Transition from demand feeding?

Just wondering, for those of you who are nursing toddlers, do you continue
to do so on request or did you set limits at some proscribed time?

Nancy

Nancy P wrote:
Just wondering, for those of you who are nursing toddlers, do you continue
to do so on request or did you set limits at some proscribed time?

I don't remember exactly when I stopped feeding Rebekah on demand. I
know it was later with Noah because I had a baby to nurse too and it was
so much easier to go to bed with both of them and get rest. I think it
was somewhere between 2 and 2 1/2 when I started distracting her the
first time she asked sometimes, as I began to think she was doing it out
of boredom, or to stop me from focusing on something other than her.
When she asked to nurse, I'd say, "oh, you must be thirsty...or maybe
you want a snack?" If that worked, great, if not, I'd list a few snacks,
and if she still wasn't interested, I would nurse her. She's three now
and I still use that technique if it's a quiet day at home and she's
coming up to me too often to nurse. Sitting down still makes me a good
target, so I try to keep moving.


HTH,


Emily

Just wondering, for those of you who are nursing toddlers, do you continue
to do so on request or did you set limits at some proscribed time?

Nancy

We started with reducing the amount of ebm DS got during the day, because I
wanted to stop pumping. That transition started around 8 or 9 months and
continued gradually until 13 months, when I did stop pumping. At that point he
was nursing 3x a day -- morning, after work, bedtime -- plus sometimes at
night. (I don't do sleep training. Too much effort.)

At 15 months I experimented with dropping the after work session via 'don't
offer, don't refuse' combined with gentle distraction -- we'd go outside to
play as soon as I got home instead of sitting down on the couch to nurse.
Although he was fine with the lack of an offer, he'd then get really cranky an
hour or two later and wind up nursing then, which was inconvenient, so I went
back to offering as soon as I got home. For a couple months. I tried again at
around 18 months, the same thing, and then it worked.

I've always nursed him at night 'on demand' but at various times between 1 year
and 2 he would sleep through, and since we moved him out of the crib and into a
bed not long after his 2nd birthday he has mostly stopped nursing when he wakes
in the wee hours, and sometimes skips it in the morning too. So we're down to
one or two times a day.

I've been known to refuse to nurse when it's not convenient or he's just
bugging me ;-) so I guess that counts as setting limits, but I don't have a
hard and fast rule about times or anything. I will also offer to nurse him at
"odd" times if he hurts himself or if I'm really desperate for him to take a
nap.

Fortunately he's never really been the nurse-all-day type and gentle weaning
techniques have worked well for us. I'm not sure exactly what I'd do if I had
a toddler demanding to nurse every hour or two, but I certainly don't think a
toddler who is eating broccoli and quesadillas and M&Ms needs to be nursed "on
demand"!

Holly
Mom to Camden, 2.5 yrs

HollyLewis wrote:

Just wondering, for those of you who are nursing toddlers, do you continue
to do so on request or did you set limits at some proscribed time?

Nancy

We started with reducing the amount of ebm DS got during the day, because I
wanted to stop pumping. That transition started around 8 or 9 months and
continued gradually until 13 months, when I did stop pumping. At that point he
was nursing 3x a day -- morning, after work, bedtime -- plus sometimes at
night. (I don't do sleep training. Too much effort.)


snip

Holly's experience was alot like mine, although my DD started refusing EBM
at around 10.5 months, so I quit pumping at 12 months. We were down to
~4 times a day and the first one to drop was the home from work. We did
it by distraction also (play, dinner, bath, books). She nursed to sleep,
the middle of the night and first thing in the morning. The morning one went
next, and we did that by me getting up before her, and once I was dressed-
no more nursing (she seemed to get that). Besides we were busy with getting
up, feeding the dogs, eating breakfast, getting dressed and going to school.

Middle of the night feed went after she moved to her big bed and my husband
started going to her to settle her back down when she awoke (she was probably
about 22-23 months at this point).

Last session to go was before bed. (I was really ready to wean by the time
she was 2, so I was kind of nudging her along). These I just cut shorter
and shorter (let her nurse for a few minutes, then say "in a few minutes
we'll be done", then unlatch her. If she put up a fuss, I'd let her latch back
on). Pretty soon she was sucking for a minute then unlatching and going
to sleep. We completely weaned by having dad put her to bed for a few
weeks in a row and talking about no more nursing. It went very well, no
tears at all.

Good luck!

Mary

Nancy P wrote:
Just wondering, for those of you who are nursing toddlers, do you
continue to do so on request or did you set limits at some proscribed
time?

If Gabe wants to nurse and it's been a few hours since he last nursed,
that's fine, though I often offer solid food first. I'm starting to tell him
no if he wants to nurse because he's bored or because I happen to be sitting
down.


--
iphigenia
www.tristyn.net
"i have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.
i do not think that they will sing to me."

"Nancy P" wrote in message
...
Just wondering, for those of you who are nursing toddlers, do you continue
to do so on request or did you set limits at some proscribed time?

Nancy


Thanks to those of you who responded. That was very helpful for me.

Nancy