Weaning thread part 3... Come share experiences and offer support

[*Ali*]

Hugs KM. You've done so well.

[becj86]

Well, seems L is drinking less and my supply is dwindling. He has told me a few times this week that they're 'not working'. This morning he was 'mixing together' - stirring my breast with his foot to see if it would make more milk... it didn't; then he was digging - I once explained to him that I have holes in my nipple that the milk comes out - he was trying to dig another hole to get more milk

Ah well, he has BF over 2 years after an excrutiating and very difficult start and I think he will drop these last feeds on his own in the next little while. FX DH doesn't try to accelerate the process again!

[Fiver]

Well done Bec

[Erin M]

Awesome work ladies!

[Khalam's Mama]

Great bex. How are the other boobie lo doing?
6 days now. B cried a lot yesterday but was ok this morning, looked sad and was very snugly.

[anna*]

I'm reading along. Audrey is 19 months and a very booby baby. Nursing = love to her and she breaks her heart if I refuse. I never really offer milk but she asks many times a day. Sometimes I can persuade her to settle for cuddles but often only boob will do and she is inconsolable (and ofcourse when she's upset she wants it more so she gets herself in a right state). (PS I was only refusing because it was an hour before bedtime and if I did milk at 5.30pm there's be nothing there at bedtime!). I'm not really feeling any urgency QUITE yet about weaning - but I am conscious that by this stage I was doing just two feeds per day with Stan, and by 20 months was doing bedtime only... we are nowhere near that. No idea what milk to drop first, either. So. Reading, thinking.

[mycatmonet]

we did it today! Dd slept in until 6am so took opportunity of the weekend to not bf and distract with peppa pig and prunes lol she had a big tantrum before i gave her the prunes, but all in all it went ok. One day at a time now....

[*Ali*]

Well done. Fingers crossed it goes smoothly
.

[Khalam's Mama]

I never dropped feeds Anna, I just went from several to none with both mine who were boob addicts, much like A.

Good luck  Caitlin

We are on day 10 no boob now so done I guess. B still sticks his hand in my top for comfort and lays on them a lot. He sometimes sakes boobie? But laughs with it. Cute, no tears since I posted last. Phew.

[Erin M]

Nice work ladies.  KM, a friend of mine had the same thing with her ds after she weaned him just after his second birthday -- he would stick his hand in her shirt all the time -- eventually he started to stick his hand in his own shirt to feel his "boobies" and then he eventually just stopped. 

[mycatmonet]

day 2 here, much like yesterday, but it was a 5:20am wu and not 6am!! I hope the neighbours can't hear DD's tantrum screaming that early...

[Megewansmum]

Hello ladies...

My DD2 is now 16 months old and EBF. I've been trying to wean her since she was 12 months old. Slowly I have been reducing feeds until she was just on morning and evening feeds. She has been waking at 5.15am/5.30am now for nearly 7 months! I don't understand why as since 6 months old she has never been fed during the night and always around 6.30am never before. This morning I just decided that I was going to stop BF. I'd never had strong feeling about it before so I thought I should just go with it. I'm also applying for evening jobs as I don't want to put my DD's into daycare so I might not be able to feed her for much longer in the evening anyway. Well, this morning was absolutely dreadful. She cried and kept going over to the sofa where I normally feed her and patting the seat  She wouldn't drink any milk from her sippy and hardly had any water all day either! The evening went better as she normally has a couple of oz's of milk in her sippy and then wants to BF. Tonight I took her straight upstairs after her milk with her sister for her bath and she didn't seem too bothered. Absolutely dreading tomorrow morning. I have such mixed feelings about it and am surprised how sad I feel. I didn't even realise last night that that would be the final time I would BF. I felt absolutely dreadful this morning as she was obviously nowhere near ready to stop. Gosh, this is so hard 

[Fiver]

If she wasn't that bothered about losing the BT feed and you're thinking about evening work, what about keeping the morning feed for just a bit longer until she's more ready to stop it?  Or could she be distracted by something else?

[Megewansmum]

I did think about keeping the morning feed but TBH I don't think she will ever self wean. My GP told me a few months ago when I feel ready just to quit altogether??? My DH was of the same opinion. I guess I didn't want to confuse her as I told her that "boobies were empty". This morning I gave her milk again in her sippy and she went histerical. She was fine as long as I didn't approach her with it. Thing is she's not drinking at all from her last drink at 6.30pm the night before, until her snack around 9.30am the following day when she has a little water. Hopefully, given time, she will start to drink her milk with her sister in the mornings. That's how she started with the evening milk, copying her sister.

My boobs are absolutely killing me today. So much so that it's difficult to lift her and hold her. Sleeping is going to be very uncomfortable too. Does anyone know how long it takes for this to subside? Thanks.

[Fiver]

They'll all wean eventually, if that's any comfort.  FWIW, weaning cold turkey isn't recommended.  If actively weaning, one would usually drop one feed at a time to reduce emotional distress in LO (and physical discomfort for mum) as much as possible.

If you're still going to continue to wean, you may want to hand express just a tiny bit until you feel a bit more comfortable and use some cold compresses to reduce swelling.  Otherwise there are some other options available like don't offer, don't refuse (more info here Weaning)