You have always dreamed of becoming the best mother for your baby. You attended the most advanced courses for pregnant women. During childbirth, you tried to do everything in your power to make it easier for the baby to be born.
You have always dreamed of becoming the best mother for your baby. You attended the most advanced courses for pregnant women. During childbirth, you tried to do everything in your power to make it easier for the baby to be born. Once born, the baby was always with you. And, of course, you breastfed him.
And now the baby has grown up, he is two years old. He learned to walk and even run, he can eat on his own, drink from a cup, his speech becomes clearer, lexicon expanding every day. But he still suckles.
Your relatives, already accustomed, it would seem, to the fact that you are raising a child differently from what was customary during their youth, again begin to pester you with questions: “Well, how much longer are you going to feed?!” and intimidate with stories about how long-term feeding can cause you anemia and hair and tooth loss, as well as interfere with normal mental development child.
You should not take such horror stories seriously. Compassionate grannies, as a rule, simply do not have up-to-date information about breastfeeding. They just want everything to be “as it should be,” that is, the way it was for them.
The latest research suggests that it is possible and necessary to breastfeed a baby until he refuses breastfeeding - both in the third and fourth year of life. And this is mutually beneficial for mother and child. But feeding at such an “adult” age is not at all similar to feeding a baby in the first months of life, and even a one-year-old toddler. During this time, the relationship between mother and child became different, both the breasts and the milk itself changed.
Involution and lifeI had to think about this when my youngest daughter was 2 years and 3 months old. Until now, the feeding process had brought us both only pleasure, and suddenly I felt that something had changed. It became difficult for me to feed my daughter for more than half an hour (she loved to fall asleep with the breast and suck in her sleep), soreness in the nipples appeared, and instead of the usual peace from feeding, I felt irritation. I became nervous, I was in a bad mood, I wanted to sleep all the time.
At first, I decided that the time had come - I had a similar experience with my eldest son when he was 1 year 11 months old. Then, being 8 months pregnant, I simply could no longer endure the pain of sucking on a completely empty breast. I started looking for information about weaning and came across a description of lactation involution, which occurs during long-term breastfeeding and usually occurs after the baby is 1.5 years old.
It turned out that the period while the breasts enter the stage of involution is indeed often accompanied in women by increased fatigue and drowsiness, frequent mood swings and irritability. Some people experience increased sensitivity, even soreness in their nipples when feeding, while others experience disruption to their menstrual cycle.
But these symptoms should not be alarmed. This period lasts no longer than two months and does not lead to any harmful consequences for health. Remember the first months of pregnancy - how the terrible toxicosis of the first trimester at 12 weeks subsided by itself. Try to survive the onset of involution while maintaining breastfeeding. This is worth doing if only because of the qualities that it acquires over time.
Those who believe that after a year there is nothing useful in breast milk are mistaken. During the period of involution of lactation, milk in its immune properties approaches colostrum and contains the most biologically active substances: antibodies, immunoglobulins, hormones. We also must not forget about the exceptional benefits of breast milk for development. nervous system and the baby’s brain, and this development continues in full swing even after the child reaches the age of two years.
This is why it is important that breastfeeding continues for several months after involution. Then the baby will have time to get from milk everything he needs to form his body. There is evidence that children weaned at the stage of involution of lactation do not get sick for six months after stopping feeding.
Continuing to breastfeed the child after he reaches two years of age, the mother also takes care of. According to WHO (World Health Organization), long-term breastfeeding not only helps a woman regain her figure after childbirth, but also prevents a number of diseases. In addition, breasts in the stage of involution of lactation are ready to stop feeding at any time - and the mother is not threatened by lactostasis, mastitis, and will not need pumping or medications to reduce lactation. I also discovered this sure sign of involution in myself - my breasts stopped filling with milk, even if I took a break between feedings for more than 12 hours.
