Weaning a 15 Month Toddler

most likely she is teething and in pain and that is why she is waking. nursing relieves pain. I would start by deciding which feeding or feedings you are ok with and with the other one(s) i would tell her that your "milkies" or whatever you call it are sleeping and you can have milk later. after a few days she will learn she has to wait until morning to have her milk. and by the way she doesnt need to drink milk at all. why take a child off of human breast milk to give it cows breastmilk? how is that better? when you and her are done nursing their is no need to drink milk. she can get her nutrients from her diet. I dont want to encourage you to quit nursing ( i still nurse my 2 year old) but please make sure you dont traumatize her during this.

I use to pump and put breast milk in a a bottle and added formula to the breastmilk, just a little at a time or as needed. Of course my milk production was low, so I had to supplement with formula. So as time went on, I would decrease the amount of breastmilk and increase the formula. I am not sure if you are using a bottle during the day or exculusively BF. I have a 14 month old son. Right now, I am adding whole milk to the bottles, but I only started with 1 oz of whole milk and added it to 4 oz of formula and slowly increased the whole milk and decreased the formula. Have you tried this?

So I'm definitely not in the "breastfeed until they're 30" camp, but it does sound like your little one isn't quite ready to be finished nursing. I know it does help some children with teething pain - maybe she's cutting a molar. In any event, I also think it might not be healthy for you to still get up 3-4 times a night and nurse her - that is definitely a habit. She can eat solid food during the day and there is no reason she should be eating at night - it's the comfort, not the food. But if you don't stop nursing her at night it will likely continue. She needs her rest, as do you. You both must be exhausted. I would talk to my pediatrician if I were you, about some ideas to help both of you start sleeping through the night. Good luck!

You can also try almond milk, rice milk and water in a special cup that is only used at night and maybe have dad go shopping with her for it.
My girls would only let daddy comfort them if I was not home.
I have nursed 5 kids until they were closer to 2 /1/2 the night nursing for us were the hardest to let go but try eliminating one a week so it is a long process but it will work.
Also you can also wear something to bed that is really difficult to BF in. ( tight fitted, high neck shirt I know not very comfy but that is what helped us.) Good luck.
J.

You might identify exactly why you think she is waking to feed. It sounds like she might feeding out of habit, or for comfort. I don't personally believe, if you offer other methods of comfort, that you would be traumatizing your daughter. Of course, you absolutely have to offer another method of comfort for her. (if she's feeding for comfort.) My son is 14 months and was waking for a bottle 2 or three times a night, because of teething. We would give him teething tablets and hold him, sing to him, and make him feel better. Once he was calm, we'd put him back in his crib. If he fussed when we put him down, we would pat him on the back and offer a pacifier and blankie. He stopped wanting a bottle after a bout a week. I did bottle feed, and I'm assuming weaning from the breast might be harder. It might be a slow road. Perhaps you could take one feeding away a night for a week and slowly wean her. There is no nutritional need for breast milk or formula after a year, so you aren't depriving her of essential nutrients. If what you want to wean, then you should do that. If you feel it is appropriate in your situation to stop nightly feedings, there is nothing wrong with that.

I absolutely believe in breastyfeeding, and I nursed my son until he was 101/2 months (I wantd to go longer, but he weaned and I dried up), however, I am a firm believer in a good night sleep for a baby. Your 15 month old needs to be sleeping. There is no reason to be getting up 4 times a night! What I would do is go in when she cries and hold her and rock her and try a pacifier. It may take a few nights, but she should start to realize that it's not worth it to wake up.

I would try reading the dr. weisbluth book too. Good luck and congrats on nursing so long!

My pediatrician told me when I was having troubles weening my 13 month old.... he told me to go away for the weekend, leave my son with grandma and "viola" --- when I came back he nursed one time. I did the same thing with my third son and it worked as well. We become a habit for them not a need. Good luck!

My 1st son did the same thing, so finally at 15 months...my husband put him to bed and got up with him if he woke. It only took two days and he never asked to nurse again. It was much easier than I thought, when you remove yourself from the equation...they just forgot about nursing once they're old enough to not need it.

Also, my kids never took to milk right away. So I just gave them yogurt and cheeses and the doc said that was fine.