I absolutely loved breastfeeding my children! It created such a special bond with my boys. I was so blessed to be able to feed them this way as babies and toddlers. I know that it’s not always possible for every mother to do this, so I feel very fortunate. I nursed my oldest boy until he was 20 months old, my second-born until he was 16 months, and my youngest boy until 24 months. In fact, I just weaned my youngest two weeks ago. Today I want to share with you 1 tip I used to wean him from breastfeeding.
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My youngest is very stubborn. He is the sweetest boy, but still is very adamant about what he wants to do. He loved breastfeeding. He loved it so much that he hardly ate solid foods until he was 18 months! I was constantly nursing him. Yes, I tried to wean him and introduce him to foods, but he had no interest in that. In fact, he would chew food and either spit it all back out or gag on food. Talk about frustrating!
I mean, how can I resist nursing that sweet face! Around 20 months, we started the weaning process. I first cut out the nighttime feedings. (Yes, he was still nursing at night!!) There were a lot of nights where we had to let him cry it out. It was rough. Then in the daytime, I would not offer the choice to breastfeed. When he asked to nurse, I would try to offer food or a drink instead. It mostly worked, but sometimes when he had a meltdown, I did nurse him.
4 days before he turned 2, I decided I needed to stop nursing. I could tell my hormones were out of whack and I was exhausted from nursing my toddler! He also was pulling down my shirt in public or saying “nurse” to me a lot.
So I decided to try out a tip my neighbor told me. She recommended painting my nipple with a special polish that’s supposed to help thumbsuckers and nail biters. I tried this tip and it worked! It worked 100%! He had one lick of it and never ever wanted to nurse again. He still says “nurse…icky!”.
I did feel bad abruptly ending breastfeeding, but I was desperate for a solution. If you have a child that you need to wean, I recommend trying this! Just remember that once you put on this polish, there’s no turning back. Don’t let your child nurse again without the polish. That will just confuse your child!
Breastfeeding is amazing. I recommend you do it for as long as you can, but when you are ready to end, make sure to try this tip out! What tips do you have for weaning? I’d love to hear!
That is brilliant! I nursed my oldest until he was almost 3, but only at nap and to go to sleep at night. It was finally time and then it was a battle and he ended up with a pacifier! Ugh… He gave that up shortly after he started preschool, thank goodness.
Lime juice works, I only put it on once and my lo (2.5 yrs) told me I was yucky and that was it. He hasnt wanted to nurse since!.
That’s a great idea!
I have a thought, is it possible that the extra food for breastfeeding moms is also given because mom needs more calories to breastfeed? Just a thought.