How we grew olderHaving “digested” all the above information, I realized that, despite the changes that have occurred, we must try to maintain breastfeeding. Indeed, if the baby still likes to suck long and often, and this begins to cause discomfort to you, stopping feeding is not the only way out. It is quite possible to agree with a two-year-old that he will now suckle before bed for 10 minutes rather than 40, and gradually reduce the time spent at the breast to 3-5 minutes.
That's how it was for us. After my daughter had nursed for 3-5 minutes, I changed the breast with the words: “That’s it, the milk is over, it hurts now. Give me another one." After she nursed the second breast for 5 minutes, I tried to finish feeding. The first time, in response to my refusal, the little girl burst into tears, I felt very sorry for her, so I suggested: “Okay, let’s do it a little more.” My daughter happily suckled, but after a couple of minutes I still took the breast, and she began to whine again. “Well, do you want us to go to the kitchen and I’ll heat up some milk for you?” - I asked. After a cup of warm milk, my daughter finally fell asleep, asking me to hold her hand. A week later, the baby stopped waking up at night, and now it was enough to give her milk before bed, and after 5 minutes of latching, just take her by the hand, hug her and sing lullabies in a whisper until she falls asleep.
The number of daily attachments can also be reduced by distracting the baby from the breast interesting activities or offering a snack. After all, very often a child asks for the usual “boob” when he is bored, he has not found a suitable game for himself, or it is time to refresh himself. A baby who has recently learned to speak simply cannot yet accurately determine his desire.
Here's how I cut back on the number of times I applied during the day. If the baby asked for the breast because there was nothing to do (for example, I read a book to my eldest son, she becomes uninterested, so she starts asking: “I want the breast!”), I refused: “No, breast only before bed!” and suggested that she do something else (she took out a mosaic, long-forgotten dolls, or offered an apple). The first time my daughter was naughty, of course, I tried different variants, and finally she agreed to eat grapes instead of boobs while we read. The next time it was much easier to negotiate with her; she didn’t cry when I refused to give breasts, but calmly listened to what I was offering in return. Soon my daughter remembered that she “only sits before bed” and stopped asking her just like that.
The situation when, in the third year of life, a child latches on only to fall asleep and at night is absolutely normal. This feeding regimen will allow you, without any special sacrifices on your part, to continue breastfeeding until the baby himself refuses to breastfeed.
When should we excommunicate?Natural weaning should follow this plan.
Thus, one day you will remember that the last time you breastfed was a few days ago, and you will realize that your baby is no longer interested in breastfeeding. This is how the period ends breastfeeding in your life.
But even if you are not ready to wait for the child to wean himself, try to at least wait until the moment when stopping feeding on your initiative does not cause stress in the baby. If the baby does not respond to your message that you can now suck only before bed and just a little bit with hysterics, and you do not feel pity when trying to distract him from latching, then you can safely begin the weaning procedure.
If your baby is ready to wean, then in order for him to give up breastfeeding, you will not need to leave home for several days, as is often advised in articles on stopping breastfeeding. On the contrary, if the only way you see to stop feeding is to leave, your child is not ready for weaning.
When the mother is nearby, she can convince the baby that she still loves him very much, the breast is just tired, and now she can’t suck for a long time. To do this, you just need to hug the baby tightly, sing a gentle lullaby before bed instead of feeding, or tell a fairy tale. But if the mother leaves, the baby will be left without a breast and without a mother, and this can only cause him additional worries and stress.
Often women stop breastfeeding, citing fatigue and poor health. If you start getting sick often or the condition of your hair and teeth has noticeably worsened, do not rush to blame breastfeeding for everything. Many women breastfeed for five or more years, without taking a break even during the next pregnancy, and at the same time maintain strong teeth and thick hair. Try to adjust your diet, lead an active lifestyle, avoid stress, try to find more time to relax - all this will help you strengthen your immune system and improve your health without giving up breastfeeding.
