[sylviamama]

My dd is almost 14 mo, and I'm finding myself more and more not demand feeding. I'll say things like "we'll nurse when we get home" if she asks on the way out of the grocery store which is a 3-4 minute drive from home (whereas before, I would nurse her in the car before leaving the lot), or "we'll nurse upstairs after we brush your teeth" (whereas before I would nurse her in the living room, then play some more, then brush teeth, then go upstairs and nurse her to sleep).<br><br>
I just want to make sure that I'm not going to set her up for an early weaning (IMO - or rather "in my hopes" early is before 2) if I hold her off on occasion. I've heard that don't offer, don't refuse is the motto for starting down the path towards weaning, and this seems like it could be along those lines.

 

[mom3]

I think as long as you are nursing soon after the request it should be OK. If she gets terribly upset then I would definite go ahead and nurse right then. Putting her off until she would normally want to nurse again, thus cutting out a nursing session, is more along the lines of starting to wean IMO.

 

[NoraB]

I think it depends on how often you use this technique. If it happens all the time, you may very well be setting yourself up for an early weaning. If it's only now and then, I can't imagine it will cause any trouble. If your little one is okay w/ it, it's probably fine. Is there a reason you want to delay the nursings? Are you starting to have ambivalent feelings?

 

[sylviamama]

Thanks for the replies. Just wanted to answer, nope, no ambivalence at all. I'd just rather wait til we get home so we can sit down on the futon nice and comfy and snuggly, and really enjoy a long nursing instead of a snicker-snacker in the back seat of the car with people and their shopping carts and exhaust fumes wafting by us. When she was really little and not eating solids, it was a matter of getting her tummy full or she would cry in the car the way home. Now she's OK with waiting a few minutes. Or I'd rather get her ready for bed and enjoy nursing her to sleep instead of having a quick snack in the living room followed by a second wind on her part and a later bedtime and a possibly cranky baby while I'm getting her ready for bed.<br><br>
LOL, that's why I was worried about starting to occasionally hold her off. I didn't want our lovely, best thing in the world to me, nursing relationship to end too soon....

 

[NoraB]

Your reasoning makes a lot of sense to me and seems to be working well for you. Good luck!