Hello!

Hi, I have a dilemma. I had a 3-year old toddler who still breastfeeds and I really am desperate to wean him off. I work full-time and he’s fine when I’m not around but as soon as I get home, he gets stuck right into it. He also can’t sleep if he’s not on the breast. Need your help! Haven’t had a decent sleep in forever, how can I wean a 3 year old?

Posted by anon 14.2.2013


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  • Great! Really very interesting comments on this!


  • Your 3 year old should be of some understanding now, explain it to them that their milk now has to come from a cup if they want any. It will be hard but it needs to be done,


  • I bought milk in a carton as a treat and when my little one wanted me for milk I would offer him milk in a carton with a straw and comment on how clever he was. What a big boy. I would tell him Mummy has a band-aide on my boobies show him put breast pads on. Buy him a new cup let him pick it out and give him the money to pay for it. He will feel like a big boy. I must say we still had cuddles and I would read a lot to him whilst he sat and drank his milk.


  • how are you going now … .. . .


  • I do hope you have had the problem resolved.


  • Did you end up weaning him? and if so how did you go?


  • Any luck with weening him?


  • They have shown that they cope just fine without it when you are not there, so it looks like your little one is very determined, but needs to learn from you that Mummy is firmly saying no more. There will be some protests, but it will all sort it self out with time


  • Some good suggestions here that I will be trying for myself!


  • Good on you for breastfeeding so long. I’m having the same problem at the moment, trying to wean my 2.5 yr old. Hope you were successful.


  • tell him he is no longer a baby he is getting to be a big boy now


  • I hope you have managed to wean him without too much issue. If not, I agree with what others have said, explain to your child that this is something that babies do because they need the food, but as he is no longer a baby he doesn’t need it any more. I would also suggest not changing any other routine at the same time, as this could lead to confusion and a more difficult time.


  • Mine weren’t quite that old but I just stopped cold turkey. Just make sure you don’t give in once you’ve stopped or you’ll confuse him. He might complain for a few days but after that it will be forgotten.


  • How did you go with weaning him?


  • I know what you’re feeling. I breastfed my son til he was 4, no kid! I couldn’t get him to stop and I couldn’t understand how I was supposed to get him to EVER stop. (And I had to put up with comments from his dad about how I was turning him into a serial killer, etc.) It gets to the point where you feel guilty whatever you do. Anyway the way I finally got him to stop was to tell him, in the months leading up to his birthday, that he would stop when he turned 4. I just placed the idea into his head and kept repeating it, and I let him breastfeed until the last day, and then on his birthday we stopped, and I know it will seem hard to believe, but he just stopped COLD TURKEY. It wasn’t as if he was getting nutrition (there was no or miniscule milk, no letdown) so it was more the psychological factor. We still cuddled but if he looked hopefully at the boob, it was ‘ah, you’re 4 now, you’re not a baby anymore, we don’t do that anymore, sorry love,’ and he just accepted it, and I guess we broke the habit. So my advice would be, pick some kind of date that you can lead up to and put it in his brain that after that, no more. Be strong and perhaps don’t leave it quite as long as I did…!


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