When deciding to stop breastfeeding when the child is not yet ready for this, you should also not forget about the problems - both domestic and psychological - that may arise as a result of your decision. So, I know firsthand that putting a child under 3 years old to sleep with the breast is much easier than without it. Our son, who was weaned on the eve of his second birthday, hardly slept during the day from the age of 2 to 3, and it was very difficult to keep him in bed. Until almost 4 years old, in moments of thoughtfulness, he sucked his finger for a long time, and when falling asleep in the evening, he asked to “hold his boobs.” (Similar possible consequences I also encountered early weaning in the literature.) Obviously, “such a long-term” feeding, according to his relatives, until he was almost 2 years old was not enough for him. I hope to feed my daughter until the time when she herself refuses to breastfeed. Moreover, feeding again gives us both only pleasure.
Milk appeared in your breasts to meet the needs of your newborn baby, and the main guideline for making a decision to stop feeding should also be the needs of the baby. Pressure from relatives, the onset of involution or your fatigue should not be the determining factors. If the thought that your baby will never put your baby to your breast again upsets you, then there is no need to rush into weaning.
09.03.2009
Chubchenko OlgaThe topic of today's article worries almost every nursing mother. And this is no coincidence, because weaning a baby from the breast is a very responsible process. It is important to organize it so that it is as gentle and painless as possible for the baby. The mother’s erroneous actions can lead to disruption of the baby’s psychological comfort and even cause bad habits, for example, sucking fingers or surrounding objects. Therefore, before starting this important event, it is better to immediately understand the main issues.
When should you start weaning your baby?Let's start with the fact that it is extremely undesirable to stop breastfeeding a baby before one year. For a child who has not yet turned one year old, mother’s milk is the main source of nutrition (complementary feeding at this time plays more of an introductory role), provides the child with so-called passive immunity and contributes to the maturation of his own immune system, central nervous system and other organs. Breast milk contains substances that a baby needs for active development and that are missing even in the best artificial formulas. Of course, there are situations when you need to stop breastfeeding urgently (for example, a mother’s illness that requires treatment with serious medications), but in other cases you need to try to maintain breastfeeding for up to a year.
Many psychologists recognize the age from 1 to 2 years as the most optimal period for weaning a child. At this age, feeding for a child becomes not so much physiological need, how much psychological. The baby is increasingly putting himself to the breast just to communicate with his mother, to be closer to her. However, if the mother can, in exchange for communication during feeding, provide the baby with more other types of joint pastime (games, conversations, hugs) and maintain her role as a protector and comforter in the child’s mind, then weaning at this age will be painless for the baby.
Previously, it was believed that feeding before a year was beneficial, but after a year it was harmful. It was as if the composition of breast milk changed overnight, and with it all the benefits of breastfeeding disappeared. It doesn't sound convincing. Don’t listen to grandmothers and other advisers who urge you to stop feeding your baby as soon as possible. If you think your baby still needs to be breastfed, continue to breastfeed for as long as you need. Each mother has the right to make her own decision, based on her beliefs and priorities and paying attention to her own condition. The only thing you need to focus on is the physical and psychological condition baby: how often does he get sick, how strongly is he attached to the breast, can he go without his mother for quite a long time, does he calmly skip daytime feedings.
What NOT to do while weaning off breastfeeding?One of the quite popular methods of weaning a child is separation of mother and baby. In practice, this happens like this: the child is sent to live with his grandmother for a week or two, after which it is assumed that the child will not even remember about the breast. This is a rather harsh and painful method for the child, since he is simultaneously deprived of contact with both his mother’s breast and the mother herself. Weaning itself is a serious stress for the baby; during this period, the mother, on the contrary, must make up for such a significant loss for the child in every possible way: take the baby in her arms more, massage him, hug him. In other words, the child must learn to receive psychological support and comfort from his mother not through the breast, but in another, more “adult” way. If mom is not around, then this becomes impossible.
