Wean before pregnancy or during?

[MarianneH]

DH and I are about ready to start TTC #2, and DS (25 mo.) is still dependent upon nursing for sleep.  I am not interested in tandem nursing and would like to gently help my son learn how to fall asleep without nursing with the intention of weaning completely.  My question is, in your experience, would you recommend weaning before pregnancy, or do you think it would be significantly easier to wean during pregnancy?  (If the milk dries up...)  The other thing is, he is getting his molars, so I am not sure it would be wise to even attempt it until that is over with.  Any thoughts you have are greatly appreciated!

[Adaline'sMama]

I say wait until you are pregnant to wean. I mean, why delay ttc if you dont have to? You have nine whole months to wean # 1 (well, 6 if you want to play it safe).

[BananaBreadGirl]

I would say nurse through the molars for your own sanity! :)

Hopefully you'll conceive soon, but if it takes a few months, that's a few more months that your son can enjoy nursing and get the health benefits too. You could definitely start working away from depending on nursing to fall asleep, though. I like No Cry Sleep Solution for that. 

[D_McG]

I did it both ways and would never again nurse in pregnancy.  When I went to TTC my 3rd I weaned DD before we even had unprotected sex.  That's how awful I found nursing and weaning in pregnancy!  My son was very into nursing and would happily have nursed for years more.  Weaning him while nauseous/exhausted was horrible.  

[sunnygir1]

I weaned dd gradually during my pregnancy with ds.  It was fine.  I wanted to keep nursing her, but it got so uncomfortable that I just kept reducing the frequency and length of our nursing sessions.  I was probably 4-5 months along when she weaned completely; she was 27 months and had been done teething since 18 months.  If you feel he needs a few more months for teething, go for it.  You might want to work on getting him down to a few sessions a day (like morning, nap time, and bedtime), though, because if you have nausea during your first trimester you aren't going to want to be nursing him on demand all day (or night) long.