For those that didn't CLW: when and why did you wean?

I haven't weaned yet, but I'll chime in.

Hm. My dd never went through a phase where she only nursed twice a day. I WANTED her too, but she didn't. She always LOVED nursing. Only now, at 27 mos, does she only nurse for nap and bedtime.. and that's my doing, not hers.

But I went through that feeling around 15 mos. We'd made it through the AAP recommendations, many of her peers were weaned and she and I were getting better at separating. So I started hoping she'd just give it up soon. But she wasn't like your daughter and I knew she was in for the long haul if I left it up to her. Really my biggest desires to wean have always come from outside dd and myself. Its been about dh and my wish that she was more affectionate with him, the feeling that I need to defend the fact that she's "still nursing," the fear that she's not independent enough for the society I've brought her into, wondering if she'll remember and mention it in kindergarten, Etc, Etc. And when I say these things out loud, or even type them here, they suddenly become much smaller. But they are real concerns (OK, I'm not too concerned about kindergarten really) and should be acknowledged. There have been better solutions to all of the above other than weaning anyway.

But again, she always seemed to need to nurse... until now. Now its seeming less and less like a NEED. So I am gently encouraging her to slow down. I must say, I am glad that I waited until she was verbal before pushing any kind of "independence" on her, like falling asleep by herself. Its so nice to be able to talk to her about it and hear her feedback and know she understands what's happening.

I guess my take on your situation is, if you really don't want to nurse, and she doesn't seem to need to nurse, than go ahead and try a little weaning. Just don't announce it or set a date or anything. Like you said, its gradual, so you can turn back or take it as slowly as you'd like. This gives you time to feel things out. She'll let you know if its not working for her. Or maybe you'll miss that time to just sit for a minute. If not, well, 15 months of breastfeeding is pretty darn good and your child will benifit from it for the rest of her life.

Well, we haven't fully weaned yet, either, but I can also agree that there seems to be a lessening of interest around 15 mos (at least with my DS and at least one other kid we know-- I know, it's a pretty small sample size ). DS cut out two nursing sessions at 15 mos because I found I was continuously asking him if he wanted to nurse at his previously usual time, and he would rather reluctantly stop what he was doing, nurse halfheartedly for about 30 sec, then go back to playing. I finally stopped asking him, and he didn't seem to miss it. Once or twice since then (over the past 2 months) he's asked to nurse in the middle of the morning or afternoon (the two sessions we dropped), but I haven't wanted to go back to that, so I offer food or cow's milk ( : yes, we introduced cow's milk, and DS really likes it!) and he's always happy with that instead. He still nurses at naptime, bedtime, in the night on demand, and first thing in the morning. I found just dropping those two nursing sessions really changed my outlook on nursing and I was able to feel much more positive about our relationship, and DS seems unaffected by it. It seems like your DD nurses much less than DS did at that age, but I don't think the lack of interest is unusual. I think they are so busy learning at that age that any interruption is unwelcome; OTOH, I suspect your DD probably really needs those few remaining nursing sessions to take a break and reconnect with you after all her busy learning!