It is extremely undesirable to wean a child from breastfeeding when he is sick or when serious changes occur in his life: admission to kindergarten, moving, mom going to work. Too much a large number of changes can be very difficult for the child's psyche. If you know that changes are coming in your baby's life, start weaning your baby a few months before or after the planned event.
Doctors, as a rule, offer a “medical” method of stopping breastfeeding. To do this, they prescribe hormonal drugs that reduce the production of the hormone prolactin, which is responsible for lactation. Here, firstly, you need to remember that such drugs have serious side effects: nausea, vomiting, headache, depression. Moreover, it happens that these medications have a prolonged effect and complicate lactation with the next child. And, secondly, if at the same time as taking the drug you do not reduce the number of times the baby is put to the breast, the medicine will not be effective enough, so the introduction of hormonal drugs does not replace other methods of weaning.
You should also avoid the once popular method of breast constriction. It has now been established that this method is not only ineffective, but also very dangerous! Tugging in itself does not help reduce the amount of milk; it only causes a violation of blood circulation in the tissues of the mammary gland. As a result, the ducts become clogged with milk clots and stagnation occurs. It is as a result of breast tightening that the largest percentage of lactostasis and mastitis occurs.
It is also believed that it is not necessary to wean a child from breastfeeding summer time of the year . This is due to the fact that in summer the baby is more susceptible various infections during his explorations in the sandbox and other games outside, besides, a lot of food appears in the baby’s diet. fresh vegetables and fruits, all of which increase the likelihood of gastrointestinal disorders. Therefore, in the summer, more than ever, a child needs strong immunity, which he receives thanks to breast milk. However, it is worth noting that if weaning occurs after two years, the time of year does not play a big role.
How to painlessly wean a child from breastfeeding? So, in order for weaning to take place with a minimum negative impact on the psyche and health of the child, in order to avoid lactostasis in the mother, the “soft” method, based on a gradual reduction in the number of times the baby is put to the breast, is best suited. This process is not fast, but it is the most natural. It can be divided into several stages:
1. Gradually reduce and then cancel all the baby’s breastfeeding daytime(we leave only feeding before daytime sleep and at night)
To do this, it is necessary to minimize all situations that remind the child of feeding: walk and play more, do not change clothes in front of the baby, do not walk in underwear, avoid clothes with fasteners, maintain a lot of physical contact without feeding - hugging, massage, carrying in your arms. If a child wants to breastfeed, it is better to pretend that the mother did not notice or did not understand. You need to try to distract the child with something: offer some kind of game, an interesting book or the baby’s favorite food (cookies, fruit, etc.)
2. We get used to going to bed without breastfeeding.
Perhaps this is the most difficult moment. Although children, of course, are different, some, even if they have a breast, calmly rock themselves to sleep, while others refuse to recognize anything other than a breast.
What can you offer your child instead of the breast before bed? Firstly, before going to bed there must be a clear and unchanging ritual, for example, washing, singing (For more information about the ritual, read the article “”). Well, then, until the baby falls asleep, you can stroke his back, recite rhymes, rock the baby, sing songs, and give a massage. A bottle of diluted juice or tea will also come to the rescue. Well, and most importantly, you need to be patient, because in the first days the baby will most likely be worried and, perhaps, the laying down process will take longer than before.
The most important thing during this difficult period is to be with the baby all the time and support him, in every possible way to compensate for the lack of breasts with other bodily contact.
3. Gradually reduce night applications
To begin with, try to take the breast from the baby if he, having eaten, quietly sucks on it in his sleep and does not wake up from trying to take it. Try sometimes replacing the breast with another drink or simply rocking or stroking your baby when he wakes up. Since you do not breastfeed your baby before bed, he will subsequently wake up less and less at night.
It is possible that the second and third stages of weaning will have to be combined. Especially if you use a trick and explain to your baby that something is wrong with the breast. The most common examples of tricks are to smear the breast with brilliant green or seal it with a band-aid, present it to the baby and say that the milk has gone bad. As a rule, children after 1.5 years old become imbued with it and refuse to take “breasts with spoiled milk”; younger children may find such tricks unconvincing.
