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<div class="quote-block">Originally Posted by <strong>ASusan</strong> <a href="/community/forum/thread/1285737/strategies-for-convincing-3yr-old-to-wean#post_16119932"><img alt="View Post" class="inlineimg" src="/community/img/forum/go_quote.gif" style="border-bottom:0px solid;border-left:0px solid;border-top:0px solid;border-right:0px solid;"></a><br><br><br><br><div class="quote-container"><span>Quote:</span>
<div class="quote-block">Originally Posted by <strong>LaurieG</strong> <a href="/community/forum/thread/1285737/strategies-for-convincing-3yr-old-to-wean#post_16119870"><img alt="View Post" class="inlineimg" src="/community/img/forum/go_quote.gif" style="border-bottom:0px solid;border-left:0px solid;border-top:0px solid;border-right:0px solid;"></a><br><br><p>So it doesn't sound like either of you did any prep work in terms of talking ahead of time about what was to come, am I right? I have tried to bring up the subject of being a big girl and nummies are for babies and now that she can do lots of big girl things the nummies aren't needed.... She's not buying it. Maybe the cold turkey approach is better at this age?</p>
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<br><br><p>Yeah, I did the prep-work, and it basically backfired. DS is the same age as your LO. I started gently and infrequently in the summer that when he was big, he wouldn't nurse anymore. Sometimes (like once every 2-3 weeks), I mentioned that babies got their food from mama, but big kids got their food from eating, and similar (like pointing out mammals who nurse their young, but when the young grow up...). DS started in on, "I a baby." and "I'm not a big boy." When he turned 3, he even would say, "I a yittle boy; I not a big boy." I think prepping just made him more anxious about it.</p>
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<p>And this past summer, DS and I were pretty much where you are now with nursing - down to the 4am wake-up and food sensitivities/restricted diet/underweight. I cut out the 4am one first. The daytime one faded away on it's own. Three weeks ago, DS was nursing to sleep and upon wake up. He *could* go to sleep without nursing when DH was around, but he started to be much more demanding and whining about having ME put him to bed so he could nurse. (But then he wouldn't necessarily fall asleep and falling to sleep dragged on for hours.) And he was also becoming quite demanding about the am wake-up nursing. I tried to restrict to "when the sun is up", thinking it would move later and later as the days grew longer and we could gradually move away from it. No dice. DS still woke up at 5-6am and wanted to nurse, lurched around the bed for a while, becoming increasingly demanding about it. I knew things had to end when nursing was turning into more of a discipline issue. Like he would hit me when I said no, we have to wait. If he didn't hit, he would whine and fuss and wake DH (who was, understandably, becoming increasingly resentful). Yeah, even typing it out, I should have weaned DS about 3-4 months before I actually did. We're at just over 2 weeks of not nursing, and DS has stopped asking in the past few days, although he will pat my chest longingly at bedtime. But the first few days, ouch! "I not a big boy. I'm 2!" (He was actually 3). "I yove to nurse. I a baby."</p>
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<p>And still, as I type this, I realize that he's gone to sleep faster and faster over the past 2 weeks. Yep. I should have weaned him a couple of months ago. Nursing was clearly no longer about his needs (emotional or nutritional), but just about DS becoming more demanding. DH totally saw it. I didn't. I hope DH never reads this!</p>
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<p>Good luck!</p>
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<br><br><p> This sounds a lot like DD. I have tried night-weaning - explaining to her that the nummies need sleep in order to make more milk and she can have some once the sun comes up, ... She becomes downright mean about it and I end up so frustrated and sleep deprived that by 4am I'm mean too. So I backed off on it, because I didn't want it to be a power struggle. I don't want the end of our nursing relationship to be negative. </p>
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<p>So I'm wondering what the difference was for you the time you actually weaned vs. those attempts to restrict. Why do you think your DS has been more accepting of it this time? Or maybe it wasn't easier but you powered through?</p>
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