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    Kelly

    I had a hard time weaning my daughter from the breast, we ended up doing the don’t offer, don’t refuse, which eventually worked. A trip away from home and she was out of her comfort zone (the bed she usually nursed in) and then she chose not to nurse and that was the last time!

    kimmers94

    We are struggling with weaning the paci. Our 21 month old does OK without it while at home during awake time, but if we are in the car, out and about or it is nap/bed time, it is an all out melt down if she doesn’t have it.

    My biggest concern is that when she is getting sleepy if she doesn’t have the paci, she starts putting her fingers in her mouth. I don’t want my ‘paci girl’ to become a finger sucker. So for now, we are still giving in at these times of day. I plan to talk to her Dr. about it at her 2 year appt, but think I will definitely try a couple of these ideas above. Thanks!

    Melissa Lawrence

    I have finger and thumb suckers and I agree it has been really tough! Good luck…thanks for commenting!

    Divya Johnson

    I think for us it will be the bottle – she isn’t interested in other forms of drinking

    Katie Morison

    How old is your daughter? My little girl self-weaned from the breast at 15 months and has always been fine drinking from a sippy (check out Melissa’s video on weaning from the bottle…she has great tips! https://cloudmom.com/bye-bye-bottle-how-to-wean-baby-to-a-cup/). The bedtime bottle has been tough to wean her from…finally making it happen now and she’s 21 months old.

    Anonymous

    My son was a huge bottle drinker. He rarely at food because of the amount he drank. We weaned him at 18months by clipping a couple extra holes in the nipples and it actually worked. I did this on a Monday and he stopped asking for the bottle by Friday. It took him about 3 months to drink milk again but I offered the sippy cup everyday and it finally worked. Good luck! It’s probably harder for you than your baby:)

    shawna

    I dreaded the moment when I had to wean my boy from the swaddle. We started with unswaddling him during nap time, then w/ one arm out at night, then both arms out, then we moved on to the sleepsack. He transitioned fairly well, thank goodness!

    Katie Morison

    Weaning from the swaddle was so hard for us…my daughter started to roll and we had to do it basically cold-turkey right around the same time I went back to work. It was a brutal few weeks!

    Renee

    Our son likes to suck on our fingers and we’re having trouble getting him to stop. I wish he would take a pacifier!

    Melissa Lawrence

    Renee, I’m right there with you. All 5 of my kids suck their fingers or thumbs and this has actually caused some dental problems for us. I wish I had advice for you on this…hopefully some other moms will!

    Wendy K

    These are all for children who are old enough to grasp the concept of a sucky going somewhere. None of these will work for kids under 12 months, except for #8. My 11 month old is not going to understand what a ‘Binky Fairy’ is.

    Melissa Lawrence

    Good point, Wendy. The original question from a mom was about weaning a toddler…a 17-month-old. But maybe some of the mamas here have tips for younger babies too. I would say trying to get baby to attach to a lovey might work, or gradually weaning first at naptime or in the car or stroller before tackling nights. During the day distraction has always worked for me when weaning from the breast. Good luck and let us know what works!

    Tera

    The pacifier has been, by far, the hardest habit to break! When my oldest son was 2.5 (and after we had spent months trying everything to break the paci habit) we went on vacation and told him we forgot it at home. It was rough the first night, but after our week vacation he never asked for it again!

    Now we are facing this with our 2.5 year old who seems to be even more attached to it than our first child was. I have never heard of cutting the tip of the nipple off, but I will be trying this TODAY! Crossing my fingers that it works!

    Thanks for all the tips!

    Ashley

    I haven’t had to wean from the breast or paci yet, but we weaned from the bottle and it wasn’t really that tough. I just replaced it with a sippy cup when he was around 6-7 months. I think the trick is to wean from those things earlier rather than later because toddlers are so resistant to change.

    Anonymous

    Yes I agree…. Younger is better my son who is now four was bottle broke at 6 and a half months all I did was offer a sippy he never skipped a beat and with the binky he didn’t care for it much except at night so the night of his first bday I took them all out of his bed and he again never asked cried or anything….. My baby girl is 7 months and tomorrow will be a week since she had a bottle just have her formula in the sippy and she was fine…. She takes the binky a little more then just at night but ill do same thing on her first bday I just hope She don’t resort to thumb or finger sucking I sucked my thumb when I was little it caused dental issues and is pretty much just gross….. Good luck to all mommies trying to break there babies from whatever it is!!!