Mom also needs to pay attention to her well-being. If you feel your breasts are full, express milk (by hand or with a breast pump). But always remember that you need to express only until you feel relief; if you try to empty your breasts to the last drop, this, on the contrary, will stimulate the production of new milk. By expressing less and less milk, you let the body understand that so much milk is no longer needed, and the body slowly begins to adapt, reducing lactation.
Also, if there are no contraindications, you can drink herbal infusions. Sage and mint are very helpful in reducing lactation.
Our weaning experienceI weaned Taisiya at 1 year 2 months. By this time, she was already quite comfortable without daytime feedings (with the exception of feeding before nap time). We spent our days actively, played a lot and walked together, ate complementary foods 3 times a day (+ cookies, apples), so during the day she didn’t even remember about the breast. But we couldn’t go to bed without sucking on the breast, and at night she was “hanging” on her chest almost all the time. As soon as the breast was taken from her, she immediately woke up and demanded that the “banquet” be continued. This whole situation was very exhausting for me, and my neck began to hurt a lot from the uncomfortable, motionless posture in my sleep. Then I decided to try to give up the remaining feedings.
So, one fine day before bedtime, I told my daughter that the tita had run out of milk. Even though I offered her juice, massage, songs, swings in return, she still demanded her own. I tried to outwit my daughter by covering her chest with a plaster, but she didn’t find this very convincing (apparently, she was still too young for such tricks). In general, the first day was quite difficult, both during the day and in the evening, she could not fall asleep for a long time and even cried a little. All this time I did not leave her side for a minute and convinced myself that I needed to be patient for a couple more days. And on the second day the process went much easier. Well, on the fourth day she didn’t even remember about her breasts!
Unfortunately, I was unable to separate the second stage from the third; I had to immediately remove both the “pre-sleep” and night feedings. Well, I couldn’t first convince Taisiya that the milk in her tit had run out, and at night put her to the breast again.
How I put my baby to bed without breastfeeding? Of course, she sang songs, recited rhymes in a soporific voice, and did “Rails, rails, sleepers, sleepers” (by the way, they became so firmly established in our ritual that they are still used today). My daughter calmed down best when I lay on my back, put her on my chest and stomach, stroked her back and said something in a quiet voice. When she woke up in the middle of the night, I rocked her.
That's all I wanted to tell you today, I wish you success in this difficult task! And, dear mothers, share your experience of weaning your baby, it will be very useful to all of us!
How difficult is it to wean a 2 year old baby from breastfeeding? What does the famous pediatrician Evgeniy Olegovich Komarovsky think about feeding?
According to WHO, the optimal time for weaning is when a child is two years old or older. At the same time, there is an opinion that the later the baby is deprived of breastfeeding, the more difficult it will be for him to get used to this circumstance. Is this so, and how difficult is it to wean a child of 2 years old from breastfeeding?
Indeed, at this age, children already understand perfectly well what has been taken away from them, but they are not yet old enough to “negotiate.” But is it worth stopping breastfeeding ahead of time in order to “protect the psyche” of the baby in advance, when you can wait for natural self-weaning?
Physiological features of lactationThe ability of the female body to produce milk, i.e. lactation is controlled by hormones. It occurs in several stages.
Formation of lactationThe first stage begins at the end of a woman’s pregnancy, when hormones are just preparing the mammary gland, and continues in the first months of the baby. During this period, the mother learns to properly latch on to the baby, and the breasts adapt to the baby’s “appetites.”
This stage lasts one and a half to two years, milk arrives in the quantity that the child needs. There is no need to pump or supplement your baby with formula.
Thematic material:
InvolutionThe final stage, according to WHO, occurs at 4.2 years. However, most often the cessation of milk production occurs much earlier - at 2-3 years.
