Hellobee Boards

I weaned my oldest at 18 months, which is not the same as 3, but I can tell you what I did. I started by gradually reducing the number of nursing sessions each day until we were only doing it before bedtime and before naptime. He really liked nursing to sleep, but we didn't co-sleep, so I didn't have the problem of him nursing all night long. When I wanted to cut out those last two nursing session completely, I timed it with a family vacation we were taking to Disney World. My son was so busy during the day and worn out at night, that he went right to sleep without nursing. I didn't offer and he didn't ask, so that was the end for us.

My son weaned on his third birthday. I would suggest setting limits that you're comfortable with.

Around 18 months I started only nursing him at home. Around 2 I started limiting him to morning, before/after nap, bedtime, and overnight. I basically just tried to keep him distracted with outings/toys in between and didn't sit down on the couch or read books to him unless it was one of those times.

Around 2 1/2 I was going crazy with a nursing aversion, so I begged my husband to take over bedtime. It just took 2-3 nights and he was happy to snuggle with daddy instead of nursing. His sleep immediately improved, like flipping a switch. We got him sleeping in his own bed (after years of cosleeping) pretty quickly after that.

He dropped his nap a few weeks before his third birthday, so the nap-related nursing sessions disappeared. I still had a strong nursing aversion (I'm pregnant), so I started using the timer on my phone - he could nurse for a minute on each side. He was surprisingly okay with this.

Then, the morning after his third birthday I asked him to wait until it was a little later, hoping he would go back to sleep. He said he wanted breakfast and ran to the kitchen. It's been a few months now and he occasionally asks, but doesn't get upset when I say there isn't any milk anymore.

I'm curious about this too. I am pregnant and getting miserable and ready to at least start weaning my 2 year old.

We night weaned already but it was a looong process. She woke up crying for milk every night for months. I caved if she was sick or we were traveling but that was it. She can have milk at 6 am, I picked the time because if she doesn't get milk then she wakes up for the day but if she nurses she sleeps for another hour at least. Now if she wakes up early I tell her it isn't time yet and she's usually fine with that.

Since my supply has dipped though she's asking to nurse more truth the day because I can't seem to get her to eat enough! Today she ate strawberries for lunch which is just not enough calories for her. She won't touch anything to drink besides water and no yogurt.

Right now I really want to drop that 6am nursing session but it might actually be the hardest for her...

I think my son would have nursed for a lot longer than we did, but weaned him just before he turned two because it was starting to get painful. He really loved nursing and is still a huge cuddler a year later. We mainly nursed anytime before bed. I started by cutting out his naptime nursing. I hid the boppy because he asked whenever he saw it and after a couple days he stopped asking and we replaced nursing with cuddles before nap.

Nighttime took a few weeks longer than nap. I did a couple things differently with our routine. First, we nursed with the lights on and no sound machine. Then we would read books and then cuddle before bed. I wanted the cuddling to replace the comfort of nursing for him since I don't think he was nursing for the calories...it was mainly about comfort. After a couple weeks of that routine I started setting timers and stopped nursing when the timers went off. Every couple days I decreased the time until we were only nursing for a minute. Then I started hiding the boppy and told him "not right now" or something if he asked. He stopped asking after a couple days.

I think it helped that he really took to whole cow's milk and replaced a lot of our nursing with milk. Hopefully some of that info helps people!

I weaned my boob obsessed toddler at 22 months because I was 3 months pregnant . It went much smoother than expected. We did cold turkey because she's an all or nothing kind of kid. She cried hysterically for 20 min the first time I said no and that was it.... Somehow her sleep actually got better. Added lots of stories and rocking in to replace nursing to sleep. In all honesty I think I miss it more than she does. I loved being able to solve any problem with boob... I'd consider nursing my next longer so we could skip some of the emotional outbursts 2.5 seems to have !

I weaned when she was only 16 months, so this may or may not be helpful. I went to a conference for 3 days, and then when I got back I work high shirts, didn't sit down at all, had DH do bedtime and wakeup and daycare pick up (which were the times we mainly nursed), and tried to distract her if she asked. She fussed a couple of times, but got over it in about 2-3 days and immediately started sleeping 11-12 hours a night in her crib instead of the 9 in her crib and 2-3 attached to my boob that she'd been doing before. It was so much easier than I expected, and I have zero regrets.

Have you been away from him before? If so, how did he react?