Breastfeeding Mamas - 3 Day Night Weaning Toddler Strategy??

He is 2.5 years old...leaving him with a trusted family member will not scar him for life. He might even enjoy it. When I leave my kids with their Grandma they get upset when it is time to come home. They just enjoy taking their own "vacations" at Grandmas!

i have not; but we did take a vacation as a family for about 5 days. with so much going on, not a lot of time to nurse, and the change of situation, it seemed to be enough to make it less important and it just happened on its own. also, i got a period around the time we got home from this trip, so i think that made my milk taste different (even though he had nursed through periods before) and that mixed with the fact that he hadnt been nursing often because of the trip, kinda made him wean on his own.
he was 20 months. :)

you know, if you are worried about the emotional/mental consequences, why wean? theres nothing wrong with continuing nursing, but you can put limits on it. for example, avoid sitting in the location you normally nurse in, rearrange furnature or whatever. try to do something else during the times you would nurse to distract; read a book, watch a movie or something together, play a game, whatever. this is healthy because it is replacing nursing (which is very bonding) with another bonding activity; instead of replacing it with you being gone! you are right; this can be very upsetting! he might regress further when you return, although i guess some kids do wean this way.

whatever you choose make it work for YOU and YOUR FAMILY. your PED and other families or authors do NOT make the choices for you. they do not have the emotional connection to your child, they do not have to deal with the day to day emotions of your lives. you make the choice for YOU not for someone else! :) i advocate nursing until the child weans, but for some kids that could be indefinatly, so thats not always the best option.
dont ask dont refuse. this means that you dont initiate nursing sessions, but you dont refuse them either. as your child gets busier, they might just drop feedings on their own.
anyway.
write me if you have any questions ok~! :)

Maybe I'm just WEIRD, but I find it a LOT easier to nurse at night when I don't even have to wake up for it than during the day when I'm TRYING to get stuff done! So we're pretty much DAY weaned, but I'm in no hurry to night wean, because that doesn't bother me, and besides I like to know on those days that he pulls the toddler not eating thing he's getting something. AND that on french fry and chicken nugget days he's still getting something HEALTHY!

I didn't do that method but I ended night feeding when my son was just about 1 year. I explained to him during the day that we weren't going to eat anymore at night but that he could nurse anytime he wanted during the day. I did this for about 2-3 days. Then at night when he woke to nurse (oh, we co-sleep), I told him we don't eat when it is dark, we sleep. He fussed for a few minutes, i.e., changed positions and, went back to sleep. The next night he didn't even wake up. I was amazed at how easy it was. I do think that part of it is his personality - he is pretty laid back kid but also I did as I said. I continued to nurse him to fall asleep and first thing in the morning until I was 7 months pregnant with his sister.
Good luck with whatever you try!

I night weaned just after my daughter's first B-day. When she woke up a night I offered her a bottle with water, and held her/rocked her back to sleep. She protested for about two or three nights and after that she started sleeping through. Worked great.
Good luck

hmmm, I've been there, too! All three children were past one. Our son was 17 months and cried for two weeks - I kid you not. Dad walked him every night - we drove him around to see if he'd nod off. He eventually just decided it wasn't coming back. We couldn't seem to communicate it to him effectively. Our second was 23 months. I'd had pneumonia at around 13 months and couldn't nurse her due to the medications I was taking - so simply told her my 'boobies hurt' and she would ball her fists and lay beside me to cry softly. She went right back to nursing afterward. I used the same 'my boobies hurt' when it was time to wean her. I was pregnant and HAD to stop. And our last baby. Wow. I let her go, thinking she'd self-wean. However I think she'd still be nursing today. She was (gosh I think this is right) closer to 30 months. I waited until school was out so her brother and sister would have restful nights - and told her the same thing - she would reach over and 'test pinch' me to see if I was truthful. And, yup, she'd get a little yelp. And in the end, she was the easiest to wean. All of them co-slept with us - and she simply moved over to sleep with dad.

Good luck with it :) - I think you know him and will know if his staying with your mom will do the trick. - oh, and during the day, we stayed ultra busy so she couldn't request a morning nursing or nursing before bed - for about a week. Just didn't allow it to come to her mind.

I haven't tried or heard of this weaning strategy, I night weaned my oldest around 18 months while I was pregnant with #2. We also co-slept. When she woke up either my husband or I would offer water (she never took it) and we would say something along the lines of "It's night night time, not time to get up yet" She never fussed or asked to nurse and after a couple of weeks, stopped waking up as often. I was amazed, I thought we would have a howling toddler in the middle of the night!

You know your child the best, if you think this will work, go for it. In my experince my kids usually do a lot better than I allow myself to imagine.

I started putting my DD in her crib and told my hubby not to bring her to me anymore if she got up at night, she was 16 months and I was 4 months pregnant. It took one night she got up at 5am and cried for all of 10 mins. went right back to sleep and has been sleeping from 8-8or9!!! She will be 3 in Nov. So glad it didn't take long! I don't know if I could leave for 3 nights.. but I am good at the CIO, LoL. I lay my 10 month old down and then go in every 5-10 mins. it doesn't take but a few nights and they sleep GREAT from then on!
Good luck!!

Your child will be fine and shouldn't suffer any emotional upheaval, this is just a growing up issue. We can't make our children not have emotional issues in their lives, it just isn't possible. You need to wean him? then do whatever it takes to get it done. You will both be better for it. And leaving him with a relative is a good thing rather than a stranger. Good Luck!

LOL! I'm laughing...my son was 21 months when he went to spend a week with grandma and grandpa on their farm, and we were still nursing a number of times a day--including at night. I thought, well, if he totally weans, that's fine; if he night weans, that's fine, if he doesn't wean at all, that's fine too. What happened? He slept perfectly well for grandma and grandpa--through the night--and the minute he got home, he ramped up the nursing! The week (well, 5 days) absence did not make a difference at all! I will say that this year, when he was 32 months, he definitely missed me (we weaned in March; the trip to grandparents was in July) and we're working on the fallout of that. He is worried we'd leave him, permanently. But, it's not awful; he just snuggles a little more than usual at night, which doesn't upset us much. He was with his brother, and that helps both of them to feel secure. Anyway--that method did NOT happen for us! It was not the intent when we sent him, but if it had been, it would have totally backfired!