I am not able to stop nursing cold turkey and my son is not understanding I am ready to quit and he should be too. I want to know if any mom has tried other ways.He has temper tantrums if I do not nurse him at home, he will take no for an answer in public but has a fit at bedtime and naptime. Has anyone tried putting something sour or bitter on their breast to make a child not want to nurse? Please Help!!!
I wanted to tell everyone that I ended up having to have an endometrial eblation and my 2 year old wanted to nurse the day of and day after surgery and my husband and I were telling him mommy had surgery and could not nurse him. We offered him a bottle and to read a book and he was content with that. Yesterday I had to let him nurse a little because I was so full and hurting and did not want to get mastitis. When he came around a second time to nurse some more I simply said no mommy can't right now and he was happy with a bottle. I think this is how I will wene him because if I stop cold turkey it is going to be painful for me but my production should slow down if i keep this up and he seems to be accepting this new way of bedtime---bottle and book.
thanks to all who gave me advice.
L.
Since he seems to accept no in public you know he can stop. My first suggestion would be cold turkey - that is what I did with my 16 month old and after a few tough days it was OK. Second suggestion is to have an "errand" to run at bed time every night for a week. Have someone else deal with that time of day for the first week to get him inthe habit of stopping. Than after a week it may be more manageable.
Good luck.
Hi - Let me start with please don't put something sour on your breast to stop him. Nursing has been a good experience for both of you and curbing it down slowly over a couple of weeks is the better way to go.
Has he dropped the morning nursing? If so start there at the beginning of the day. Go to the store and let him pick out a sippy cup that he likes. Make a BIG deal about it even let him pay for it himself giving the cup then the money to the clerk. Let him open it and wash it out with soap. Seems silly but the more connected you can get him to the cup the better.
Start with dropping the naptime nursing by putting a little milk in the sippy cup and letting him sip it in his crib. Only a little milk so he knows when it's empty it is time to sleep. Work thru the complaints with the cry it out technique. Hang in there for the first unhappy nap times then SMILE when it starts to work and it will.
Continue to give the NightBedtime nursing as your milk production decreases. Nurse a little then finish with the cup or vise versa which ever works for you. Again use the cry it our tech. after poutting him down for the night.
After two - three weeks your milk should be gone and the adjustment made by him to the sippy cup. Good Luck - God Bless
ok, it is going to be hard but you'll have to stop doing it throughout the week and eventually from only doing on the weekends your breasts may dry up. then you wont be able to at all. it's a wonderful feeling but unfortunately stopping is not fun, as for the temper tantrums you need to let him throw them. you have 4 others to worry about after a week or two he should calm down. hope this helps
I have a 16 mo old daughter who it seems would love to nurse till she's 18 yrs old!! :) Nursing is the only way I KNOW i could get her down for a nap, (she hates napping, always has), but I dropped her night feeding first. If your husband takes part in the bed time ritual, have him place your little one down, instead of you. Nursing itsn't an option if someone else puts him down. The first night we had 5 min of whinning, not even full crying. Then it's no problem. Since I have even been able to go in, and say prayers with her, and put her down w/o nursing. I say take it in babysteps. Work on the naps after you get the night thing down.
Just a suggestion that worked for a friend: You could let him know that nursing is for babies and he's a big boy now and cuddle him in your arms without offering him the breast.
It is ok to want to do it slowly for both of you. I remember not being able to sit down in front of my kid for a month, because he would run over for num-nums. Nap time is the second to last nurse time to go and you guest it- bedtime is last. What our family did is when I was ready and felt my child was also to stop nursing to sleep, I had my husband put him to bed (he stayed and cuddled) I would usually leave the house. After a less than a week it was over.
By the way he was almost 3 and I was one month away from giving birth to younger brother.
K.
My youngest was 3 before she finally gave it up, and it was only the nap/nightime sessions. I followed the Le Leche League's advise.."don't offer/don't refuse" technique. I spent alot of time standing up. If I sat down she was right there thinking that lap belonged to her. Why not let him continue? He's only 2. Lots of kids keep their bottles and nuks longer than that. He's your last baby and it sounds like YOU don't want to wean him, but you think you should. Life according to who???? Friends and husbands can sometimes ruin a beautiful "nursing couple". If naptime and bedtime are the only times he wants to nurse, what's the harm? Follow his needs and your heart!
I find with weaning it helps to take a little from everyone (and there has been good advice so far) and pick and choose what works for you!!! So here are some tips that I have picked up.
You can limit the amount of time he nurses. For example you could tell him that he can nurse two minutes, after 1 minute give him a 1 minute warning and then count down from 10 and that is finished for that session. Once he accepts this, then you can cut it down to nursing for 1 minute and then slowly cut it down to no more nursing.
You could give him say 6 tokens/coins/stickers that he can keep or he can use to "buy" a nursing session. Once the tokens are used up, no nursing and then slowly cut back on the number of tokens. If he keeps his tokens he can "buy" a prize with them.
