Hi,
I have left my breastfed two year old son with his father and grandparents for two and a half days already and they want to spend the rest of this week 6 hours away all together at my son's great grand parent's place... The whole thing is about stopping breastfeeding... I seized the opportunity of my husband being on vacation and his parents being available also to spend time away from my two year old; by the way he is also with his seven year old sister who adores him and is very nice with him! I am still breastfeeding him and I would be unable to stop otherwise, I mean with him being with me. Is it OK to let my son go away for another 3 or 4 days ? He used to sleep in my bed untill he left on Monday. He's been sleeping with his sister and apparently he's doing ok. I talked to him only once on the phone just two hours ago and I'm afraid he might be heartbroken now! I am feeling miserable and anxious, I hope he doesn't suffer from separation trauma after this! By the way, I breastfed my daughter until she stopped on her own at age 4 when I got pregnant with her little brother !! Should I call my son? or better not? If so what should I say? and when he comes back, how do I keep him from breastfeeding again? thank you so much in advance.
Put bandaids on your boobs so if he asks you can say they are broken. Since he will have already gone a week without nursing it should be pretty easy to say "no" and he'll get over it. Nurse him ONE time tho and you will be back to square one, kinda like cigarettes.
This is how my mother weaned me at about 2.5 and I wasn't traumatized at all. When my kids (now 2 and 5) stay with my parents overnight I call but not around bedtime. Even if he was upset when you talked to him, he's 2 and can be easily distracted. He is also with relatives who love him and will take good care of him. Please don't give in to the insidious mommy guilt! Just enjoy your vacation. When you get back give him lots of hugs and affection and if he asks, tell him the milk is all gone. If you want more ideas there have been so many posts on this site about weaning you can search and read.
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Ok, you would probably do well to let him go and have a good time with other memebers of the family where he is safe and let you take in some MOMMY TIME! There are PLEANTY of loving adults around so I say it is time you start loving a bottle of Red, Rose, Blush or White and some girl friends time! He is 2 this will not effect him long term so enjoy this time while you have it because if you don't want it then I am dropping off my 4yr old with you and taking the time off ;) Enjoy the break and do not worry about little man.
Hi! Hang in there. I think sometimes this stuff is harder on us than the kids. I nursed my daughter until she was 2 as well and weaned her on her birthday. I used the landmark event to mark the transition for her. With your son being away you can do the same thing. Keep your attitude positive and when he returns simply tell him that he was so grown up and such a big boy on his trip! Tell him that mom milk is for babies and that he is a big boy now.... Tell him the milk is all gone because he doesn't need it any more! Focus on how he's outgrown it and don't let your tone become apologetic.... Just matter of fact. Also helpful would be having a brand new wrapped cup or cool water bottle for him....a new big boy cup if you will..... Something "grown up" for him. It helps that he has an older sibling.... Maybe get big sister to reinforce the message. My daughter responded to this logic very well. If she did ask to nurse I simply repeated that there was no milk left because she didn't need it anymore and then redirected her. It was much easier than I thought. Good luck!
I just weaned my 22-month-old last weekend. I got Maggie's Weaning and read it to her a million times (okay, maybe it just felt that way) and we talked about the upcoming weaning (we set a date), and had a party with cupcakes and one last (really long) nursing. Then I put the stuff that you put on kids' thumbs to get them to stop sucking their thumbs on my breasts. When she wanted to nurse at bed time I reminded her that she was all done nursies (what we call breastfeeding) and that now I didn't make milk anymore and it was all yucky. She started to cry so I let her latch on for just a moment and she made a face and I told her, see, you're all done and now it's yucky. She wanted to try the other breast and I had to peel her off before she sucked all the stuff off. I asked her if it was yucky too. She said yes and I gave her a drink and snuggles and reminded her she was "all done nursies" and could pick a new bedtime routine. She had one other upset that lasted about a minute the next night, but has been fine since and didn't even try to nurse when she walked in on me in the shower this morning (which she usually would). I know this is a little different from your situation, but I got lots of these ideas from other posters on Mamapedia and this is what worked for me. Hope things go smoothly when you go back home.
