I've been considering weaning Jader down to one (maybe two) nursing session(s) a day, with the hopes that by the time she turns two, she will be done nursing.
Normally, she nurses in the morning, before and after her nap, and before bedtime. She also asks for milk twenty-thousand-hundred-billion times a day. So, if you are of the opinion that a 21 month-old nursing four times a day is a lot, then you should understand that I get really tired of saying 'No, not until night-night time', or 'Sorry, the milk is all gone', and that is why she still nurses three to four times a day.
Yesterday, though, she nursed once. She had her morning milk, then I put her down for her nap without it, and when she woke up and started asking for milk, I just kept her busy until her dad came home. Last night I was away from home from 6:30 pm to 10:30 pm, so she went to bed without milk, and did just fine. I would have nursed her again had I been home, because I woke up in the early morning with very sore and very full milking machines.
Nursing for her is definitely her security blanket. She hasn't latched onto anything else, besides me, since she was born.
Don't get me wrong, I love nursing her. I will probably miss it much more than her when all is said and done. In reality, I was set on Child-led Weaning (nurse your child until they start showing an interest in stopping), until a couple of weeks ago. Austin brought to my attention how differently Jader acts around me, than how she is with him. When I started paying more notice, I realized that he was right. She is more whiny around me, and demanding. I just feel like she is really working me, and sometimes acts very naughty about the whole situation.
It seems like the older Jader is, the more persistent she becomes. Obviously she doesn't need the milk for her sustenance. She is a great eater. She doesn't drink a lot of liquids out of a cup or a sippy (even though I offer them to her all. the. time.), but I realize that she will take more liquids in that form once she isn't nursing as much.
I've also realized that she'll ask for milk more often when she is bored. I need to try harder to keep her busy and entertained to distract her. I know this will become easier as the weather starts to warm up.
I know I can't quit "cold turkey", so I'm not even going to attempt that, but I really don't have an idea of how to do this. Have any of my readers nursed their children past the recommended 12 months? Do you have any suggestions that might make this easier for myself and my little one? My goal is to wean her to two sessions within this month, down to one by April, and then no longer by May.
4 comments:
I don't know what to tell you, I was never able to nurse my children as long as I would have liked. My longest was 11 months, but it seems that cold turkey worked for the ones that I had to stop with. Since I was never great at producing much it didn't hurt me for too long.
Leif nursed till around 20 months, deciding to quit on his own. He slowly just nursed less and less...then I went away for a night, came back, and he wasn't interested. After a day or two my milk was basically gone, and when he tried to nurse a couple of days later he stopped when there was barely any milk. Before that he had just been nursing once or twice a day, we night weaned around 17 months (he was still getting up 3 or 4 times a night, it needed to end!). He still talks about milk and doesn't seem to peeved about stopping nursing on the "early" side.
As for the being whiny around you...we went through this around 20 months through 23 months. I thought it was because of something parenting related, but I've heard this from lots of Mamas. I wouldn't necessarily connect nursing to this phenomenon :)
I think you're doing it just right to wean her off one nursing session at a time. The thing I loved about stopping is that I got more hugs and snuggles from my babies. When they're nursing they want to nurse for comfort. When they stop they just want you!
my children self-weaned (my oldest was 3.5, middle guy was 4.5, 'baby' is still nursing at 3.5). they all went through a stage of whinyness, and they all act differently with my husband than they do with me (or gramma, or friends). i really don't think it has much to do with the breastfeeding.
anyway, dropping one nursing session at a time is easiest for you and her. also, you might consider teaching her we only nurse when the sun is up or down, or circling certain numbers on an analog clock and teaching her that when the little hand is pointing to one of the numbers, she can nurse.
busyness helps a lot -- there are days where i don't sit down much, because if i do, someone is on me like a chicken on a bug. :)
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