Well, I never thought I'd be weaning a toddler..... Before I was pregnant with Alice I had hoped I'd be able to breastfeed for at least 6 months with the goal of reaching a year....well a year came and went and our breastfeeding relationship continued, Alice eventually weaned down to the morning feed...morning nap feed to sleep an afternoon feed to sleep then her all night milk feeding frenzie.... So basically 5+ feeds from a year on.... Then that morning nap went, and the feed with it....by 18 months she had stopped asking for milk just because she was bored in the afternoons, we managed to give her a cup of milk instead..... So at 21 months she's been breastfeeding to sleep for nap, for bedtime and then at least once overnight(if it's less than twice I count that as an amazing sleep for us haha... My body clock has pretty much adjusted to that!)
At this point I was just ready to move on from breastfeeding....it had become more of a let's climb all over mummy before bedtime and use me as an all u can drink milk bar before bed....then continue the party all night long...... And as for naps, she would quite happily drift off within minutes with her feed....then sleep for 2 hours....so I'm quite reluctant to wean that feed as I'm thinking she might just not nap at all
So I've been stressing... Thinking of all the gentle parenting we have practiced so far(I co sleep with her in her room in a queen sized bed) and before she moved to her own bed we all slept in one bed when she was a baby... So basically I didn't want to throw out my gentleness and make her scream over losing breastfeeding....since she's so attached!
Tonight I figured I'd try something I'd read.....BANDAIDS, over my nipples.....sure looked silly... I put them on and told alice that her Milkies(that's what she calls it) was broken..... I took out one boob and showed her and she said "bock-it"(broken) then "other side"....like she would ask to nurse from my other side.... So I got the second one out and said its broken..... She said "away" and put them away.... She looked at them again and just said broken...then away then we just cuddled and she was so peaceful..... I decided I should try lie her down....expecting some hysterics.... Nope.... None.... She just got herself all comfy and snuggled into her teddy bear while I stroked her arm and she drifted off to sleep..... I couldn't believe it....not one tear...... I'm thinking the middle of the night wake up will be hard, but I'm armed with my nipples covered with bandaids and I'm hoping her reaction is the same..... Then we shall see how tomorrow goes with nap time.... I'll let you all know how it goes.... But in the meantime I'm calling this victory......as I can count the number of times alice has gone to sleep without the help of my boobs on one hand! Wish me luck ladies..... And I'm sending all my wishes to anyone else trying to gently wean their toddlers
Can't believe I've breastfed for so long!!! I'm hoping this is start of a beautiful end to breastfeeding for us I never realised how amazing it would be.... I do believe it's given us such a special bond
At this point I was just ready to move on from breastfeeding....it had become more of a let's climb all over mummy before bedtime and use me as an all u can drink milk bar before bed....then continue the party all night long...... And as for naps, she would quite happily drift off within minutes with her feed....then sleep for 2 hours....so I'm quite reluctant to wean that feed as I'm thinking she might just not nap at all
So I've been stressing... Thinking of all the gentle parenting we have practiced so far(I co sleep with her in her room in a queen sized bed) and before she moved to her own bed we all slept in one bed when she was a baby... So basically I didn't want to throw out my gentleness and make her scream over losing breastfeeding....since she's so attached!
Tonight I figured I'd try something I'd read.....BANDAIDS, over my nipples.....sure looked silly... I put them on and told alice that her Milkies(that's what she calls it) was broken..... I took out one boob and showed her and she said "bock-it"(broken) then "other side"....like she would ask to nurse from my other side.... So I got the second one out and said its broken..... She said "away" and put them away.... She looked at them again and just said broken...then away then we just cuddled and she was so peaceful..... I decided I should try lie her down....expecting some hysterics.... Nope.... None.... She just got herself all comfy and snuggled into her teddy bear while I stroked her arm and she drifted off to sleep..... I couldn't believe it....not one tear...... I'm thinking the middle of the night wake up will be hard, but I'm armed with my nipples covered with bandaids and I'm hoping her reaction is the same..... Then we shall see how tomorrow goes with nap time.... I'll let you all know how it goes.... But in the meantime I'm calling this victory......as I can count the number of times alice has gone to sleep without the help of my boobs on one hand! Wish me luck ladies..... And I'm sending all my wishes to anyone else trying to gently wean their toddlers
Can't believe I've breastfed for so long!!! I'm hoping this is start of a beautiful end to breastfeeding for us I never realised how amazing it would be.... I do believe it's given us such a special bond
