Did any of you have children who decided to stop breast feeding on their own?

[georgeo]

Dd is 23 months. She has a feed at nighttime and....I'm ashamed to say if she wakes at night. . Fortunately it's often only once. She has a cold and we're in the process of a vey short nap/no nap (at least before this cold) and has been asking for it during the day. If I'm honest, I have a love/hate relationship with breast feeding....I hate that dh doesn't have breasts so I have to tend to any night wakes. Lol. A friend of mine said that at 25 months her ds decided he just didn't want it anymore. Is that common? I would love for it to end naturally for her. She is very, very strong willed so I think making it end would be hard on her. I'm really hoping she just decides she has had enough but she really, really loves it. She had a lot going on right now too, move to bgb soon, dropping nap (I know it's young but she gets about 2 more hours sleep in 24 hours without a nap...ds was the same) and toilet training (although we're taking this slow) and the two year birthday soon.

I guess I'm just wondering if some kids do just decide that's it, or if I'm dreaming.

Thanks.

[*Ali*]

Mine didn't self wean but I very gently encouraged them over a period of months, mostly by distraction by one feed at a time. They were both around 26mo when they had their last feed. I did actively wean the NFs though at 12 and 15mo because I know it was just habit and I wanted a decent night's sleep.

[michaeljacknnugg]

DS looked at me as if I was mad on New year's eve when I offered him a feed. He was 11mo and I was planning to wean at 12mo, so I went with it and just offered a cup.

For me that counts as self weaning. Don't know if it does for you!

[georgeo]

Ha ha, yes it does count for me too. Ds did that at 11 months as well. He also decided at 2 years that he was no longer wearing a diaper in the day or night and that was it... He never wore a diaper again. Lol.

[cuckoochick]

C rejected me at 18mos when we were staying in a hotel for three nights (she was having a BT feed only and occasional snacks in the daytime when I was home). I was upset but decided that would be the end but then we got back she did ask and I just told her the milk was all gone!

[georgeo]

Do you think the nfs could sort themselves out when she is better and we have the nap sorted or am I dreaming?

[*Ali*]

Anything is possible but tbh I have never heard of a 2yo just stopping night feeds by themselves. It is so ingrained I think the parents mostly need to take the lead.   

[Fiver]

My DD self-weaned at 25m, but we had actively dropped NFs sometime before that.

[Katet]

DS2 gave up off his own bat when he was 18mo, we'd been away & I'll admit I was totally using the breast as a prop, because it was a really hard situation to get him sleeping & a few days after that I offered & he pulled my top down like it was the worst thing in the world... did that for 3 days & so by then I knew he was finished. I was told it was pretty rare for children to give up at that age without parental prompting, but I know now DS2 does things on his own timetable & often before "average" DS2 was also of the "I'm TT today" camp as well.

[becj86]

L dropped NF's around 2yo of his own accord (only about a year after I was ready to drop them ). He also recently stopped BFing - initially I had pain for some reason and he will occasionally latch for 2 seconds now but I think he's done.

[mumofalice]

My DS refused his BT feed one night when he was OT and that was it for us - he was 14 months old. We were pretty much down to the one feed a day at that point but I had only been thinking the previous night how much I loved that few minutes of 'us' time that we got together  I was planning on keeping it going for a bit longer but he had other ideas! I continued to offer for about a week afterwards but he wasn't the slightest bit interested - which was a real shock for me as he'd always been a milk monster! I was so sad it was over but I'm glad that he did it of his own accord in the end . . . not sure how I would've done it otherwise as I'm way too much of a softie!