When and why did you wean your baby off breastmilk?

[SarahBear]

I stopped putting her on the breast at around 8 months. I gave her expressed milk for a few weeks and then I was all dried up. I'm so sad about it but my reason was mainly biting. She got 2 teeth right at 6 months and bit me off and on for 2 months straight. I tried everything in the world but she was too young to understand. I miss it so much but my nipples couldn't take it anymore

That's sad It would make nursing very stressful.

 

[Larkspur]

Still going here, pregnant and feeding. I'm a bit anxious that he will self-wean if my milk dries up. I think I've had a little dip but nothing too serious and it seems to be recovering (following a week of relentless clusterfeeding, haha).

I'm lucky in that it's pretty normal round here to nurse past one. Certainly nobody has said anything when I've been NIP but also maybe I'm just too oblivious. I've had a couple of friends/family ask me when I plan to stop nursing and I just shrug and say, "Not sure really, I guess if LO doesn't self-wean, I'll know when I'm ready to stop", and everyone has accepted that without comment.

 

[sept2010]

I wanted to feed for 2 years but stopped at 18 months as she wasn't sleeping at night properly due to.waking up for a comfort feed. We both werent getting any sleep and since she was only using my breasts as a dummy at night instead of actually feeding. I thought nw would be a good time to wean.

 

[Brieanna]

I stopped nursing (and still regret it) Thomas when he was 17.5 months. I was pregnant with Sophie and had a really bad nursing aversion. I would grit my teeth and feel like screaming every time he latched on.

By then he was only using my right breast; the left had almost dried up. He was also only comfort nursing to sleep, he wasn't at all interest in any actuall feedings.

I am still nursing but now that I am pregnant it hurts sooo bad and I have to look away so dd doesn't see my face wincing and gritting my teeth.

I never really nip (due to my own body issues, nothing to do with being ashamed of nursing) so I am not sure how many people would say anything. My pediatrician seemed surprised I was still nursing, but didn't say anything negative about it. She did say it was probably why dd has never had an ear infection and hardly ever gets sick.

I assumed she would self-wean before now so I never thought of a "code word" for when she was older and wants to nurse. So now we will be shopping or something with OH and dd will scream across the store "BOOBIES!" when she wants to feed and I am out of site. She will also start raising my shirt up. OH thinks it is funny, lol.

My dad has a new wife and baby and the other day when he was giving me crap about still nursing I pointed out that HIS lo was still drinking formula from a bottle and that it is nothing different than my lo bfing after 1 yo. He shut up.

At 1 yo she was mainly nursing for food but was "tasting" other things. She still nurses a lot. She went from 2-3 times a day a few months ago to every few hours again when she got sick and now has increased again since I became pregnant. She still eats regular food too. I guess I will continue to nurse, maybe tandem nurse, until dd self-weans.

 

[Seity]

My older boy weaned himself. He just slowly dropped his feeds in favor of cows milk until he was down to just BFing in the morning and then one day right around 22 months, he refused to BF any more. He didn't sttn until he was 2.5. He was a hungry boy and needed a lot of night feeds.

 

[snowfia]

My DD was showing no interest in feeding in the day when I was about 12 weeks pregnant. She would want to in the night but I cut that down because it was so sore and she would stay latched on for hours at a time and it was so painful.
She then started sttn and just didn't want to BF anymore, just kissed them instead of latching on :L
If she wants to again when this baby's born I'm all for it though.

 

[freckleonear]

My DD self-weaned at 40 months. It was a gentle and gradual process. By the time she was 2.5 - 3 years old she never asked to feed in public, so it wasn't something most people were aware of.

 

[Dragonfly]

Self weaned at 4 but sometimes he latches on still for a feed. Still breastfeeding other two. They stop when they want too.

 

[Tacey]

Alice has just turned 4 and nurses once a day. She's very keen, and would love to nurse more often, but that's what I was comfortable with. No idea when she'll stop - she told me yesterday that it will be when she's 10 . I'm open to weaning her if I get uncomfortable with it, but so far it's working fine.

 

[hollowmac]

I have a question. And I don't want to offend anyone. I am all for BFing and BF my children and will BF my other also, but I just don't understand the BFing a child until they are 2,3,4 or older? In my nutrition class, they tell u that BFing a child over the age of 1 has no nutritional value. And I can't imagine having a child that is that old BFing from me. So I guess the question is, is what is it that drives yall to continue so long? I know alot of people in society have a hard time with it and I am just trying to understand so I can know what the reason is so I can have a honest view on it from the ladies that do it. I hope no one takes offense to this because I am not being ugly, I just want to understand so if i decide to continue longer with my next child I will know that other ladies do it and my reasons are valid and not selfish. Thanks so much.

 

[pinklightbulb]

Breast milk always has nutritional value. It's specifically designed for human consumption so I don't know why it's said that it somehow loses all the components that make it so when an infant turns 1 It's got far more nutrients than cow's milk or formula, and I don't see why we are keen for our children to consume an artificial version of breast milk, or milk from another species, in favour of breast milk given this reasoning. I feel society has a lot to do with it. It's not seen as the norm to BF anyway, so it would be seen as even stranger to BF into toddlerhood and even beyond. In other countries, children often self-wean as late as 7 or 8. It appears to be only Western society that has a problem with extended BFing.

