OT- When to Stop Nursing DS?

[Twinvillageiowa]

38 months with my twins. They didn't really eat a ton of real food until 2ish and really need the calories from nursing. They also had no desire to drink out of a cup and would have been dehydrated. For me, I stopped because I hadn't really slept in 3 years. I night weaned them at 2 1/2 and my husband would go in to them if they woke up.

[MissAnn]

Whoa! This is a totally breast feeding group!!!!! Love it! Wish I could be a wet nurse...but I'm 53 and that probably won't work! LOL My sister was a wet nurse for a friend of hers who was very sick at the time. The friend ended up nursing afterwards.

[just_peachy]

I stopped at 18 months with my first and 24 months with my other two. At that timeI was young, the first in my group to have kids and seriously caved to peer pressure. (Mostly from my Mom.)

One thing I'd like to mention is that you most likely won't have any regrets if you keep it up... but it's possible you will if you stop. I know I do.

[Evansmom]

Whoa! This is a totally breast feeding group!!!!! Love it! Wish I could be a wet nurse...but I'm 53 and that probably won't work! LOL My sister was a wet nurse for a friend of hers who was very sick at the time. The friend ended up nursing afterwards.

I know! I'm pleasantly surprised that the OP is getting such supportive advice here! Yay!

I just wanted to add that both my sons are naturally super smart and the littlest that I just weaned a year ago (he's 5) just taught himself to write with no instruction from me. He also has a freakishly natural understanding of math. So I really think there are benefits beyond nutrition for kids who extended breast feed but I realize that's anecdotal and I'm totally biased.

[youretooloud]

I nursed for about 12-ish months. The first time, I stopped before the first birthday, the second was sometime after the first birthday. I can't remember.

I stopped because *I* was ready to stop. I didn't want to do it forever, and I just wanted my body back to myself.

I nursed and cloth diapered because we couldn't afford a lot of necessities, much less formula and disposables, so I felt like sticking with it as long as I could was best for my family. We still had bottles though, and I would pump, and occasionally use formula samples from the doctor.

A lot of people believe in baby led weaning, and I just wasn't ready to be one of those people... I just wanted to be left alone. I had a friend who was on baby number two, when i was on baby number one.... her first son was still nursing when baby number two came along...so, she was nursing both of them. Colin was three at the time, and never stopped nursing. When she stopped nursing both kids, she was very depressed for a while...it was much harder on her than on them.

So, it's a personal choice...if you are going to miss it terribly, wait a little bit. If you feel like you are just SO done, go ahead and cut back until you can stop.

[Evansmom]

And one more thing to the OP:

You're awesome already for all that you have given your son so take a minute today to acknowledge that to yourself! happyfacehappyfacelovethis

[Kaddidle Care]

Whenever you're comfortable stopping.

^ What she said. It does sound like you are ready to wean him. (re-read your own post) Just make sure that when you do stop that you replace that cuddle time with something like reading a book, etc. My youngest never took a bottle either - went straight from me to a cup at 18 months.

[countrymom]

I do want to add, is that when you nurse for a really long time like I did, I now have saggy boobs, nothing like victoria secret can't fix

[LK5kids]

I nursed my first for 12 months...she quit on her own. I was pregnant and maybe there just was not much milk. My second was 2 3/4. I was ready to be done @ 2 1/2.

Neither of my kids ever got formula or a bottle either.

[SilverSabre25]

I am actually NAKing my 21 month old right at this moment, yes, nursing a toddler can be a trial and a chore...but it gets better. In a few months, when he better understands where he ends and you begin, it will get better. I think it was right in the 16-20 month range with my DS when I was wistfully wishing he would wean himself, and I think it was that way with my DD too.

Now is the time to start enforcing some "manners" when it comes to nursing, introducing the idea of nursing sometimes being "asleep" (but I can still cuddle you!), asking "Nurse please?" (with signs if not words), and whatever else works for you. I'm trying to gently guide nursing to just be a sleepytime thing, as I'm tired of him scrambling onto my lap every time I sit down.

Remember too that 16-20 months tends to be a big separation anxiety time, and taking away nursing right now might be akin to trying to take a lovey from a toddler. The tantrums for it are probably partially related to that panic that stems from growing independence that is really really scary for toddlers even though they throw themselves toward it with reckless abandon.

You can also check out "Mothering Your Nursing Toddler" if you haven't read it already; it provided me with a lot of valuable insights into the changing mother-child relationship at this age and helped me through the tough months. The library should have a copy, or I have one you could borrow if you needed.

Whatever you decide, try not to make your decision hastily or from a place of anger or resentment or anything. Do some reading and some reflection, and try gently cutting back. Whatever you do, sit down with him at a calm time when neither of you is upset, tired, hungry, etc, and explain how you're feeling and how you're going to change things. Maybe start talking about a nebulous "someday, you won't drink nursing (or whatever you call it) anymore, you'll be soooooo big you'll only drink from cups!"

[Scout]

Oh, you'll get all variations of answers on this one. In my opinion, the only appropriate answer is:

Whenever you're comfortable stopping.

She is right. Only you can decide how long is right for you. I love the episode of Family Guy where Lois is weaning Stewie. Very funny! I nursed ds1 along with supplemental formula for 7 months. My job just didn't leave ample time for pumping bottles for him so I dried up. DS2 I nursed for 18 mos, he never had formulahappyface, which was a great feeling. With him I had a job where I was in one location and could make the time to pump as i scheduled it around when my driver's trucks would leave so it didn't affect anything. Best of luck when you decide to wean! My ds's were ready too. That is why I stopped with this last one. I was very sad and found myself confused as to what to do at night on the rare occasion he would want comfort!::

[SilverSabre25]

And also, the support on this thread is AMAZING! Awesome

[Scout]

Okay, no one jump all over me - but I am just relaying information

My best friend is a RD, and she said that the 12 month breastfeeding studies are actually based off of the benefits of BF for 6 months. So I can only imagine that the studies that say 24 months are based off of something similar.

I think 18 months is an extremely commendable amount of time, and you should be proud. I would imagine that the repercussions of stopping now are very minimal - and most of the benefits have been gained already.

Yes. My ped told me at the 6 mo check up that all the benefits he got from me initially were gone! Of course, it still helped him if I were to get sick since he would get those new antibodies. I was surprised by him telling me this!

[Scout]

Funny story. I nursed my son until he was two years old. One day came up to me to nurse, he tried then looked at me and said "there's none in there, I want a Coke", then marched off to the fridge!

I tried to nurse my daughter who is adopted. She was two months old when we adopted her so it didn't work.

I say nurse as long as you want.

lovethis Kids say the darndest things! I actually LOL with this one!

[Candy]

I would stop at 12 months but whenever you want. I know some women nurse til there kid is 4 but hey whatever makes you happy.