Weaning toddler while pregnant?

[Anonymous]

Would love to hear from those of you who "extended" their nursing and then weaned while early on in their next pregnancy. My son just turned two and is still very attached to nursing (before he goes to sleep, only) Things seemed to be moving in the right direction a couple months ago(DH was putting him to bed and DS was only nursing before naps) but then he got two bad colds in a row and wanted me to put him to sleep every night. I hope to be pregnant within a month or 2, so I am curious if there are any others out there who can give me advice. I really would prefer that my son stop nursing as soon as possible, but know that it will be a process... we're not into CIO, so please don't advise me in that direction. Thank you.

[Anonymous]

OP: forgot to mention that we will also be moving him into a toddler bed very soon...in case that matters...

[Anonymous]

I had to wean DD when I got pregnant bc I stopped producing enough milk for her around 4 months (she was 10 months and had been EBF). I continued to nurse when I could, and started adding in some formula, but eventually I had no milk and she was just nursing for comfort - which was very uncomfortable for me.

Ours was a very natural process as she was less interested when I had less milk and took the bottle very easily, but I would just offer him a cup of milk before naps, while you are holding/snuggling with him and hope that he was accept it and not want to nurse as much, if at all.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Check out the book called Adventures in Tandem Nursing. My son was 15 months old when I got preg with baby 2. I continued to nurse him mornings, bed time and when he woke during the night. At 16 months we started replacing the middle of the night feeding with a bottle of whole milk. I also transitioned to a don't offer, don't refuse policy. I'm not sure at 2 I'd recommend replacing nursing with a bottle but I felt so terrible that I was gently encouraging him to wean (don't offer, don't refuse and no night nursing) that I couldn't bring myself to not give him a nursing substitute. By 17 months he was totally weaned. I was a little sad but also grateful because it was more painful to nurse when pregnant - something the books talks about. I also think my milk supply might have been dropping as well. It was only a few days after he stopped nursing that I didn't have any more milk. He still has bottle of milk at bedtime and if he wakes in the night and asks for it. That's how it happened for us.

[Anonymous]

My daughter weaned herself at 15 months when I was pregnant, and I always assumed it was because she didn't like the taste anymore -- I'd heard that it changes during pregancy.

[Anonymous]

I was three months into my pregnancy with DD#2 when I weaned my 2 year old DD. She was in my bed nursing through the night & the pregnancy hormones made my breasts/ nipples excrutiatingly sensitive, so I decided to wean her. I bought her gerber pacifiers (the ones that are kind of shaped like an extended breast nipple) & started offering them to her when she asked to nurse. I started putting her to sleep in her crib, which also helped. In all, it took about 2 weeks & wasn't as bad as I'd expected it to be. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

I got pregnant when DD was 15 months old, and she was still very attached to nursing. In the beginning it was VERY painful - nipples were so tender - but I didn't want to rush her, and I really enjoyed the closeness. After a bit, I cut her from 3 nursings a day to two. She dropped the night nursing all on her own, and pretty much led the way on dropping the last (early morning) nurse, when she was 20 months old. I would have kept going, and was a little sad to see it end, but was so glad I let her control the timing. The slow way we went also meant I had zero engorgement when she stopped. Good luck!