Ideas for weaning older children

[BabyBearsMummy]

I am a longtime Mothering boards member but haven't posted in this forum area for quite sometime but I am still active in another area of the boards.

Friends of mine have a 5.5 year old who so far shows no signs of intending to self wean anytime soon. The little boy is highly intelligent and well spoken but also very sensitive. With our children starting school in a few weeks. They are leaning towards parent led weaning. Some been there done that advice would be very helpful. Thank You.

[Kerynna]

What have they tried so far?  Does the child take cow's milk at all?  Perhaps they could start a routine where, anytime the boy wants to nurse, his mother offers him a glass of a favorite beverage instead (cow's milk, soy milk, yogurt drink, etc.)?  Of course, they should do this gradually, cutting out one nursing session per week or so.

I would also suggest that the parents simply talk with their son and remind them that school will be starting and that he needs to work toward being weaned off the breast.  The best thing would be to involve him in a strategy to achieve that goal, by working together.

[BabyBearsMummy]

Mum returned to full time work when he was about a year as is typical here in Canada. So nursing is confined to the evening and night hours as well as weekends since.

He is also very picky eater with a very limited diet of items he will eat. But cows dairy he always seems to enjoy and is one of his diet staples. My child eats pretty much everything under the sun and I know they had hoped her adventurousness and seeing her enjoy food would lead  him to try new things but with a single exception this has not been the case.

[mrskingred]

I was hoping you'd get more replies, as I'm weaning my 5 yo atm. So far its going well. We had spoken a lot about him not nursing after his 5th birthday over the past 4 or 5 months. He asked to nurse the evening of his birthday and I agreed, saying it was the last time. DS tried to negotiate until his 6th birthday at that point but was told discussion is over. He complained for less than 5 minutes the first night w/o nursing. Hasn't been an issue since and hasn't asked. However, 5 days in, I am uncomfortable and I keep leaking, esp during sex. (sorry TMI). On the plus side, he seems to be better behaved or more mindful, but perhaps that's an age thing.

[hildare]

my dh's parents weaned him at a late age (for some reason no one will tell me his actual age, lol) by telling him that the boobie juice was about to go "bad."  he was old enough to understand, and then mama put something, not sure what, maalox?  one of those gentle but very nasty tasting otc meds on her nipple.  he tried one and the other and decided not to ask ever again. it did kind of make it the child's choice (albeit manipulatively) i'm not necessarily recommending this method, but thought it interesting.

dunno if that's a good way to do it or not, but it saved lots of tears, i am told. 

[maeve13]

similar to what someone mentioned above, a LLL leader told me of her experience using aloe, squeezed from the plant leaf sold at the grocery store, to coat her nipples. It apparently tastes bitter but is okay to ingest. She told her older children (probably around age 3) that they were grown up and mama's milk was no longer good. 

[SaltCreek76]

Wow, glad to find this thread.  My son is just 2 1/2 but we are starting to feel like he will never wean.  I don't mind it so much except the sleeping in our bed and night waking has gotten very hard as me and my DH are not sleeping well at all.  Also, it was getting embarassing, when we are out somewhere occasionally and he gets tired he has started crying "boobie! boobie, boobie, boobie."  Groan... So I started telling him that he has to say milk.  He understands me and has started saying it.  He still forgets sometimes, but I think he'll get it down soon.  We got him a shirt at the fair yesterday that says "I'm a boob man."  It cracked me and DH and our 7 yo daughter up.  That's Tristan!  But glad to hear that some of you have gone much longer.  I guess he just loves nursing and isn't ready to stop yet.

[PatioGardener]

Originally Posted by BabyBearsMummy 

With our children starting school in a few weeks. They are leaning towards parent led weaning. Some been there done that advice would be very helpful. Thank You.

Is this the only reason that the Mom wants to wean? If it is, I would tend towards support for continued nursing. Starting school is such an arbitrary time. There is no reason for her to wean if she and her son don't want to. He will wean eventually! Plus it may be helpful for him to be able to nurse during the stress of starting school.

I'm just wondering if she was fine nursing to 5.5 years, maybe 6 will be OK too?