, and the Wocket is actually the "yot in the pot", though my girls still call it a wocket.

Good luck!
Sarah

It has occured to me before that not only are our girls similar ages, I think they are similar temperaments too. DD2 would also nurse 12x a day if I let her. We've been pretty strict about only doing morning & night for a while now, plus naptime on weekends. DD1 dropped me like a hot potato around 8 months after I struggled and struggled to pump enough for her & ended up with a dwindling supply & supplemented with formula. So I've never actually weaned a child.
ROFL about the 'milks'! And thanks for the heads up about the yot. A wocket is a much cooler name, but the weird thing is the storyline (if you can call it that) doesn't mention the wocket in the title at all. We haven't read this book before & DD1 was disappointed that there was no wocket in the boy's pocket!

I have another totally addicted 2y 4mo old. Last night, I tried to put him to bed without nursing for the first time. He eventually fell asleep after about 40 minutes of shrieking while I sang, rocked, read, snuggled, etc. I had terrible nightmares and heard (imaginary) screaming in my sleep all night long.... needless to say, I think we will be waiting a while before we try that again.

Good luck to you and I'll be watching this thread for ideas to use on our next attempt.

Poor baby, poor Mommy! The problem with weaning at such an advanced age is that they really understand everything. My DD is a stubborn little mule and if she sees that I go back to nursing after a major crying session there will be no end to the tantrums. This is partly why I waited this long to start weaning- I didn't want to try it when I was wishy washy. I need to be ready to stop so I can be firm that it's over.

To all the pp who suggested cutting out morning or night but not together, I don't think that would work for us. Partly because of the above, my stubborn darling would want it if it was available. Also, my kids are up before me & DD2 used to come into my bed to nurse while I went back to sleep. It's harder to cut that out because it means I have to get up at the crack of dawn & give her breakfast & distract her. This morning was a nice screaming session until DD1 suggested a lolly. We settled on a gummy worm for each of them. For breakfast. :
I know it will be a bit hard on DD1 also because they share a room & also because she loves her little sister so much that she advocates for her. "Just give it to her, Ma, she really wants it!" So I promised each of them a new toy on Friday if we make it through the week.
I do feel that once we've gone 24 hours cold turkey there's no going back. I'm thankful that I've made it this far & I am ready to be d.o.n.e.
Good luck to the rest of you!