Weaning thread

[ProfessorChaos]

There's not a lot of demand for a regular weaning check in at the moment, but for those who are considering our actively weaning post your questions and updates here. I'll be sure to check back often, and I hope others will too.

[judyblume14]

My and my almost-23-month-old daughter have graduated. But I'll be hanging around here to check in on everyone....and will be back to posting on the newborn thread in January!

[nerdalert]

Thanks for this! We're almost done for real this time. Idk how long I'll let her hang on to the bedtime session...

[nerdalert]

Well I think it's safe to say we are weaned! Replaced nursing at bedtime with stories, and she went to bed as happy as ever! I was a little sad right after our last session (just because she's growing up!) but I know we were both ready, and I'm glad to be finished after a little over 20 months.

[ProfessorChaos]

Aug 1, 2016 5:31:58 GMT -5 nerdalert said:

Well I think it's safe to say we are weaned! Replaced nursing at bedtime with stories, and she went to bed as happy as ever! I was a little sad right after our last session (just because she's growing up!) but I know we were both ready, and I'm glad to be finished after a little over 20 months.

Congratulations!!! I know how hard you worked to get to this point. Have yourself an adult beverage and some cold medicine to celebrate!!!

[nerdalert]

Thanks, ProfessorChaos!!

[yummeecookee]

Bumping this up. We're not ready for weaning but I'm starting to think about dropping a pumping session. This will eventually pave the way for cutting pumping altogether at some point.

I pump 3x at work and am getting about 3-4oz more than I need daily. My LO (9 mo old) has also seemed to plateau in the amount of BM he drinks at DC.
Do you all think it makes sense to drop to 2 pumps? I don't want to hurt my supply if he suddenly wants to drink a tom of milk during the days.

[kensie5226]

yummeecookee, I dropped to 2 pumps at work and it's been nice. I only pump what she needs and add in the 3rd if she skips her morning nursing session.

[emmyg65]

yummeecookee, yes, I think dropping a session sounds like a good plan. Remember: you can always add it back if you need to.

[ProfessorChaos]

Aug 9, 2016 8:02:09 GMT -5 yummeecookee said:

Bumping this up. We're not ready for weaning but I'm starting to think about dropping a pumping session. This will eventually pave the way for cutting pumping altogether at some point.

I pump 3x at work and am getting about 3-4oz more than I need daily. My LO (9 mo old) has also seemed to plateau in the amount of BM he drinks at DC.
Do you all think it makes sense to drop to 2 pumps? I don't want to hurt my supply if he suddenly wants to drink a tom of milk during the days.

Welcome! I'm no help with pumping questions (I was terrible at it and gave up), but it looks like you got good answers. Good luck to you!!

[soon2bmrsn]

Bumping. Hoping to wean soon. I'm a teacher and go back to f/t work Monday. This summer, my DD (25 months) has nursed 2-3x a day (wake up, nap, bedtime). I've started taking her right down for breakfast this week to eliminate the morning session and we've been out and about during nap time quite a bit so there have been days she's only nursed at bedtime. Anyway, the plan is to go down to just bedtime once she goes back to daycare and then hope to eliminate that session by the end of August. I'm anticipating push back as she actually still falls asleep at the breast. I can only hope that she's so worn out from daycare (valid) that she'll learn to just go to sleep. Fingers crossed!

[ProfessorChaos]

Aug 11, 2016 10:44:12 GMT -5 soon2bmrsn said:

Bumping. Hoping to wean soon. I'm a teacher and go back to f/t work Monday. This summer, my DD (25 months) has nursed 2-3x a day (wake up, nap, bedtime). I've started taking her right down for breakfast this week to eliminate the morning session and we've been out and about during nap time quite a bit so there have been days she's only nursed at bedtime. Anyway, the plan is to go down to just bedtime once she goes back to daycare and then hope to eliminate that session by the end of August. I'm anticipating push back as she actually still falls asleep at the breast. I can only hope that she's so worn out from daycare (valid) that she'll learn to just go to sleep. Fingers crossed!

It may be tricky if she still falls asleep at the breast. One trick I've heard is to push nursing back in the bedtime routine. E.g., if you do books then nurse, try doing nurse then books, or work in that direction as you prepare to wean in a few weeks. Also, ours still needs milk before bedtime, so we give her a cup as we read stories, then brush her teeth (sometimes another book or two after that). When we try to put her down without any milk (like we tried when we were first weaning) she's very unhappy and cries for milk for a long time.

Good luck!!

[emmyg65]

Yes, establish a good bedtime routine, with nursing in the middle, not the end. My guy still gets a cup of milk before bed too.

[fuzzyfan]

Can I ask a general question on moving the nursing back in the rotation? I have heard this as good advice (and I believe it!). DD nurses right before sleep (doesn't fall asleep typically though). Would you have Dad read stories or something after nursing? Before weaning the bedtime session?

