[TiredX2]

Did you find yourself really aware when you reached the time with #2 (or so one) of #1's weaning?

We considered DD's official weaning to be the day she was 4 years, 2 months, 5 days.

DS will be 4 years, 2 months on Halloween

He is no where near weaning and it seems like I am about to step.... into an abyss? There will be no comparrison *really* at that point of their nursing pattterns. For so long I have based my reactions to DS's nursing at least partially on my retrospective views of his sister's nursing *at that age.*

So, I'll be entering new territory in a another week-10 days

I've been thinking about it a lot lately.

Anyway...

 

[Ruthla]

I didn't really find anything "magic" about when ds turned 30 months (the age dd1 was at weaning.) If anything, I'd look at him, see how much he was still a "baby" and couldn't imagine how I'd cared for her without nursing! (DD2 weaned from breast to bottle at 14mo and then used the bottle until age 3 and the sippy cup until ???) Since he doesn't use a bottle or sippy cup, it just makes perfect sense that he should still be nursing.

Now that he's "almost 4" though, I'm starting to feel like he's getting "big" and that I'm close to being ready to be done with nursing. He's certainly "closer to being ready for weaning" than he's ever been before, but he still enjoys nursing and I don't think he'll want to wean for a while yet. For the first time, I can understand how mothers get excited when kids slow down on nursing and look forward to weaning- I'd enjoyed nursing so much before this, and missed it so much when DD2 weaned prematurely, that I couldn't relate to this aspect of nursing an older child.

 

[annethcz]

I didn't compare much. But DS (#1) weaned at a very young age- 15 months. He was never attached to nursing in the way that his sisters have been. When he weaned, I was 3 months pregnant with #2 and had no milk left at all. Baby #2 is still going strong at 3.75yrs, and I can't imagine that she'll wean anytime soon.

I've nursed 3 kids now (3.75yo DD and 22 mo DD are tandem nursing), and I can see how strongly their nursing patterns are affected by temprament and personality. They're all totally different kids who all have different needs.

I did feel a little out of my element when I nursed #2 through my pregnancy with #3, and in the first few months of tandem nursing. I'd never experienced those things before, so I had to feel my way through it. But I guess, at this point, I've seen enough of my friends nurse (and tandem nurse) their children to age 5 (and beyond), so I don't feel like I'm doing anything groundbreaking by nursing my almost 4yo

 

[Mallory]

My first weaned about 5 1/2 and I just realized last night that my 4 1/2 year old has nursed twice in October, so I don't think he'll make it that far. Although I am due in March and both of them have talked about nursing when my milk comes back in, even if they do want to try, I don't really think at 6 1/2 and 5 that it will be for too long.

I didn't even think # 2 would make it this long, he has never been as much of a nurser as his brother.