This Thread is Dedicated to Child-Led Weaning Mamas! - Page 3

[mother_sunshine]

Originally Posted by arratt

Im new to MDC and was just wondering what you all consider child led weaning and how "strict" you are with the definition? My dd is 2.5 years old and still nursing all day and night, I have no plans to wean her completely but I have been considering night weaning (just finished reading the no cry sleep solution book) dd recently because she still will wake up 6+ times a night and can only nurse herself back to sleep. So if you night wean but still nurse on demand all dayis that NOT considered child lead weaning or by child led weaning do you mean COMPLETELY weaned? Thanks for the info.
Shannon

Hi Shannon, For myself CLW means complete weaning. I consider ourselves CLW because I am letting dd decide when she is ready to fully wean. I think it is completely okay for the mother to initiate reasonable nursing limits if it will help their relationship, after all it is a partnership. I night-weaned my dd when she was around 2 because I found myself increasingly becoming the mother I didn't want to be when I had lack of sleep. So nightweaning actually helped our nursing relationship because during the day I was able to nurse her on demand without feeling worn-out or touched-out. Our situation is kinda strange though because around the same time when she night-weaned we started the family bed (would have started at birth if I knew better), so at least she didn't feel abandoned or alone at night. At 7 she is still nursing when she wants, which fluctuates between once a day and once every few weeks at bedtime. Obviously I'm in it for the long haul, regardless of her age, which is what I believe to be true child-led weaning. IMHO one cannot do child-led weaning and then decide that the child is too old so then initiate weaning and still call it child-led....That would be mother-led weaning IMO.

HTH!

[mother_sunshine]

Originally Posted by ekblad7

Yes! I would love it!

Amy, As moderator do you have any advice on how we can proceed further? Are Cynthia and Peggy aware of this thread?...or what do we/I need to do to make them aware in hopes of having a change in the near future?

[Viola]

Originally Posted by mother_sunshine

Hi Shannon, For myself CLW means complete weaning. I consider ourselves CLW because I am letting dd decide when she is ready to fully wean. I think it is completely okay for the mother to initiate reasonable nursing limits if it will help their relationship, after all it is a partnership.

OK, well, in that case, I did let my child wean herself. She chose to stop nursing at night and she completely weaned on her own, but I figure she might have picked up on some of my feelings. I guess that is still CLW.

[UrbanPlanter]

I consider us to be doing CLW, but I want him to stop at night and have begun to resist night nursings. Is that against the CLW rules? I just can't take being so tired anymore!!!

[darlindeliasmom]

I had to think about this a lot...I think that having an extended breastfeeding forum is an excellent idea for info/support for those making the decision. But I have found that I just don't post there often because I feel like I don't fit in.

Part of my problem is that I am not sure whether we have weaned or not...I feel silly posting when I think we are totally weaned, and don'tr know where to start when it appears she isn't...does that make any sense at all? But it would help if I knew I was coming to a forum where other moms had experienced the ambivalence the child feels at the end of their bf-ing journey.

So yeah, I'd like a place to do that...even tho' we think we're done (I did talk to her last week, when we were having our " how old is too old?" talk here)

[Mom4tot]

Yes ma'm!

[root*children]

Am I a total loser cause I voted no? <dodging tomatoes being thrown at me>. I am all about CLW. Currently we randomly tandem nurse cause my nearly 4yo isn't ready to call it quits yet. I just feel if I want to post about CLW, I can do it in EB and ask for nobody to be critical of me...

<feeling very uncool>

[Sustainer]

:LOL


dready*mama -------------------->

[root*children]

<wiping the goop from my eyes> :nana:

[Sustainer]

You need to do this:

[root*children]

and neener-neener-neener :nana: :nana:

[MamaAllNatural]

Mother Sunshine,

There is a new Forum being considered elsewhere on the boards. It has been stated that a "need" for the forum must be demonstrated on a thread for at least a couple of months before they'll consider making a new one. So, maybe you can edit the title of this thread to Child Lead Weaning Support or make a new thread with that title and we'll go from there. I'd really love to see CLW have it's own forum.

[mother_sunshine]

Thanks MamaAllNatural I changed the title.

Too bad they can't consider the "Support for Older Children" thread as a need for an additional forum. It's safe to assume that most of the posters there are CLW. With 16 pages, 301 replies and 10,616 views, we've been cramped into that one thread since March 2003. And before that we used the "How Old is Too Old" thread (until we got a troll and needed to start the new thread) which is 9 pages, 170 replies, and8,893 views.

[rareimer]

i think the CLW forum is a great idea! but i am wondering...if (as it seems to me) most of us here are CLW'ers, that would leave the EB forum rather empty...

[MamaAllNatural]

I actually don't think we're in the majority. There have been at least 5 threads this week about how to wean. I would say we're in the minority. I would also still visit the EB forum.

[TiredX2]

I also don't think that CLWieners :LOL are in the majority on this board. I see a LOT of posts about weaning. I think that valuable information is provided, because on the internet most weaning sites are talking about babies, not toddlers or children. But, I really would like a place to go w/no mention of weaning methods, etc...

That said, I never know how to count myself. DD was the one to call it quits (she "couldn't" nurse any more--- couldn't get milk, though that hadn't bothered her when she was younger and I was pg), but I definately night weaned her (at least 4 hours when she was over 2 and I was pg) and limited her after DS was born. So, she was not child led, but she did, in fact, decide when she was done (Which I think would have been later if she hadn't had any restrictions in the first place). So, where do I fit?

[MamaAllNatural]

I think the point is that the final weaning was up to the child, which in your case it sounds like that's what happened. I think setting limits and rearranging the nursing relationship is just a change, but it's not completely cutting them off from the breast.

It is funny, I'm realizing I might be the only Child Led Nightweaner here!:LOL I need my own forum. I don't mind being the experiment. I'll let you guys know how it goes. I still nurse her "on demand" (she's not 'demanding' about it though ). She nurses quite a few times during the day and at least once at night. Am I really, truly the only one? (oh, she's 3 btw).

[monkey's mom]

Child-Led Nightweaners here, too! He's 2.5. He'll decide when he's done, not me.

[hummingbear]

child led night weaning here too

Like another posted here, he falls back asleep nursing and for the first 26 months it was every 1 1/2 to 2 hours or about 7 times a night. Thank the heavens that he started throwing in a 4 hour stretch once a night. Now, just shy of his 3rd birthday he will sleep 3 to 6 hours in the beginning of the night and then either nurse every 1 1/2 hours or sleep till an hour before waking to nurse again. So slowly, slowly I am enjoying longer stretches of sleep.

Ann

[mother_sunshine]

http://www.mothering.com/discussions....php?p=1433922