how to gently wean an older nursling?

[threekidsandasheltie]

my dd will be three in April, I would like to wean her shortly after her birthday(like be done by May).

any ideas, one thing I have noticed is today I had put gentian violet on my nipples for some icky thrush we are dealing with and she will not nurse(has not since 5am) this is very unusual for her, she nurses at least 4-5 times during the day. "wait1" makes me wonder?!

[divea]

Talk to her and give her a general idea abut weaning. How it will help her and how you will love her even more. Talk to her everytime she nurses. Start skkipping or avoiding times, places and triggers that make her nurse. Applaud every session she skips. Allow her to play, cuddle and be touchy-feely with you and make not giving her the breast into a fun game. She should wean in about a month......I never had thrush so don't know about that. My daughter weaned about 8 months ago and will still give me a 'I want milk" look !

[Bama_5]

Ideas below, use some (or none - lol) and toss the rest. I'm not suggesting you do them all at the same time. Just trying to help you brainstorm.



Try to stay on the go and active especially during normal nursing times.

At first sign of nursing time (that you'd like to limit or skip), take her outside. This is usually great distraction.

Provide snack a few minutes before (or at very first cue) of nursing times.

Promise to nurse (insert your word for it here) after she has had one cracker or two sips of sippy cup. Gradually increase to 2 crackers or 4 sips of cup,etc.

Stand a lot. For me, when I sit, my dc think it's time to nurse.

Insert other "do this first" type activities. Say, let me rub your back first. Rub back for 30 seconds, then nurse. Next time rub back for 1 min., then nurse, etc.

Have one spot you always go to in order to nurse. One chair or bedroom - whatever works for you. Anytime she asks to nurse tell her you must go to that spot (pick a word to designate it) first. As with other suggestions, gradually increase the amount of time it takes you to get to that spot (you could pick up a few toys along the way and put them away, or suddenly have to go to the bathroom, etc).

Read a book and then nurse, graduate to two books, etc.

Talk out loud to her the whole time you are "procrastinating/putting her off" by saying whatever you are doing..........for example, "I'm cutting up the veggies for lunch, let me finish this one and then we'll go nurse. I'm still slicing it into little pieces. MMMMM....MMMM this will be good. Okay, I"m washing my hands now, got to get them clean, using lots of soap suds - oooh, look at the suds. I'm rinsing my hands and then I'll have to dry them off" etc. This entertains her a bit and helps her wait.

Teach her the word wait. As with all of the above. Wait at first means seconds. It graduates to minutes, etc. Teach her to wait every time (even those times you plan to nurse her anyway) so it is a habit and she doesn't learn that wait means I'm being put off. Wait should be a part of the nursing.

Praising (as above poster mentioned) might be good idea for some. For me, I didn't point out they were missing/skipping a session. It was success in my book if they didn't notice. Bringing up the subject would have just killed my effort to distract them from it. However, if she is working with you to give up the nursing, that might be effective.

Tell her she can nurse while you count to 20 or sing abc's or whatever. Do it slowly at first, warning when time to quit nursing. It won't work first try, but do this enough times and she'll learn that nursing ends when you get to the end. Obviously, you can sing or count at the speed of your choice, slowly at first and faster as you progress towards your goal.



HTH,

Bama

[mom2foxkids]

I'm currently nursing my son who will be 3 in December. I would like to start weaning but it seems like such a far off, unattainable goal.... he LOVES to nurse!!
Good luck weaning :)

[NickNAK]

I just started offering a sippy full of milk when they asked. Sometimes it worked sometimes not. Eventually they would just take the milk and stopped asking for the breasts.