During the period of involution breast milk changes its composition and is more reminiscent of colostrum. It is distinguished by a large amount of immunoglobulin, hormones and ready-made antibodies. So, at a natural level, the mother’s body prepares the child’s immunity for a new life.
Numerous studies have confirmed that children weaned during this period practically do not get sick in the first months. Wherein one year old babies and children of the second year of life, often suffer a series of infectious diseases until their immunity learns to fully function.
Before you start weaning, you need to make sure that lactation is at its completion stage. This can be recognized by certain signs.
Having noticed signs of impending involution, do not rush to immediately wean the baby from the breast, because... It is at this time that immunoglobulins are actively produced, which will protect the child from diseases.
Advantages of breastfeeding up to 2 years
For a 2-year-old child, mother's milk is no longer a source of nutrition. However, in addition to emotional comfort, it still brings benefits to the growing body.
- Milk is a source of vitamins, beneficial microelements and enzymes (vitamin A and K, iron).
- Infants are less likely to experience allergic reactions.
- When sucking, the muscles of the soft palate are trained, which eliminates incorrect bite formation and promotes better early development speech.
The best way to break the “milk” connection is to wait for involution. Firstly, this method is the most painless for the child. Secondly, it’s easier for mom. After all, completing breastfeeding ahead of time, you have to deal with the issue of excess milk. Pills, bandaging and other methods can lead to mastitis and complications. Towards safer, but less effective methods This includes herbal medicine, restriction of fluids and foods that stimulate lactation.
Simultaneously with involution, the process of natural weaning occurs. Even if you don’t artificially push the baby, he will forget about the breast by about 2-3 years. By this age, the baby already has a fairly wide range of interests; daytime attachments are a rare occurrence or have long since become a thing of the past. In addition, the taste of milk has also changed. It is no longer so sweet and contains a lot of fat.
How do you know when your child is ready? He doesn’t require or simply forgets about breastfeeding before bed, knows how to calm down without latching, and feeds no more than 3 times a day.
If it is not possible to wait for involution, the most painless way is to gradually reduce the number of feedings. First, daytime feedings are removed, then feeding at night. More details about this and other ways to complete GW can be found in the article “”.
The tactics for weaning one-year-olds and two-year-olds remains virtually unchanged. At 2 years old, you can no longer focus on the season of the planned completion of breastfeeding. Whether it happens in summer or winter, it doesn’t matter. The main thing is that the child feels good and is not whiny and capricious.
Cunning TricksYou can “bargain” with some children. For example, ask your baby to wait to feed until dad comes home from work, or to treat him only after a walk.
You can also offer breasts at the most inopportune moment. For example, when the little one is very busy playing.
In Komarovsky’s recommendations you can find advice in which mothers are asked to “spoil” the taste of milk with garlic or seasonings. Good idea, but don't overdo it. After all, for a child, the breast is symbolized with protection and stability, and spoiled milk can undermine his trust.
Once you decide to complete the GW, be firm. Both at 2 and 3 years old, a child can demand his own to the last, accompanying everything with crying and whims. Do not show weakness, otherwise the planned weaning from breastfeeding will have to be postponed. In addition, concessions of this kind inevitably lead to disruption of personality formation, because The child quickly learns to use crying in other situations.
Remember! For a 2-year-old baby, breastfeeding is, first of all, emotional closeness with his mother. Fill it up with games, caresses, kisses, and then withdrawal in any way will be much smoother.
Firstly, I was driven by selfish motives - I was mentally preparing to stop feeding, which had been going on for the third year at that time.
Secondly, numerous relatives warned me from Yana’s birth that what older child, the more difficult it will be to wean him off the breast. Some even advised putting an end to it no later than a year to simplify life. Therefore, the topic seemed very interesting to me.
So, wonderful mothers honestly shared their experiences. And I think it’s only fair that I tell our story. Oh yes, I almost forgot - you can congratulate me, the breastfeeding stage in my life has been paused.
To begin with, I will describe what we had at two years and five months. However, the description can be reduced to one phrase - indiscriminate round-the-clock feeding. And it's entirely my fault. I admit it!
