This post is on how I weaned my toddler completely from breastfeeding. Finally!!

Motherhood is a blessing its said ; to hold a baby in arms , to breastfeed her , to keep your flesh and blood close to you , all these are precious moments for us moms.

As a mom, I vouch by breast milk , I was one adamant person when it came to my daughter’s food for the first 6 months. People started pouring in with advises on starting solids by 1 month for baby , but some how deep down in my mind, I wasn’t prepared for it.

How I Weaned My Toddler Completely from Breastfeeding:

I had a good BM supply and wanted my daughter to be exclusively breastfed till 6 months. I continued breastfeeding till Anshika turned 1 year and 3 months.

Then I started my weaning process, had many unsuccessful attempts but now I am glad to say at 1.5 years she is completely weaned off.

• Read : All you need to know about expressing breast milk, feeding and storage

My flexible office hours helped me well initially. Anshika was just on BM till 6 months. When she turned 1 , I resumed my regular timings. There started my difficult story.

Difficult Story Before I Weaned My Toddler:

9-10 hours of office work, cooking, cleaning, nursing, home, baby, daycare, grocery shopping a day of 24 hours wasn’t enough for me.

At night Anshika started getting up frequently for night feeds. Like every 2-3 hours.

I was asked to give her heavy food at night. I switched to daal khichdi and boiled veggies for her dinner, but those frequent night feeds never ceased.

As days passed , I grew tired, exhausted.  Sleep deprived and working 24*7 , I started falling sick often, my immunity went down.

I consulted a nutritionist expecting that she would prescribe some healthy food charts for my schedules. Instead she asked me to start weaning my baby from breastfeeding at 11.5 months. I nodded and came back.

My attempts were a mere failure, Anshika just didn’t want to stop !!

• Read : 15 super foods to increase lactation

I used bitter gourd and neem juice to wean her off, but somehow Anshika felt even those bitter juices sweet and demanded more breast milk 😛

I panicked , even hubby can’t help me here, I have to find a solution I thought.  Frustration, stress, sickness, you name it I had it.

How can I tell my boss that I haven’t had a good night sleep and that I can’t concentrate as I am drowsy? How can I tell my baby that I am too tired to even play with her once I reach home ? How can I not clean my house for days ? All my “hows” remained unanswered until I consulted her pediatrician.

Why Babies Wake Up Frequently for Night Feeds?

My ped asked me about the pattern of night feeds and pointed out that 99% of the night feeds are not to curb hunger, but the security and comfort babies got used to right from their birth.

He suggested cutting out the BM feeds gradually one by one and weaning off completely . He asked me to ignore the night cries and continue the same for the next 7 days until she stops asking for feeds.

Failed Attempts to Wean:

The night began. Anshika woke up at 11.00 PM searching for milk. I slept. She started crying. I ignored!

Her voice grew louder , I ignored!!

Couldn’t ignore the next time;  my neighbors could barge in to my house, I gave in. She had BM and slept, I failed, my techniques failed 🙁

This continued for all nights as we couldn’t see our baby crying at the top of her lungs for milk at midnight.

• Read : How to dry up breast milk?

The next week, we started taking her on our shoulder once she starts crying for feeds. Sometimes she cried, sometimes yelled , again I gave in ; second failed attempt !!

In fact I had nicknamed my daughter as “Dhudhusaurus”, one kind of dinosaurs which preys on ” dhudhu ” (breast milk) 😛 Haha !!

Yes I Weaned My Toddler Completely from Breastfeeding :

After a few weeks, we tried patting her back when she woke up each time. Bravo!! It worked.

We realized that she was seeking our presence each time she woke up . So this gentle pats on her back confirmed our presence even while she is asleep. Our third attempt worked !! YAY !!

Gradually our pats reduced to a single gentle pat when she woke up crying, it worked wonders. A few weeks later, we stopped that too.

Now Anshika sleeps 8-9 hours without waking up even once asking for breast milk. My sleep returned, so did my energy, immunity and focus. I started enjoying my 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep !!

I know there would be many moms who are going through/have gone through this phase of sleepless nights.

Each baby is different, so is their pattern. Keep trying one or the other methods to stop frequent night feeds until you succeed.

Hope this post helped you. Do let me know your thoughts on this. Also share with me which is your tried and tested method of weaning baby from breastfeeding.

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