How to Stop Breastfeeding

My son is 15 months old and I'm in the process of weaning. I work full time so the only two feedings we had were the morning and the bedtime feeding. I got rid of the morning one first. When he wakes up, I immediately give him a sippy of milk and sit him down for breakfast. He didn't seem to miss the morning session at all.
The bedtime one we're still hanging on to, but I think I'm the one hanging on! First I did one week just nursing him at bedtime. Then I switched to every other night. The nights I didn't nurse him I either let his dad put him to bed or if I had to, I was just sure not to sit in the "nursing chair" or get in "nursing position". Then I went to every two days for a week, then every three days, etc. We're down to every 5 days right now. Soon, he'll be completely weaned. I haven't been engorged at all and my hormones have changed slowly, so I haven't had the mood swings either. It's been a very easy end to a wonderful relationship.
Good luck!

I tried weaning but it seemed to prolong the nursing [at least for my oldest]. Seemed to take several months. With the rest of my kids, I ended up going cold turkey. Hard on me and hard on the rest of the babies, but after a couple of weeks it seemed to do the job and the crying/wailing stopped. I was fortunate because I would manually release my milk in private and just throw it away. And the little ones were used to bottles or cups by then. We found good substitutes with the bottle which we later also dropped cold turkey (at pediatrician's advice).

I took the approach that Serena L. took, except, I cut it down to once a day for about a week. Then, I cut it down to every other day for a week, then every 3rd day for a week, and so on. It took about 1 full month to wean my daughter. The other moms make a really good point too. As you are cutting back on nursing, replace the nursing times with cuddling and rocking, drinking a warm sippy/bottle, etc...

I had the same problem except my son was a little older. I just had to cold turkey him. Just take it away and offer only a sippie cup. I felt like a horrible mom for a few days, prob a few weeks, but it was interfering with his social skills as well as getting very akward for me. The only advice i have is to make a decison and stick to it. Good luck girl!!!

D. Mattern
The MOM Team
www.formyrugrats.com

I stopped nursing my son at this age. He was nursing at night and first thing in the morning, and was quite attached - as in he'd sign for milk and then stick his hand down my shirt! The process took about a week, and really the process was harder on me than on him. Mornings, I simply brought him straight to the breakfast table. Nights, while I was reading him books, I would give him a sippy cup of water when he signed for milk. He didn't notice the mornings; he was caught off guard the first two nights, but in general seemed to handle this better than I did.

I stoppeed @ 6 months and thought it would be difficult but it was actually harder for me than my son. I just stopped and started him on a sippi cup.

If you are nursing more than once a day, cut back to only once. After you are down to once/day for a week or two, just stop. Yes, you'll be a little engorged, but it'll go away soon.
Meanwhile make sure you spend quality time with her so she doesn't feel like anything is missing. Cuddle and rock your baby, sit with her while she drinks warm milk from a sippy cup, etc. You've done such a service for her for nursing her, now it's time to move on. Good luck