I know breastfeeding is good for the baby and it is recommended to breastfeed as long as possible up to age 2. Chhori is 18 months now and we have decided to wean her off breastfeeding.
As I have written in my previous post, we had wean her off night feed for a while now and I am so grateful to have a husband who helped me to do that. I am sure I couldn’t have handled it by myself. I felt like a zombie some days when I used to feed her at night and have a full time job.
But I thought she was old enough to have cow milk now so I decided to wean her off breastfeeding altogether. I knew it was not going to be an easy task but me and AS made the decision that it was a good time to do it.
Lately, I have realised that Chhori wanted to be breastfed when she is bored, not when she is hungry. She is doing well with solid food so it was our motivation to go ahead with the weaning.
In order to discourage her from asking for milk frequently, I made a paste out of turmeric powder and lemon and rubbed it around the nipples.
I told her my boobs hurt and showed her the yellow nipples. She didn’t believe me at first so she tried to drink the milk as usual. But it was not the same because of the paste so she immediately stopped. Every time, she asked for milk, I showed her my turmeric lemon rubbed boos and emphasised that it hurts. The first few days she kept on trying to drink once in a while as she forgot the taste but I kept on adding the paste so she would understand that the milk doesn’t taste the same anymore.
I guess it is easier to wean when kids are under 1 but when they are a toddler, they remember them more so it is harder to wean them.
Anyway I had to do it for 5 days in a row before I stopped applying the paste and then, I didn’t need to show her but just tell her that it hurts. By day 7, she didn’t even ask for it anymore.
Today is day 16 and she doesn’t mentioned it at all. So finally she is off the boob.
We did have one night when she cried a lot – almost 2 hours on and off and nothing we did would make her stop but apart from that things are looking OK. She still wakes up some nights but she is not asking for milk, which is great. Sometimes it is hard for her to go back to sleep but I am sure things will get better as time passes.
I think more than her, I had trouble the first few days because when she want to be fed and she cried or made sorry faces, I feel so guilty. Sometimes, I felt as if I shouldn’t wean her now but me and AS had made the decision and I had to stick with it. Also I know for sure, the longer it goes on, the harder it will get for both of us. Now I can play with her for a long time without her getting distracted by wanting to breastfeed. I really love our new relationship. 🙂
Tell me your weaning story. Is there anything I could do to make her feel better?
Take care everyone,
M from nepaliaustralian
XOXO
nepaliaustralian 
I remember my mum telling that she painted nail polish (red) to her breasts and that was enough for me to not want her milk 🙂 I must have been about 13-14 months old..
That sounds like an idea. I stuck to edible food because I was not sure if Chhori will try to breastfeed or not when she something on the boobs .
We tried aloe vera first and it didn’t work . 🙂
Chori is very lucky to have been breastfeed for 18 months. I read about a study conducted that breastfeeding infants up to 6 months old is enough to prevent from asthma attack. Breastfeeding is also extremely important for bonding between mother and child. Many modern moms these days refuse to breastfeed for fear of having saggy breast, unattractive nipples and inconvenience so relationship with their children suffers. It is so important to have understanding husband who not only emphasize on outer appearance. My mom had me when she was nearly 40 so she couldn’t produce breast milk. As a result of that, I had very weak immune and respiratory system when I was young. After seeing many doctors and I was still sickly, I finally met a savior acupuncturist when I turned twelve and he saved my life 🙂
I am so glad and feel lucky to have very good supply of milk. My mum used to be surprised how much milk I produced. And I really enjoyed the whole process. Initially I was planning to feed her till she was 2 years but we thought it was right time now. I am so happy it was not as tough as we thought it will be and these days she doesn’t even care 🙂
I agree 100% that, understanding husband is great helping hand in every step when raising a kid.
I really didn’t know that effect of not breastfeeding can be that severe. Glad that you are doing good now.
Thank you so much for dropping by and your nice comment.
You’re very welcome! I’m happy that both you and Chhori don’t have to learn about the significance of breast milk the hard way. Breast milk contain maternal immunity that can be transferred from mother to baby. For younger mothers having trouble producing breast milk, the problem are mainly in their diet or they became impatient on the first few trials. Some young mothers get worried that their babies might starve so they gave up trying and go for formula milk instead.
I stoped breastfeeding my baby after five weeks o be honest. She wasn’t eating properly. She would just sit there for comfort but be hungry at all times. I couldn’t leave one minute as she would go mental. That is when we existed to go for formula milk. Congrats to you for doing it such a long time. I really admire women like you
Thank you so much Alina. I think for some women even though they would like to breastfeed for longer, they can’t for various reason. I am glad I was the lucky one who could do it for this long.
Turmeric paste & lemon? Is that a Nepali tradition or did you invent it, Australian ? Funny but I take a lot of both daily. Not together though. I eat turmeric in my dalbhat, omelette, pasta or hummus and I drink a lot of water with lemon juice.
I was looking for some edible solution as I knew Chhori too well :).
Turmeric and lemon is very healthy food on its own but if you mix them together , it is really bitter and sour hence I used it :). You should really try the taste dai 🙂
Not if it’s that sour although I eat a fair amount of both daily. Water with pure lemon juice and I take haldi with my mashed potato or dal. I even add it when I make pasta.