Weaning an Older Baby or Toddler

Updated October 2023

Question: “I’m desperate to wean my 19 month old daughter, but I just don’t know how. Everything I read says to drop one feeding at a time, but with a toddler, nursing is so erratic, that doesn’t apply anymore. I’m scared that cold turkey is my only option, but is there a good way to lessen the shock/tantrums for my daughter?”

Top 7 Answers:

2. Annie Weigand I’m weaning my 18 month old. I dropped the early morning feeding first…it’s been almost a month now. I BF once in the later afternoon and at bedtime only now. Sometimes evening if he’s extra fussy, but that has only happened a few times. I try to keep really busy…play, go outside, run errands, etc. If he pulls at my shirt bc he wants to BF, I immediately get up to get him a snack (fruit snacks are a fave for this!). He’s never been a good eater but since I’ve started weaning, he’s eating way better and way more! I plan on dropping the later afternoon feeding in a week or two. I figured dropping 1 feeding a month will also allow my boobs to get used to eliminating a feeding. I didn’t research weaning, this is just what I kinda came up with in my head that sounded good!

3. Bridget Archibald Meadows Both my kids kind of self weaned during the day, replacing bottle feedings with meals and snacks or milk in a cup. The night weaning was hardest, because they nurse to sleep. but this worked for us – add a new step to your bedtime routine for a few days WHILE you’re feeding – like reading a book aloud or singing a song softly. My daughter looked at me like WTF but kept nursing. On day 3 or 4 of singing, I sang the song but i didn’t take out the boob and instead snuggled her close and sang. Once the song was done, I gently laid her in her crib and left, just as if she’d been nursed. She went right down to sleep. And then I burst into tears on my DH that my baby didn’t need me anymore. My son is dropping feedings right now, night weaning maybe in a month? Good luck to us all!

7. Anna Dempsey Lutz I nursed my son to sleep for naps and bedtime until he was 2 years old. When I finally weaned him, I decided on a specific timeframe (with in a month worked for us) to do it in because I was just as attached to it as he was and I mentally prepared myself that it was not going to be a totally seamless transition. For my son, I stopped the bedtime nursing first. I did this because I figured he would be sleepier at night and it would be darker so it would be easier for him to fall asleep in general. I would just hold him and rock him in our glider until he was good and sleepy. At first, he protested, but I wore high necked shirt and spoke to him in a soothing voice until he calmed down. Once he got used to no bedtime nursing (only took about a week), it was not difficult at all to drop the nap time nursing.

See all the answers here.

What Nobody Tells You About Weaning After Breastfeeding – Huffington Post

Comments

Ashley says:

September 1, 2015 at 2:16 am Reply

Hello,
I’ve been nursing my son for over a yr. now and he always cluster fed, he was never into a pacifier or formula or anything other than my milk. I dreaded weaning him, I waited till he hit 12 mos. so I could introduce him to almond milk, he had already been eating baby food and other foods here and there, I had no idea how I was going to wean him. I doctors told me to take one feeding away at a time, he of course being a baby wants it when he wants it, so it didn’t work, for over a yr. he has been waking up every 2 -3 hrs. to nurse back to sleep, I was lost, I had no idea what I was going to do, I ended up getting sick and the meds. I now have to take I cannot nurse with, I take them 4 times a day so there was no way I would be able to nurse any more, so we went cold turkey, I was told several times its not the best way because it can be traumatizing… but after a couple of long nights, all seems well, he’s fine, and he puts himself to sleep. I think it doesn’t have to be traumatizing, I was there with him every step of the way, at no point did I just leave him by himself to cry and figure it out alone, it was hard for me but it was even harder for him. now he sleeps all night on his own and I never ever would have thought this would have worked, but I’m glad it turned out the way it did or id still be trying to figure out the best way to wean him.
Emma Wilson says:

August 14, 2022 at 11:37 pm Reply

I have a 16 month old. I want to stop nursing so bad but she is so reliant on it. I work 3, 10 hour shifts per week and have stopped pumping in hopes of reducing my supply. But now my days off she wants to nurse so much that I’ve been getting painful blocked ducts. (Maybe from going whole days not nursing and then10000% the next day). I’m really struggling. She’s so needy with me at night and any time I’m home. I feel like it’s going to have to be cold Turkey with her because reducing just feels impossible. I was not a person who wanted to nurse a long time it just ended up being our journey. Trying to wean home alone all day when my husband is working is so mentally and exhausting and challenging. I’m at the end of my rope

Weaning an Older Baby or Toddler

Top 7 Answers:

What Nobody Tells You About Weaning After Breastfeeding – Huffington Post

Comments

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