Started weaning my son

[anna_t]

Hi, i dont tend to write anything on here or the rest of the forum at all anymore but just wanted to share.
Ive slowly started weaning my son off breastfeeding. He only has it at bedtime and at night. Very very rarely during the days now. Ive been ready to stop now since he turned 3 but thought i would wait until 4 as i really wanted him to self wean. No chance of that though.
He doesnt sleep through the night yet, i sleep in his bed for the rest of the night after his first wake up which can be anything between 11-4 but mainly between 1-3. The past week i have started saying no to any breastfeeds when he wakes up after ive gone in to him. I dreaded it and thought he would not settle at all. First night there was a few tears for 2 min or so but then settled back to sleep, more or less on me. Ever since then there has been no trouble at all and he has slept through between that first wake up until the morning, woohoo. There was one more night with a few tears but very quickly he went back to sleep cuddling me.
Tonight i told him that soon he cant have anymore breastfeeds at night, only at bedtime and in the morning if he wants to. He first said no i dont like that, but i repeated what i said and he seemed happy with it as he burst out with a yaay. So we will see how it goes.
I will then get rid of the morning feed unless he doesnt want it as he normally isnt bothered. But I do dread the bedtime feed though as he falls asleep feeding, always has, but i am hoping we have stopped completely around his birthday in July.
No point in this thread really, just confused with it all as ive been really looking forward to stopping for quite awhile now but now when ive gradually started the weaning process and it is going well i feel a bit sad.
Ive loved most of our breastfeeding journey at least when he was a bit younger and breastfed during the day. Night times have never ever been easy, its only the past 6-12 months its gotten easier and better. He has always been demanding, never slept through the night and never settled with anyone else apart from me from the beginning really.
Anyone else who is weaning their LOs or anyone else with older LOs who is still breastfeeding.
I feel really lonely with it all as i dont know anyone who has breastfed this long, to be honest i dont know anyone who has continued past 5 or 6 months. No one knows we are still breastfeeding apart from my husband and i dont want to know what everyone would think if they found out we are still breastfeeding.
Thank you for reading

 

[missk1989]

I stopped bf about 2 months ago. My lo was much younger at 16 months but i felt the same way.It got to the point where i couldnt cuddle him or play without him clawing at my chest. He just screamed for boob whenever i was around and it was really upsetting. I weaned slowly but actually found it easier than i expected. Even the night feed although we did a bit of sleep training after xmas to help him learn to self settle. Since we stopped, although I was a bit sad it has been much better for us. Within 2 days he started sttn which was amazing and he is much nicer to play with, giving kisses and cuddles. Im sure you will be fine but your ot alone. I couldnt explain to anyone how i felt either as they didnt understand but it gets better

 

[sun]

I'm not weaning my LO, but she is 29mo and also still BF. I'm also tandem feeding my newborn. My friends all know I'm still BF, but family do not as I don't want the looks or comments. But luckily almost all of my friends have also BF past 2yo (and more than a few past 3) so I don't feel that pressure from friends.

But hugs and good luck with the weaning. I know my daughter definitely isn't ready at this point especially with the new baby. But we're only nursing 2 occasionally 3x a day so I don't mind continuing until she seems more ready. But BF is a relationship, and we have to both be in a good place to continue. Good luck mama and I hope it is as smooth a transition as possible xox

 

[anna_t]

Thanks for the replies Nice to actually hear from others who breastfeeds for longer than just a few months as i dont know anyone who has done.
Last night he woke up at 9, so i thought i would try letting him get back to sleep without a feed. He really surprised me - it only took a few seconds, just cuddling up to me and holding on to my hair. The rest of the night he was quite unsettled asking for 'num nums' (his word for it) a couple of times but told him he had to wait until the morning. He got a bit emotional but he was fine with it.
Just before 6 this morning he woke up and asked me if it was morning yet, so told him yes, gave him a feed and he went back for another hour or so. Not as good as i thought he would be, comparing to the previous nights, but still surprised me as breastfeeding at night is something he has done all his life.