I wasn't sure I wanted to breastfeed when LO was born but I figured I couldn't knock if if I hadn't tried it so I gave it a shot. No one is more surprised than me that I EVF to six months and am still going strong with supplemental solids at ten months so it occurs to me I never pictured when this will all end and what that will look like. I am curious to hear from others when did you wean? Did you actively help LO along in the process or did you let them self wean? Tips? suggestions? I really have given this zero thought so I would be grateful to hear from all perspectives!
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My long-term breastfeeding goal was one year, and I had decided that anything past that was just lagniappe. I planned to let him self-wean, and reassess at two years if we were still going.
By 15 months he had dropped down to 1-2 sessions a day (I breast-fed on demand), mostly very late night/early morning. I think at that point it was more for comfort than anything else. Then he got sick, and was so congested that he couldn't properly latch on (couldn't breath through his nose at all). It took like two weeks before he could even try again, and by then my supply (which I think was already low) had dried up.
It wasn't how I thought it would happen, and I was sad that it happened because he was sick, but also secretly relieved that it wasn't something we had to consciously decide to do.
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My goal is to EBF until one year and then continue nursing at home in the mornings and at night. However, I am starting to dry up and have been struggling to produce enough milk to cover the bare minimum of ounces she needs at daycare. Right now, it's me drinking a ton of water and eating a lot, and starting next month I will drop pump sessions and introduce WCM. Hopefully I can still nurse beyond a year.
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Once we reached a year, I weaned off nursing during the day (on the weekends, he was getting bottles at daycare, so I weaned off bottles at the same time). Then we were nursing just once a day in the morning and we continued until 14.5 months when he self-weaned. Essentially, he just seemed to nurse less and less in the mornings and get easily distracted. After a week of him seeming not that interested and only nursing for about a minute, I just didn't offer one day and he didn't seem to notice. And just like that, it was over.
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@lovehoneybee: I just learned what lagniappe means! Thanks!
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My LO will be two in mid-October and we are still feeding on demand and at night (as required and not every night) and we have between three and six nursing sessions on any given day.
It's very rare for us to nurse in public and I don't think people would realise that I'm still bf'ing if I didn't mention it. At this point nursing is supplemental to LO's solid foods and although LO is still a booby baby she is definitely on the road to weaning!
@tillma: if you're interested in a gentle method of encouraging your LO to cut back or wean you could start with "don't offer, don't refuse" and see how they go.
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i was lucky enough to be able to BF DD until 18.5 months when we both decided that we'd had enough. i night weaned at 12.5 months, went down to 3 sessions by 14 months, 2 by 16 months, nighttime only around 18 months and then went to every other night, then every two nights, then had our last session which was about a minute because she decided she'd rather read! so it's was perfect timing for us all!
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I'm in the middle of weaning myself and she just turned one. I started dropping some sessions this summer in anticipation of daycare in the fall. We are now down to just morning and night. I am not sure now what my plan is for next week when she starts daycare. I think I might drop the morning session and keep the night session a little longer. I also just found out I am pregnant, and her latch is starting to hurt again, so we will have to see how that goes.
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all I can say is that my first goal was 6 months, I never thought I would want or need to go past. then a few days after he was born I figured I could do it for a year until I go back to work....now we are at 21 months, nursing 1 - 3 times a day and going strong
so I don't know what weaning looks like yet, I just say take it one month at a time and do what you want!
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@Kemma: I think I will go with that approach after LO turns 2.
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We just dropped down to 3 feeds per day this last week or so, at 15 months. She's pretty steadily dropped feeds since she was around 1 so I'm hopeful that she'll self wean when she's ready. Neither of us wants to stop right now, but at the moment I don't envision nursing much past when she's 2, although that could change.
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My guy turns 2 at the end of September and we still nurse before bed, during the night, and the morning. We cut back originally with "don't offer, don't refuse", but he's still a boob monster! The nighttime feedings are wearing me down, so I think I'm going to have to go cold turkey pretty soon. It makes me sad, because I was hoping he'd taper off on his own & I know weaning completely is going to be hard on us.
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We're in the middle of weaning as well, she just turned one. She seems easily distracted, and bites, hard! We started supplementing with formula at ten months to help with weight gain, now we're making the switch to whole milk. We only nurse at night and it's going well, I nursed her in the afternoon over the weekend and holy engorgement the next day, ouch.
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With my oldest I weaned him at 8 months b/c of allergies. It was easy b/c he was still young. With my youngest I let him self wean. One day he just starting finishing his nursing sessions faster and faster. I think when it was down to 5 mins I knew he was done. So that was that and he was 14 months. By then he was only nursing once a day. I did it gradually starting at 12 months (within a span of two months) and it was so much less painful than weaning my oldest (1 month's time).
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He started dropping feeds during the day when he really got into solids at 8 months. He got water to go with his meals but still nursed about 4 times (evenings, nights, morning and one afternoon session). He then dropped the afternoon session. So from about 9 months on he nursed before bed, night and morning. He started sleeping through the night at 10.5/11m so we were down to 2 feeds at this point. Then at a little over 13m he just didn't ask to nurse before bed were as before it had been his favortite "meal" of the day (by then he got >6oz of WCM with dinner and I was pregnant with #2). He continued to nurse first thing in the morning for another three weeks or so and one day just didn't want to. He never "asked" to nurse again. So it was a very smooth ending to a great nursing relationship.
so I don't know what weaning looks like yet, I just say take it one month at a time and do what you want!
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