My take on it

 

[Tacey]

There are lots of reasons I continue. As PP said, it is completely untrue that it has no nutritional value past 1 - if you think about it, why would that be? There's information about nutritional and other benefits when nursing past 2 years here. Personally, I continue because she wants to. It gives her pleasure and soothes her. I don't see it as for babies uniquely. I think that's a cultural expectation rather than a biological one. As long as she wants to and we're both happy, I see no reason to stop. It's about the most nutritious thing she can have and good for her emotionally too.

 

[Dragonfly]

I have a question. And I don't want to offend anyone. I am all for BFing and BF my children and will BF my other also, but I just don't understand the BFing a child until they are 2,3,4 or older? In my nutrition class, they tell u that BFing a child over the age of 1 has no nutritional value. And I can't imagine having a child that is that old BFing from me. So I guess the question is, is what is it that drives yall to continue so long? I know alot of people in society have a hard time with it and I am just trying to understand so I can know what the reason is so I can have a honest view on it from the ladies that do it. I hope no one takes offense to this because I am not being ugly, I just want to understand so if i decide to continue longer with my next child I will know that other ladies do it and my reasons are valid and not selfish. Thanks so much.

I echo what Tracey and Pinklightbulb has said. Your information is wrong it does hold nutritional value. I only need to look at my kids to see that and tell you they havnt gotten ill while being breastfed. Self weaning to me is the natural way. I dont give cows milk of any other milk as to me that has no value to my children at all. Cows milk is not needed and horribly pushed needlessly too.
note they do get cows milk in cereal but not as a replacement for my milk.

 

[freckleonear]

I have a question. And I don't want to offend anyone. I am all for BFing and BF my children and will BF my other also, but I just don't understand the BFing a child until they are 2,3,4 or older? In my nutrition class, they tell u that BFing a child over the age of 1 has no nutritional value. And I can't imagine having a child that is that old BFing from me. So I guess the question is, is what is it that drives yall to continue so long? I know alot of people in society have a hard time with it and I am just trying to understand so I can know what the reason is so I can have a honest view on it from the ladies that do it. I hope no one takes offense to this because I am not being ugly, I just want to understand so if i decide to continue longer with my next child I will know that other ladies do it and my reasons are valid and not selfish. Thanks so much.

Your nutrition class is very wrong. For example, breastmilk can supply 75% of vitamin A requirements, 76% of folate requirements, 94% of vitamin B12 requirements and 60% of vitamin C requirements for a 2 year old. All the biological benefits of breastfeeding (immunological, neurological, etc.) are dose-dependent, which means that they increase as the duration of breastfeeding increases. The World Health Organisation recommends breastfeeding for at least two years and research shows that the natural age of weaning for humans is somewhere between 2.5 and 7 years, with a worldwide average of 4.2 years. There is evidence that allowing children to wean when they are ready rather than weaning them earlier is much better psychologically. So to me, the real question is why on earth do we wean so early in the Western world despite all these benefits?

 

[Larkspur]

In my nutrition class, they tell u that BFing a child over the age of 1 has no nutritional value.

I'm shocked that this is being taught in a nutrition class! What sort of educational institute/course is this, if you don't mind me asking?

Others have covered it already but BFing is definitely a superior substitute to whatever babies would be weaned onto instead of breastmilk at one. Not only from a digestibility standpoint and the vitamins and minerals, the continued extra antibodies and beneficial gut flora the child receives from the mother is probably even more important.

 

[DaisyAnne]

I'm also shocked that it's being taught that it has no nutritional value past 1. It must have been old information, or information that wasn't correctly worded? The AAP (I'm in the US) recommends BF until *at least* age 1 and then as long as both mother and baby desire. The WHO recommends up to 2 years or more. The baby gets antibodies in the breastmilk that you can't get in cow's milk, which helps keep them well. It's also easier to digest for humans, and now they even find that it helps prevent breast cancer (I think it's like the more years you BF, etc). So basically, it is good and valuable as long as you continue. There are plenty of reasons to stop before 2 years, but there are plenty of reasons to keep breastfeeding.

 

[Dragonfly]

They do teach that here. 3 different health professionals said it to me, one said 6 months others said 10 months. Its disgracefully misinformation.

 

[hollowmac]

It was a college nutrition class that I had to take as a requirement for the RN program. I really appreciate all the info and advice ladies. Thanks.

 

[marina294]

we are currently weaning dd1 now as i have had such bad nursing aversion with her. my nipples remained so sore throughout the whole pregnancy i had to start introducing limits which made me feel awful but i didnt want to wean her. however when her sister arrived she wasnt sure about her sister. started wanting to nurse more (we had got down to 2 feeda aday) but was so sore for me and the irritation felt even worse she wouldnt sit still wasnt actually nursing properly more for comfort . I waited 4 weeks to see if she would settle and pushed on as i felt guilty to deprive her when he sister had it on tap. but she suddenly started waking at silly o clock and would literally rip my covers off and forcibly try to turn me over to get boob. would tantrum massively if i asked her to wait whilst i had to sort out DD2. but then the limits stopped working i would count down from 5 and she would let go but she started refusing to. All this my nursing aversion got terrible i didnt want her near me which is awful to say i dreaded her asking for a feed. So i told her no and first couple of times we had tantrums but after she seems quite accepting. she still asks but a lot less and seems to be ok when i say no.
I didnt think i would wean her and i would of waited for her but the nursing aversion was awful-i feel a lot better now she has stopped .our relationship is getting better and she is head over heels in love with her sister now even pushes the boobie in her mouthand she is sleeping much better