With the next children I will probably try to be stricter (or will it be stricter towards myself?). But with Yana, things were such that there was no feeding regimen even approximately, even with great stretch. Did this affect her? Don't think. Now that this stage is over, she is disciplined and eats well. Therefore, I cannot say unequivocally that my strategy was a failure.
However, this state of affairs sometimes shocked the people around me, and exhausted me. For two years and five months, Yana ate at night, waking up every two hours, fell asleep only with the breast, when she woke up, she demanded the breast, during the day she ran up to me and climbed under my jacket, wherever we were.
Why did I wait until more than two years?
I was lucky enough to meet many mothers (some in person, some on Instagram) who fed their children for more than two years. And their views seemed very correct to me, and their arguments were correct. This is how they still seem to me, which is why I didn’t “hold out”, “tighten out” or “let go”. I made the decision to feed until at least two years of age with a sober mind and solid memory. Which I don’t regret, of course.
How did I understand for myself that there was nowhere to procrastinate and it was time to call it a day?
I clearly understood that feeding was no longer beneficial to Yana’s psyche, but was harmful to her. Refusals, even with a request to wait a minute, brought her to tears. The nightly bedtimes became endless. And finally, Yana did not want to learn to accept insults and defeats without breastfeeding; this seemed to her the only means of calm.
How did we finish breastfeeding?
The blog was a kind of motivator for me to do everything “beautifully”, according to all the canons. And as a result, I understood one thing - the topic of weaning babies from the breast is not unique, and two very relevant ones are important rules life.
The first is biblical: do not judge, lest you be judged.
And second: the life of each of us is unique, and it is impossible to choose universal solutions private problems.
Now let's talk step by step about our actions.
Step one. We undertook this a few months before the decision to stop breastfeeding - we reduced the number of daily feedings to two. Both before bed: daytime and nighttime. At first I had to constantly distract Yana so that she wouldn’t be capricious because of this, but then she seemed to resign herself and stopped asking.
Step two. I began to sleep separately from Yana, leaving her with dad. We finally eliminated the night feedings, replacing them with water from a mug. I assure you, it was only a little difficult the first night, but even then it was surprisingly not catastrophic. Everyone got enough sleep. And already from the second night, Yana began to sleep more peacefully, now she almost doesn’t wake up, although I returned to my place in the bed.
And then I was ready to calm down. Deep sleep and two feedings a day to quickly fall asleep - this way you can live for another year! But no. Apparently, this state of affairs did not suit Yana, and instead of a measured life and rare scheduled feedings, we got whims. Yana again began to demand the breast in the morning and during the day, in the car and at a party, and before going to bed she could hang on me for an hour, then declaring: “I don’t want to sleep, let’s go to dad?!” This situation exhausted me, so I gathered my strength and called it a day.
Step three. Lemon and beets. To be honest, I used to roll my eyes when reading stories about green stuff. Now I understand that the stories about the “titya” who went into the forest are essentially no different from the stories about the sick “titya”, painted to be more convincing. I opted for lemon and beets because I wasn’t sure of Yana’s adequate reaction and was afraid to burn bridges. And also because I did it after cooking borscht, for good luck and even as a joke.
So, I told Yana “my baby is sick,” she, naturally, didn’t believe it, and even the beetroot color didn’t bother her. But the sour taste of lemon was off-putting, hurray! Tears welled up in Yana’s eyes, but none of them even rolled down her cheek. “I’ll tell dad! And I’ll tell grandma and grandpa!” she said almost cheerfully.
And even at night the fairy tale worked. When Yana first fell asleep without breastfeeding, I realized that now I can’t back down, I have a chance!