*Does that make sense?*

[ProfessorChaos]

Aug 11, 2016 14:34:48 GMT -5 fuzzyfan said:

Can I ask a general question on moving the nursing back in the rotation? I have heard this as good advice (and I believe it!). DD nurses right before sleep (doesn't fall asleep typically though). Would you have Dad read stories or something after nursing? Before weaning the bedtime session?

*Does that make sense?*

Total sense.

I wouldn't assume this would be a problem. You could try doing it all yourself, and if you have problems dad could step it. The big thing is to separate the immediate nursing/sleep link.

[emmyg65]

Aug 11, 2016 14:34:48 GMT -5 fuzzyfan said:

Can I ask a general question on moving the nursing back in the rotation? I have heard this as good advice (and I believe it!). DD nurses right before sleep (doesn't fall asleep typically though). Would you have Dad read stories or something after nursing? Before weaning the bedtime session?

*Does that make sense?*

This was our situation and we just replaced the nursing with a cup of milk. So now our routine is: bath, jammies, read a book while drinking milk and rocking, brush teeth, bed. (We used to do teeth before nursing, but switched to after when we switched to cow's milk.)

[flippinchica]

Aug 11, 2016 14:55:14 GMT -5 ProfessorChaos said:

Aug 11, 2016 14:34:48 GMT -5 fuzzyfan said:

Can I ask a general question on moving the nursing back in the rotation? I have heard this as good advice (and I believe it!). DD nurses right before sleep (doesn't fall asleep typically though). Would you have Dad read stories or something after nursing? Before weaning the bedtime session?

*Does that make sense?*

Total sense.

I wouldn't assume this would be a problem. You could try doing it all yourself, and if you have problems dad could step it. The big thing is to separate the immediate nursing/sleep link.

We moved nursing before stories and usually both DH and I do story with him so I think either can work. We also nurse then do story in the living rooms and then go into his room and do a song and put him down. I had to break the association because sleep was awful and he wouldn't stay asleep for the transfer to crib.

[nerdalert]

Aug 11, 2016 14:34:48 GMT -5 fuzzyfan said:

Can I ask a general question on moving the nursing back in the rotation? I have heard this as good advice (and I believe it!). DD nurses right before sleep (doesn't fall asleep typically though). Would you have Dad read stories or something after nursing? Before weaning the bedtime session?

*Does that make sense?*

I actually just replaced nursing with stories. I did this at naptime first, and I just told her that we weren't going to nurse, we would read books instead. She accepted this as an answer, but she loves books and also wasn't falling asleep at the breast anymore. Then a few weeks later I did the exact same thing with bedtime. She was upset/confused about not getting to nurse for the very first night, but that was it. That's what worked for us! 

[fuzzyfan]

nerdalert , flippinchica , emmyg65 , ProfessorChaos ,Thanks! Still nervous a little bit about weaning in general, but overall feel much better!

[woodwork]

TL/DR: I am experiencing (what I believe to be) severe effects of weaning (first tri like exhaustion, night sweats, chills to the bone and aching bones, depression/irritability). I did not experience this after my first.Have others experienced this?

Thanks for having this thread. I just wrapped up breastfeeding with my 17 month old. The weaning process was very slow and led by him (with me encouraging other options but not refusing). In the last couple weeks he was only nursing one time a day every couple of days and more playing (to include biting and laughing). At that point, I opted to begin to tell him mommy didn't have any more milk when he would ask and we would get him "his" milk. I provide that information in part to illustrate how slow the process was and both he and I had a lot of time to adjust. I have not nursed at all for at least a week. For the past two I have been experiencing the symptoms above. My husband is concerned it is not at all related to weaning but from what I am reading it appears to be par for the course. Curious as to others experiences and any management/coping suggestions. Currently, the chills to the bone are the most disruptive. Prior it was the extreme exhaustion.

fuzzyfan, with my first that is how we did it and it worked well. With my second, he stopped wanting to breast feed before bed and would push off to be in his crib and settle (not much help I know!). He was a little over a year. It was great because it was the one I thought he would hold onto forever.

Wishing everyone well are their weaning journeys!

[ProfessorChaos]

Aug 15, 2016 10:24:08 GMT -5 woodwork said:

TL/DR: I am experiencing (what I believe to be) severe effects of weaning (first tri like exhaustion, night sweats, chills to the bone and aching bones, depression/irritability). I did not experience this after my first.Have others experienced this?

Thanks for having this thread. I just wrapped up breastfeeding with my 17 month old. The weaning process was very slow and led by him (with me encouraging other options but not refusing). In the last couple weeks he was only nursing one time a day every couple of days and more playing (to include biting and laughing). At that point, I opted to begin to tell him mommy didn't have any more milk when he would ask and we would get him "his" milk. I provide that information in part to illustrate how slow the process was and both he and I had a lot of time to adjust. I have not nursed at all for at least a week. For the past two I have been experiencing the symptoms above. My husband is concerned it is not at all related to weaning but from what I am reading it appears to be par for the course. Curious as to others experiences and any management/coping suggestions. Currently, the chills to the bone are the most disruptive. Prior it was the extreme exhaustion.

