Tuesday, February 5, 2008

How to stop the "Boobie"

Do any of you have tips on how to wean my daughter?  She is 19 months old and is currently down to two feedings a day.  If it were up to her, it would be two feeding every hour.  She loves the "boobie" and asks for it frequently.  She nurses right before she goes down for her nap and before bed time.  Sometimes Aaron will put her down for bed, thus getting me out of that feeding.  But lately she screams for me when he picks her up to go read/go to bed.  I HATE her crying and wish this was just something I could change over night.  I love nursing her but I know that is has to stop at some point, especially if I want a third child.  If I could get pregnant (not that I'm trying April, I promise) while nursing, I would.  How does that happen anyway?  

I weaned my oldest around 18 months but at least she had a passifier, or "bobble" (it's what she calls the pacifier-don't ask me why) to calm and soothe her.  Coral doesn't take a passifier or bottle.  She is a total boobie girl and only wants her mommy.  Oh what do do?????

4 comments:

Grammy A said...

Stephanie, have you tried taking her outside and distracting her like you did with Sevrie? Sevrie probably did better because she still had her bobble. NONE of my kids wanted to stop nursing! I've heard about babies/toddlers who "self-wean," but I've never seen any! It seems like the older my kids got... the more they wanted to nurse! It's like how Tara had to leave town, or Emma may still be nursing today!

Stephanie said...

I can pretty much ditract her when she's asking for it but it's the right before bedtime and nap time I'm not sure what to do. I think I might just have to put her in her crib even if she starts crying. Who knows, she may stop as soon as I leave the room. As long as I know she's not hungry, I'll be able to do it (I think). I know it'll just kill me listening to her cry. We'll see though. Coral has surprised me on things so maybe she'll just go right to sleep. Wishful thinking, huh?

I do agree that the older a child is, the harder it is to wean. I wonder what Kirst has to say? Kendall was how old when she stopped nursing? I know she didn't take a passifier so we're in the same boat.

Kirsten said...

I just wrote the longest post and then closed the window before it went through. ARGH!

Well, let's see what I can remember. I nursed Kendall for 22 months and would have gone longer if I didn't want to get pregnant. That's why I weaned her. I would've gone to at least 2 years but I would have liked to let her self wean, which most children do between 3 and 4 years. I'd like to do that with Gage but we'll see. He's not a boobie fiend like Kendall was.

Kendall liked to nurse to sleep so we let her fall asleep in the car a couple of times instead which worked. She didn't take bottles or pacifiers either which was good because that would've been one more thing to wean her off of, ya know? I'm sure she cried some but after a couple days with no boob she was okay. I nursed her one more time to alleviate my engorgement and then we were done. I would just cuddle her before bed, read her a story and put her in her crib. I don't nurse Gage to sleep, except in the middle of the night, so if I do decide to wean him eventually, it'll be easier I'm sure.

Good luck and let us know how it goes. Maybe she could spend a weekend at your mom's house if it comes down to something like that.

knitaholic310 said...

Stephanie, I have felt your pain. Emma never took a bottle and had very little interest in pacifiers. I think Aidan took her pacifier she got from the hospital and claimed it as his own (never mind that he always had about 20 hidden in different spots around the house). When I wanted to wean Emma I had to go out of town for a weekend and just let Collin deal with her. My sister was graduating from high school so I went and just wore cabbage leaves in my extremely engorged boobs all weekend. I remember having to express a little milk into the sink at a friend's apartment in San Francisco because one of my boobs was way more engorged than the other. It was a very uncomfortable weekend, but totally worth it. I am sure you have tons of friends that live a little ways away that would love a visit from you without the kids. Maybe your mom could help Aaron while you are gone or maybe you could time it while John and April are visiting. But truly, that was the only thing that worked for me because I was Emma's human pacifier. It is really no surprise that she is the biggest straight milk drinker in the family. Good Luck!