Over the next few days, Yana was a little capricious and periodically asked for the breast, shedding tears (these were just whims, not hysterics). But it was important for me to remain true to my story; my only indulgence almost played a cruel joke on me. I said that “tita” was sick because of the snow that had fallen and would get better when it melted. And then it turned out that winter was not yet ready to take over; an unexpected and very strong warming came, literally melting all the snow in a day. Yana noticed this: “Oh, the snow has melted!” But she didn’t connect this event with my promise. Fortunately.
Did I lie to Yana? Yes, definitely. But, it seems to me, this is the most harmless lie in the world. Thanks to this, we forgot about the breast without hysterics, and, knowing my daughter, I can confidently say that there would be some. And what kind!
Step four. Now I try not to change clothes in front of Yana, I put away pictures where, for example, a calf sucks an udder, and in general I try not to use words related to breastfeeding.
I’ll write separately about milk. I was never keen on pumping, and now I removed excess milk only when stagnation formed. As a result, it went away in about a week, and now nothing bothers me anymore.
Now I can say that to complete breastfeeding you need two conditions:
1. Child's readiness. I do not mean his ability and desire to eat ordinary food, since I am writing about children whose diet has long included adult food. And I'm talking about psychological readiness when breastfeeding gives him more negative rather than positive emotions.
2. Mom's readiness. Yes, we all get tired of breastfeeding, but sometimes we have subconscious fears or other emotions that hold us back from taking decisive action. I was worried about sleep - it seemed that without a breast we would go to bed until late at night. And also the thoughts that these moments with Yana will not happen again. But every problem has a solution, and in life, as they say, “everything will pass, both sadness and joy.”
Will my strategy change in the future?
I think yes. It seems to me that after six months it is necessary to transfer feeding on demand to feeding according to a schedule. Many psychologists advise doing this as early as three months, but I would associate this with the introduction of complementary foods. I will also try very hard not to tightly link feeding and putting to bed in order to prevent possible problems.
♡ ♡ ♡
Your baby has turned 2 years old, exactly the period until which pediatricians advise breastfeeding, but there is very little information on how to wean a child from breastfeeding at 2 years old.
How to wean a child from breastfeeding at 2 years old correctly?Someone will think, what is the difference? After all, the process is the same at 3 months and a year and at 2. I beg to differ with you. At 2 years of age, a child’s development differs from that of an infant. If at the beginning of feeding the goal was proper breastfeeding (), we were all worried that our babies would gain weight well (), then at 2 years the mother’s goal is to wean the child off breastfeeding at 2 years as smoothly and as least traumatic as possible.
All children are different, some stop breastfeeding on their own at about a year, others a little later, but what if your baby is emotionally very dependent on the breast? For some children it is both a sleeping pill (an established ritual) and a sedative, and for children with poor appetite it is also a source of additional calories. Of course, previously children were fed until they were 3 years old, but frankly speaking, the toddler is already quite capable of getting everything useful from food, so why once again deplete the body of a nursing mother?
In the process of weaning a 2-year-old child from breastfeeding, it may seem that the invisible connection between you and your toddler is being lost. This is not so, don't be upset. How to wean a child from breastfeeding at 2 years old painlessly for his psyche? After all, in the same way you can lay your baby down in your arms in the evenings, reading him fairy tales, and he will gently cuddle up to you. This will remain, you just need to avoid such poses that provoke the “sucking instinct” during weaning.
Features of weaning a 2 year old child- The habit has already taken root
- Emotional need is stronger than physical need,
- At 2 years old, children already consciously demand the breast,
- For easily excitable children, the breast is a source of calm.
From my own mood. If you doubt the timeliness and necessity of this step, it is better to wait. In just a week, you will either “mature” and gain determination, or you will finally change your mind. If the decision has matured, I recommend doing it gradually.
How to wean a 2 year old baby without hystericsFirst of all, don't go anywhere. Don't add stress to your baby. There is no need to smear anything on your breasts so that the baby becomes disgusted with the taste of milk, otherwise you can only provoke hysterics. You need it?
In the next article I will describe in more detail the nuances of weaning a 2-year-old baby from breastfeeding in practice.