I was hoping that someone else would respond, as I have no experience with what you're describing. I know that weaning can bring pretty major hormonal shifts, so it would make sense that some people would experience what you're describing, but I would expect it to be relatively short lived. I assume you've considered whether you could be pregnant? It's been a few days since you wrote this - perhaps you're feeling better? If not I would call your doc, just to talk things over and make sure it's nothing else. 

Hope you're feeling better! 

[woodwork]

ProfessorChaos, thank you so much for your response. Things do seem to be better. Particularly the chills have subsided. Pregnancy did cross my mind but can confirm it is not. It was a wild ride and somewhat unexpected. I have a well visit scheduled in September and will be able to address anything if it lingers. Breastfeeding has been such an amazing and challenging journey. I will miss it (but enjoy being done). Always a fantastic dichotomy.

[ProfessorChaos]

Bump!

[emmyg65]

Aug 17, 2016 14:30:55 GMT -5 woodwork said:

ProfessorChaos , thank you so much for your response. Things do seem to be better. Particularly the chills have subsided. Pregnancy did cross my mind but can confirm it is not. It was a wild ride and somewhat unexpected. I have a well visit scheduled in September and will be able to address anything if it lingers. Breastfeeding has been such an amazing and challenging journey. I will miss it (but enjoy being done). Always a fantastic dichotomy.

Yes. This. x1000. I hope things have evened out for you!    

[esgrunner]

Considering weaning because I'm now pregnant....we still nurse in the mornings and occasionally at bedtime and unfortunately usually MOTN. My son is almost 13 months and I'd like to continue for awhile if I can but we'll see. I'm going to do some more reading here on the BFing board and see if I can gather some tips.

[Unknown]

Aug 9, 2016 8:02:09 GMT -5 yummeecookee said:

Bumping this up. We're not ready for weaning but I'm starting to think about dropping a pumping session. This will eventually pave the way for cutting pumping altogether at some point.

I pump 3x at work and am getting about 3-4oz more than I need daily. My LO (9 mo old) has also seemed to plateau in the amount of BM he drinks at DC.
Do you all think it makes sense to drop to 2 pumps? I don't want to hurt my supply if he suddenly wants to drink a tom of milk during the days.

I've dropped from 3 to 1 pumping session at work (8.5m). I also pump first thing in the morning and before bed, so I still get enough with 1.

[ProfessorChaos]

Sept 5, 2016 16:44:41 GMT -5 esgrunner said:

Considering weaning because I'm now pregnant....we still nurse in the mornings and occasionally at bedtime and unfortunately usually MOTN. My son is almost 13 months and I'd like to continue for awhile if I can but we'll see. I'm going to do some more reading here on the BFing board and see if I can gather some tips.

I think most people would tell you to drop the MOTN feeding first, if you want to wean, but others say to drop them in decreasing order of kid preference. That said, some women can keep breastfeeding throughout their pregnancies, so you may not have to wean. Let us know if you have any questions, and congratulations!!

[nerdalert]

Sept 5, 2016 16:44:41 GMT -5 esgrunner said:

Considering weaning because I'm now pregnant....we still nurse in the mornings and occasionally at bedtime and unfortunately usually MOTN. My son is almost 13 months and I'd like to continue for awhile if I can but we'll see. I'm going to do some more reading here on the BFing board and see if I can gather some tips.

I tried dropping the MOTN session first, and it resulted in a lot of screaming and not a lot of sleep. So I quickly gave up on that and dropped daytime ones, using distraction and replacing with other things (going outside, reading books before nap/bedtime). When I started dropping the daytime sessions, she naturally started STTN on her own. So yeah, that's my anecdote. 

But yes, I think there are at least a few people on this board who have nursed all the way through pregnancy and beyond. So it's totally possible if you want to do that.

ETA: My DD was like 17/18 months when I did this.

[flippinchica]

bluebird44 I don't have much advice other that to do a very gradual wean.
I'm slowly wanting to start the weaning process. Really I just want to be done by March since DH and I want to take a kid free trip. We dropped the last daycare bottle this week ( lo turned 1 mid August). Usually he nurses after daycare, before bed, and a snooze feed around 5-6 am and sometimes right before daycare in the am.

[ProfessorChaos]

bluebird44, agree about the slow wean. One thing people do, for example, is time nursing or pumping sessions and drop only a couple of minutes at a time. Other people will do things to reduce supply, like taking Benadryl, Sudafed, or BCP. I've also heard that cabbage leaves in your bra can be effective.