    Laura

    My son weaned himself from the breast at 19 months. My goal was at least 2 years, then beyond that as he wanted to, but I didn’t meet that goal. He started to lose interest in nursing during the day on weekends at 14 or 15 months (so my supply took a hit, even though at work I kept pumping to try to keep it going). I would offer, he would shake his head no, so I didn’t force it. Then, he started refusing at night at like 16 or 17 months, only nursing in the morning, so my supply took another hit.

    To compound the problem, I work and travel a lot, and pumping for several days on end while away while all of this was going on was the death knell for my supply. I was barely producing anything, so he start loosing interest in nursing mornings either, and that was it! It was sad, but because it happened so gradually, and on his terms, I didn’t get the huge hormone drop people get when they stop cold turkey, and I didn’t feel guilty for not making it to two (well, maybe a little guilt because my job affected nursing to some extent, but it passed quickly!). He’s a big strong healthy boy… completely addicted to his “bink,” which will have to go soon!

    Melissa Lawrence

    Nursing for 19 months is amazing — you should be so proud of yourself!

    Holly

    My little one wouldn’t take a paci no matter what brands I offered. She preferred her thumb. She is just 10 months so I haven’t tried to discourage it yet. She doesn’t do it excessively so I am really hoping she will self-wean. I did wean her from swaddling at 6 weeks. We just went cold turkey and it really wasn’t bad.

    ashley curtiss

    Our biggest problem was having our daughter switch from bottles to sippy cups, we got ride of all the bottles and then she had no choice but to accept sippy cups.

    Nicole

    Thanks for the tips. My son is 17 months today and I am going to try #1 this weekend.

    Margo

    My son is 18 months and i haven’t started weaning the binki yet, but i am sure it will be hard. My daughter who is now 4 was very hard to wean of the breast and when we finally got there she was about 22 Months. I have always felt that when the time is right these things will happen.

    Amanda Carney

    I think the hardest thing for us was music at bedtime. she always had it for 20 minutes at the beginning of naptime and bedtime. so to wean her off of it, we adjusted the time down in increments of 5. by 18 months, she was in a toddler bed and no more music to go to sleep!!

    Melissa Russell

    My daughter would never take a paci or the bottle, so weaning from the breast was hardest for us-especially for naps and first thing in the morning! We just cut out one feeding at a time and it worked pretty well. The morning feeding was last and toughest, but I think that was more me not wanting to get up more than her needing it 🙂

    Gina

    The paci for sure! We are going through it right now with our 2 1/2 year old toddler. He misplaced it, we couldn’t find it so we are going cold turkey over here. Day 3 and this mama is tired. Weaning from the breast at 26 months was a piece of cake. My busy boy just decided he’d rather play than nurse! I seriously thought the breast was going to be an issue. Boy, was I wrong!

    Melissa

    My son is two and still hooked on his pacifier or as he calls it, his “na”. I bought two new packs of pacis less than a week ago and he has bitten a hole in every single one! He could careless that they have holes, he STILL sucks them!! I’ve tried taking them away and he just becomes soo devastated!!

    Melissa Lawrence

    Melissa, I think you are going to have to start phasing them out or go cold turkey at some point… keep us posted! xo M

    Lori S

    We had some trouble weaning our son off the pacifier. We went cold turkey with him, and he fussed some for a few days but has been binky-free ever since. But our new baby (4 months old) doesn’t like pacifiers much and prefers her fingers. I would love some advice on keeping her fingers out of her mouth so it doesn’t become a habit. I have tried both the round binkies and flatter binkies and neither of them are very popular with her. She likes to suck on her bib sometimes. Anyone know of any product made of terrycloth that’s specifically designed for babies to suck on?

    R. K. Williams

    Co-sleeping. Our lil guy loves night time with Mom & Dad, but sometimes we need to sleep without being roundhouse-kicked in the thorax or just some private time together. We compromise by only having him in the bassinet until his first night feeding and bringing him to bed or vice versa. This gives us the opportunity to just gradually adjust the ratio until he doesn’t “need” Mommy n Daddy’s bed constantly.

    Lisa

    Mine is 12 months and big thumb sucker. Any tips for that?

    Ashley Strong

    I have a 2.5 year old and he only gets it in bed or if we are on a long road trip. I am starting to work from home next week and plan to try the cutting the tips off or holes! Wish me luck!

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