Anyone weaned a toddler who wasn't ready?

[superfrizbee]

My son was 2 in October and still bfs before bed and if he wakes in the night. A lot of this is comfort. We haven't had an easy or enjoyable bfing journey. He had a stroke at 7 weeks and since then has oral motor trouble and a weaker suck. There was heart ache around that, him getting enough milk etc. I carried on to give him the best nutrition and give him the best opportunity to work on his oral motor strength. But now I'm 8 weeks pregnant and at the end of the 1st trimester I'm ready to stop feeding him. I want to give my body a break before the next baby comes and I start bfing again. I'm sad because I know he'll be gutted and won't want to stop. He'll cry, I know it. I also feel bad for him having less nutrition and less opportunity to strengthen his mouth. Not that he sucks hard. He's lazy and does it mainly for comfort rather than milk.

Any advice? I didn't have this problem with dd, as she was ready to stop at 21 months and didn't miss it.

 

[embeth]

I am currently feeding my almost 12 month old but my last two children didn't want to stop both times I stopped one was 2&1/2 the next was 17 months. The younger one was less ready than the older one and I just had to stop altogether.. it didn't work cutting down at all! He did cry and scream but it was literally a couple of days of him not happy then it's like he never fed in the first place! They adapt so quickly. Goodluck hope it's not too difficult a transition for u xx

 

[Lucasmum]

I had to wean my son at 17 months, he still fed frequently during the day and night, day time was easy lots to distract with mainly biscuits night time was harder but after a few weeks we cracked it, I would give him a beaker of warm milk, the comfort sucking which he did a lot of surprisingly wasnt an issue, he never seemed to miss it at all He is 10 now did him no harm

Its not an easy first few days but you will get through the otherside

 

[xsadiex]

Hi weaned my son when he was 2, he was addicted! He kicked up a fuss at first but we kept at it.
My husband took over at nights and got him to sleep and in the day I would keep us as busy as possible and avoid feeding as much as I could. I had to be quite strict and offer a nice drink or a hug instead.
It was hard work at first but he got used to it. 1.5 years later he still puts his hand down my top for comfort! Sometimes I wish I had carried on a bit longer but I understand why you want to stop, being pregnant and feeding must be really tough!