Child-Led Weaning

Andrea A. Phillips wrote:

For those of you who are using or have used the child-led method of weaning;
when did you move to the don't-offer-don't-refuse policy? Did you stick to
it 100% or were there times of day when you still offered? Were the specific
times you refused (out shopping, for example?)

Basically, what worked for you?

--Andrea




I guess I'm using child-led weaning, although my son (18 months) isn't
showing
any signs of weaning beyond the fact that he nurses only about 3 times a
day and once in the
night. I had thought of going to don't offer, don't refuse around 2,
but we'll see. (I
could probably cut out at least 1 nursing session that way now, but at
this point, nursing isn't
a hassle, so I haven't bothered.)

Clisby

For those of you who are using or have used the child-led method of weaning;
when did you move to the don't-offer-don't-refuse policy? Did you stick to
it 100% or were there times of day when you still offered? Were the specific
times you refused (out shopping, for example?)

Basically, what worked for you?

--Andrea

Andrea A. Phillips wrote:
For those of you who are using or have used the child-led method of
weaning; when did you move to the don't-offer-don't-refuse policy?
Did you stick to it 100% or were there times of day when you still
offered? Were the specific times you refused (out shopping, for
example?)

Basically, what worked for you?

--Andrea


I did not do child led weaning but I started the don't offer don't refuse
method at 12 months and if anything the nursing increased between 12 months
and 18 months. Hunter was already weaned at 18 months but with Luke I
actively started cutting out nursing sessions then and he was completely
weaned at 26 months. Don't offer/don't refuse does work to get some kids
weaned but with many others it doesn't lead to weaning at all...or perhaps
it does but years down the line ;-) Which is great of course, I think child
lead weaning is wonderful when it works or everyone.

--
Nikki
Mama to Hunter (4) and Luke (2)

(Larry raises hand)...

Andrea A. Phillips writes:
: For those of you who are using or have used the child-led method of weaning;
: when did you move to the don't-offer-don't-refuse policy?

Monika, did you ever do this? I can't remember a specific time we said we
were moving to this policy. Somewhere in late toddlerhood I think Monika
just gravitated to offering less as the kids were eating and drinking more
adult fare.

: Did you stick to
: it 100% or were there times of day when you still offered?

Since we never had a "policy" it would be hard to say we stuck to it!
The times Monika was most likely to offer an older child to nurse was
right after a boo-boo, or when she or he was abysmally tired.

: Were the specific
: times you refused (out shopping, for example?)

We often delayed nursing when we were out, telling the kids they could
nurse when we got home. After they were 3 years old, NIPping was rare,
except for the tired child or boo-boo.

: Basically, what worked for you?

Innocently answering "Why? Ask Clara" or "Why? Ask Niel" every time
Monika asked me if she should wean

: --Andrea

Larry

Andrea A. Phillips wrote:
For those of you who are using or have used the child-led method of
weaning; when did you move to the don't-offer-don't-refuse policy?

I don't really have a policy per se, but I do try to offer solid food or
water/cow's milk/juice before giving the breast, unless he's wanting to
nurse for comfort, not hunger. I started doing this when solid food was
firmly established as the mainstay of his nutritional intake, probably
around 18-20 months.


--
iphigenia
www.tristyn.net

"Andrea A. Phillips" wrote in message
et...
For those of you who are using or have used the child-led method of
weaning;
when did you move to the don't-offer-don't-refuse policy? Did you stick to
it 100% or were there times of day when you still offered? Were the
specific
times you refused (out shopping, for example?)

LOL - before I answer this, I have to state that I have zero personal
experience with weaning. In fact, Brigitte has moved into a place where we
are now an official anthropological study.

As for the don't-offer-don't-refuse policy, I am not sure when if I ever
successfully instituted it. When Brigitte hit two years old and we became
"extended nursers" I began to wonder about that whole "child-led weaning"
thing. I hadn't really been offering for some time, but it hadn't actually
decreased the amount of breastmilk Brigitte wanted in a twenty-four hour
period.

Sometime in Brigitte's fourth year, we stopped breastfeeding in the mall,
which meant that I was now actively refusing. (Brigitte would cheerfully
breastfeed anytime, any place and used breastfeeding to combat shyness,
boredom, and owies.) Last year, we went to a new LLL group and Brigitte,
then aged six, wanted to breastfeed since everyone else in the room was
doing it, which ended up being our first public breastfeeding in years.

Brigitte turned seven in June and I haven't offered in half a decade... and
I NOW refuse all the time.

At this point, we nurse about five times in a week and she tells me that I
still have milk. I think, from personal experience, that the
don't-offer-don't-refuse policy is an interesting approach, but if you're
looking at it as a means to eventually wean, it doesn't always work.

Charlotte

"Charlotte M." wrote,

I think, from personal experience, that the
don't-offer-don't-refuse policy is an interesting approach, but if you're
looking at it as a means to eventually wean, it doesn't always work.

It probably depends on the child. My son had no problem with it.

--Helen

DGoree wrote and I snipped:

IIRC, in _The Nursing Mother's Guide to Weaning_, the "don't offer, don't
refuse" is said to often mean, "don't wean."

I know that it didn't slow down either of my sons at all. We used, um,
incentives (OK, bribes) to wean at three and a half with each of them.

Mary Ellen, would you mind posting examples of some "incentives"?

Thx,
-Patty, mom to Corinne [Mar-98] and Nathan [May-00]
and stepmom to Victoria [Apr-90]

"Larry McMahan" wrote in message
...
Charlotte,

Damn it! Every time I try to establish myself as the resident
radical on this newsgroup, you show up!

Nyah nyah

Charlotte, More radical than thou

In article ,
"Charlotte M." wrote:

Last year, we went to a new LLL group and Brigitte,
then aged six, wanted to breastfeed since everyone else in the room was
doing it, which ended up being our first public breastfeeding in years.

LOL! DS does this (but he isn't as old as Brigitte of course)!

--
Chookie -- Sydney, Australia
(Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply)

"...children should continue to be breastfed... for up to two years of age
or beyond." -- Innocenti Declaration, Florence, 1 August 1990