Weaning My Toddler – I am finally there!

My youngest has taken the longest time to wean! At 2 years and 6 months, she has weaned off. I tried a lot of gentle and not so gentle weaning tips. Some of them might be useful to you so I thought I will share them here today 🙂

Good Breastfeeding Habits From the Start can help Avoid my Situation!

You all know by now that I am all up for breastfeeding. But when it did drag beyond 2 years, it started causing sleep deprivation and health issues. In retrospection, I realize that my own 2 breastfeeding habits caused this extremely delayed weaning.

1. I co-sleep with my baby and after a tired day, I found it easier to just let the baby doze with the boob in her mouth rather than take the trouble to make her sleep in other ways.

2. The gynaec had told me to not go for any more babies as I had initially planned. So, I was always very lenient about breastfeeding this one. I kept saying to myself that this is the last time I will be breastfeeding. Let her take her time!

So this little baby got so used to the boob that she couldn’t go to sleep without it. And if her sleep broke even slightly during the night (which it did 4-5 times) she wouldn’t sleep again without breastfeeding. And yes, my mom reminded me that “she told me so” right at the beginning! Finally, the broken sleep started affecting my health and my performance in every thing that I did. I tried a lot of things to wean her starting after her second birthday, but most were halfhearted.

My Tips for Weaning a Toddler

During the last 4 months, however, I seriously started a plan to wean. Some things worked, most of them failed but certainly helped towards the final achievement. Here are my tips for weaning a toddler. Let me know what works for you!

1. Try talking to your baby during the day time and telling her that she is old enough to not drink mama’s milk anymore.

2. Stop several feeds during the day time. Most are easy to stop by this time except for the one before the afternoon nap.

3. Try giving her the ‘big girl’ sippy cup or a pretty cup and a lovely straw to entice her to drink from the cup.

4. Do the above for 2-3 weeks and then try to make her sleep for her afternoon nap, without feeding.

5. To do this, establish a different routine gradually. Sing or read to her.

6. Always congratulate her on waking up when she sleeps without milk.

7. Keep telling her that mama’s milk is for little babies who don’t eat anything else. Tell her that she is now a big girl and likes so many different things.

8. Finally, when all day time feeding stops, focus on reducing the night time feeds.

9. At first, try putting her to sleep without milk. This can be done by establishing a bedtime routine. Children love to follow routines. If you read her a story, sing her a song and then gently massage her while she goes to sleep – she will start associating her bedtime with these things.

10. It takes a LOT of time, but don’t lose patience. Stick to the routine and it will pay off.

11. Now for the nighttime feeds. They were the most difficult to stop! First of all, try doing something else to make her go back to sleep when she wakes up at night. Sing, massage, rock!

12. When nothing works, try the age-old tip of applying something bitter tasting to your boob at night. This did not work for me. It is easy to fool a baby but not a toddler. My smart toddler was fooled at first and started saying that ‘Mamma’s milk is bad’! But before I could feel guilty of fooling my innocent little babe, she figured out something on her own – that is she keeps sucking (and bears the terrible taste for some time) the sweet milk will come out eventually. Smart right? She sucked away whatever bitter stuff I applied and then enjoyed the breast milk lol!

13. Finally, when I was down with viral fever for a few nights, I taped my nipples. My husband was beginning to joke about boob taping and XXX movies but my sharp look silenced him. My daughter could neither find the nipples nor did she like the looks of it.

14. It worked for a couple of days, but my breasts got so engorged that I myself gave them to her for sucking them soft! What a relief it was.

15. But I continued doing this one and off. Some tips like applying cold cabbage leaves to ease pain of engorged breasts also worked but very mildly.

16. However, this started putting a big gap between the feeds. My toddler started getting used to going off to sleep without a feed. But as soon as she found her very sleepy, she would crave for a nipple.

17. So I started giving her a little water in her milk bottle. This satisfied her craving for suckling. It also helped during the night when she was a little hungry. A toddler does not need to eat during the night if they have had a good meal. A little water takes care of the temporary thirst or hunger.

18. Her milk/water bottle has become her favorite and she has been drinking water in it whenever she wants to relax or take a nap.

19. Gradually, even the bottle has stopped becoming a part of the overnight sleeping. We only use it during the bedtime routine.

20. And finally, we have a new bedtime routine. We don’t breastfeed until we doze off! Instead, we read a story or a few stories, we something sing a few lullabies, we drink a little water and then go to sleep as Mamma gently massages the back or the tummy.

That’s my experience of weaning my toddler who simply wasn’t willing to wean on her own! So far, I am not feeling any pangs of guilt. Mainly because 2.6 years is a good enough time. And the newly established routines keep us together as much as breastfeeding did. I know I am going to miss that lovely feeling of breastfeeding in a few years from now. Right now though – we are doing just fine!