Weaning 3yo?

[lisie3]

I've been nursing for 9 years straight.  Starting with my oldest, who nursed for 3 years, until I gave birth to my second, and the same story for him until I gave birth to my 3rd, 3 years later.  We have co-slept all along, my oldest is now in his own bed, but my almost 6 year old and my almost 3 yo are still in bed.  I am ready to be done with nursing.  I want my boobs back!  The first two naturally weaned through my pregnancy and then didn't want any of the "new milk" so stopped completely at that point.  I am not pregnant now, and don't plan to be again :), so there is no natural stopping point for my youngest.  I am resenting the fact that he is waking up and yelling at me "nurse!"  It really gives me that icky feeling at this point.  I barely have any milk left, he wants to do it more for the comfort of it.  I would love to just cuddle!!!!!  Does anyone have any recommendations for me??  How do you wean a child when you really want to be done?  He doesn't reallly nurse at all during the day anymore, it's just before nap and bed, and during the night.  

[turtlemamameg]

I stopped with dd at 2 1/2.  We built it up for a month before we had travel plans and told her that once we got back from NJ, we would no longer nurse.  We talked about it in such a positive way expressing true excitement that she was getting bigger.  She actually gave up on her own during our trip and did not nurse the last 2 days of travling.  It was much easier than I had thought it would be because I had nick-named her "the boobie monster".  She loved nursing!! I didn't have much milk left either at that time and I knew she was mostly nursing for comfort.  Her morning nurse was the last to give up...but it all went so smooth to my surprise.

On the other hand, almost a year later and she still loves my breasts and wants to hold my nipple in the morning during waking.  Now I am trying to figure out how to wean from this... :)

[turtlemamameg]

I forgot to give you well deserved credit for your 9 years of service to your children.  Great Job Mama!

[lisie3]

Thank you for help.  I guess I should try talking to him about it more instead of just trying to avoid it!  He is about to turn 3 in a couple weeks so maybe we can try to make that his end date?   I definitely need to make it a positive thing because right now it's feeling kind of negative.....I just have never had to really make a big issue of it in the past because it just worked out that they stopped.  

[turtlemamameg]

It may end up being easier than you think; I thought I was going to go through hell, but it was as simple as can be.  And trust me, nothing is SIMPLE with Piper, so I really lucked out.

After my response to you, I tried in a really positive manner to ask her if she was ready to try putting herself to sleep at night, and she excitedly said yes.  And so she did.  I don't expect miracles, but I hope we can continue in this manner.  She still wakes up a bunch at night to sleep with me, but putting herself to sleep would be a big leap.  If she's not ready, okay then, but it worked out fabulously last night anyway.

Best wishes to you!

[Mama Amie]

I nursed DS until 2.5, and basically warmed him up for about a week by telling him my milk was almost gone. once that week was up, I reminded him that milk was all gone, but we could still snuggle until he fell asleep. it was rather easy. DD is 1.5 and I an SO ready for her to reach that level of understanding. kudos for 9 years, mama!