My sons drug of choice is breast milk

I'm 47, and still have that craving! ~smile~

Frozen cabbage leaves is supposed to help dry up the milk. My daughter did this and it worked. Give your son some regular food to eat and maybe he will forget about wanting to suck all the time. He is way to old to want to do that anyways.

What happened with the sippy cups? Would pumping, then putting the milk in the sippy cups be a compromise?

Just curious as to the reason for weaning?

You certainly don't have to divulge such personal information to strangers.

I just can't figure out why, if it's such an issue for him...are you weaning.

I'm not being able to ask without sounding judgmental but I am trying.

Kudos to you for nursing at ALL, it takes a lot of dedication.

I nursed 3 of my 4 kids.. and it is not easy to wean at all.. it is like taking candy from a baby.. he he he

As time goes on it does get easier and they do eventually forget that it was once something they did... Usually after the first few days they are no longer asking for it at night and waking up for it. My youngest about 3 weeks after we started weaning, I woke up and found him latched on.. Ooops..lol

It does get easier, but my suggestion is not to wean all at one time... you need to wean slowly and take away one feeding at a time a day... offer water, juice, milk instead of nursing during the day and make the night feedings the last to go.. this way you will not become engorged and feel uncomfortable. Remember you have prepared your body for supply and demand and you have to also wean your body from the supply and demand so that you are not uncomfortable. Getting down to 2-3 feedings a day is a great accomplishment and means you are on your way to full weaning..

Oh he sure does miss the comfort.
Im weaning because i have to start a medication that goes through to the breast milk. Your question wasnt judgemental at all LOL I was to start teh medication almost a year ago, and Ive streched the time out all that I could. I breast fed my first 2 kids for almost 2 years, He still has his Nuby sippy cups, and that helps during the day-but nothing is as good as the real thing for at night.

thank you all for oyur support! god knows I need it right now :)

ohhh. this is so sad to me. why force him? a forced weaning can result in psycological problems and oral issues later on in life. a need that is fulfilled in early childhood goes away (reference the baby book by dr. sears should you be interested) i understand being tired of nursing, but why cut him off cold turkey. he's clearly trying to tell you that he's not ready to wean. a child who's ready will give nursing up on his own. you made it 18 months mama! that's already so much better than a lot of (most?) american moms. you know the world health organization reccommends nursing a MINIMUM of two years, and thereafter as long as mom and child desire ...
i saw your post about weaning earlier, and didn't say anything, because its true that some 18-month-olds are ready to wean. but i would say a majority are not. it sounds like you realize that yours isn't one of them ...
please take a minute to reconsider ...

i see now your reply about medication. is it possible that you could pump enough to give to him in cups before you have to start? i dunno. i guess it depends on the type of medication, whether there are any breastfeeding friendly alternatives and how strongly you need it. i read a story in the LLL magazine "new beginnings" about a woman who got cancer and had to do chemo (an L4, which is no way jose to breastfeeding) and her 2 year old waited her out! when she was done with chemo, her daughter said "milkies? mommy no sick? mommy better? milkies better?" and they resumed nursing. i don't know if i would be able to do that, but reading about it brought tears to my eyes.

Oh Suzanne that story is sweet! I wish there were some medication or breast feeding friendly alternatives, but my health is deteriorating-and Ive gotta get on those meds. He does love his Nuby cup, and I still giv ehim the cuddle time. I breastfed my other kids longer too.

thanks for writing back. hearing about your sad munchkin made ME sad yesterday when mine decided that going outside to play was more exciting than our afternoon nursing. (he made up for it at bedtime though) i'm glad to hear that this is completely for medical reasons and that your other kids nursed longer than 18 months. coming in during the middle of your story, i was just afraid that other moms were going to read about your struggles and decide that this is what weaning is SUPPOSSED to be, ya know? "oh, you're 18 months now, you don't need mama's milk anymore. let's cut you off cold turkey. it's OK if you scream about it. i heard that's normal."
let us know how it's going for you, OK? :-)

I'm sorry weaning isn't going smoothly for you. It can be very hard. Baby-led weaning is nice, but most babies don't do that until their are 2+, and most mommies aren't into it that long.

I was actually very lucky. My son and I had similiar ideas on weaning and we gradually stepped down together until 2.5 weeks ago, when I made the decision to cut the last feeding. He didn't get too upset about it, which helped me feel good about my decision. We went 16 months and I felt we had a good run.

I don't think your son will suffer psychological damage from weaning as long as you realize one important thing: when you take away someone's coping mechanism you have to replace it with something else. Right now, nursing is his coping mechanism so you have to help him find something else and you also want to make sure that weaning from the breast doesn't mean weaning from you. Hugs and cuddles are going to be very important.

Good luck!

Oh, 18 months, I thought you said 18 years. That's completely different.

Here's a click and a 10 towards your next cash-out.