Our two-and-a-half-year breastfeeding journey has come to an end. I’m sharing with you all the things that I learned while weaning from breastfeeding my daughter.

I have breastfed my daughter Sage for two and a half years. When I passed the first year of breastfeeding, I was getting a lot of questions from friends and family about how long I planned on going for, and I started to feel pressure to stop breastfeeding. If you’re able to continue to breastfeed past the one-year mark, there is so much research out there about how it’s good for the baby and you.

I am now pregnant with baby number two, which was a deciding factor in weaning. At the beginning of this year, I told myself that I wanted to get through the winter (flu & cold season). The end of winter would also be 2.5 years which was kind of the goal I was aiming for in my head. I started to notice that Sage wasn’t as dependent on breastfeeding as she once was, so it felt like the time to start the weaning journey.

When I got pregnant, I was so sick during my first trimester. I started to notice that I wasn’t producing as much milk (I could feel Sage pushing on my breasts and sucking harder to get more milk). My breasts and nipples were so sore (first trimester symptoms). It was almost like I was breastfeeding for the first time all over again. We were nursing twice a day, and we went down to one a day when I became pregnant. I was so sick in my first trimester it just became harder and harder for me to eat enough food, and the feedings became less and less.

Weaning Schedule

Sage was at home with us for the first two years of her life. It was easy for her to nurse on demand when she wanted (All-you-can-drink buffet, haha). Once she turned one, I started creating a schedule so we both had a routine and structure throughout our day. I went from nursing 4 times to 3 times a day. Normally right after she woke up from a nap, unless she was going to bed for the night, then I would nurse her right before. This schedule worked well for us for a long time.

When she started daycare, I went down to 2 times a day, when she woke up in the morning and right before bedtime. Sometimes when she came home from daycare, she would ask, or on the weekends, I would give her extra feedings. When she was sick, I would let her nurse as much as she wanted because fluids are so important when you’re sick.

Tips For Dropping A Feeding

If you’re trying to drop a feed, one helpful tip is to get your partner (if this is an option) to take over the nap/bedtime routine. The transition from a nap and no milk worked well when Matt would jump in and help with that part of the routine. Switching up the routine and getting your partner involved will help drop the feed and get your baby used to someone else doing different things to replace nursing.

If mama isn’t around with the milk, they are less likely to think about it. It might be hard the first couple of times, but it gets easier as you go. It also makes it easier when the baby doesn’t rely on milk to go to sleep so that if someone else needs to step in or mama needs to leave the house, they can. This change in our schedule allowed me more of a window during the day where I wasn’t housebound or could have our caregiver (our Nanny at the time) able to take care of Sage solo without me needing to step in as much.

The Weaning Process

I always thought weaning would be a traumatic experience, I imagined I would have to go away for a week, or it would be very emotional. I never thought that Sage would self-wean. Once we hit the one-year mark and then the two-year mark, I thought she would not self-wean and that I would have to initiate the weaning process. She slowly became less dependent on it. I have heard that once you become pregnant, your supply changes and the milk can taste different. Sage never acted like the milk tasted different, but I noticed my supply was decreasing. (Which might have made the process a little easier). 

It sounds silly, but I had a hard time knowing that my milk was going away and she would be weaning soon. It was my mommy superpower, I used it when she was sick and sad, and it just became something that we did, and then one day, it just started to go away.

Hormonal + Mood

I noticed a shift in my hormones. I felt a bit down and emotional. Since I’ve stopped breastfeeding, I have learned that you have a drop in “The Happy Hormone” Oxytocin. In the moment, I thought my low mood was because I wasn’t feeling well and was constantly nauseous from pregnancy which I’m sure also played a part.  Looking back now,  I can see that drop in my overall mood was likely due to weaning Sage off of breastfeeding. 

It was harder on me emotionally to wean Sage, and I remember thinking, “This is the last time,” so I just soaked it in as much as possible. I struggled with thinking that I wouldn’t have any other ways to bond with Sage. I processed the entire thing verbally with Matt (my partner), and he helped me understand that there will be other ways that I will find to bond and show my love to Sage. It’s just going to change, but new things will come. Matt has been a great partner in supporting my decision to breastfeed and when to wean. If you’re feeling all the emotions about weaning, even if you’ve been breastfeeding for a couple of years. Make sure you talk about it to those close to you or even journal it out. 

If you’re starting your breastfeeding journey and looking for more content, you’ve come to the right place! I have so much information on breastfeeding; please check out the following blogs. 

Breastfeeding Tips

• Breastfeeding Tips: What I’ve Learned So Far
• 10 Breastfeeding Hacks You’ll Wish You Knew Sooner
• What I Eat In A Day Breastfeeding
• Breastfeeding Update: 6-12 Months Breastfeeding Tips

Postpartum

• Top 11 Tips and Hacks for Postpartum
• My Postpartum and Experience + Update