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is best done gradually, over the span of at least a month or more.

To gradually stop breastfeeding, you will want to drop one feeding at a time from your daily schedule. It would be a good idea to spend a few days making observations regarding which of the feedings seems to be the one your child is least interested in. This will be the easiest one to drop first. You will want to keep in mind that breastfeeding meets many needs at once: food, water, comfort, as well as being a great source of bonding. In order to drop out the feeding you have targeted as being least important, you will want to be sure that you replace all of the things the child was getting from the nursing. Feed the child something right before the scheduled nursing. Offer a glass of water (or bottle). Cuddle on the sofa or bed and read a book or simply snuggle. Then, when the nursing should happen, it is time to replace it with another activity. This you can do with confidence, since you know your child cannot be hungry, thirsty or lonely. My favorite trick when I weaned my children was to come up with an activity that the child loves that cannot possibly be done while nursing. Put the child in the bathtub with fun new toys, take him to the park, do an art activity, go for a walk with the stroller, go to the zoo, or whatever you can think of to distract the child until the next nursing. If you do this for several days, the child (and your body) will naturally get used to the idea of the new schedule. Once one of the nursing sessions has been dropped for a few weeks successfully, you may work on eliminating another. The ones at nap and bedtime tend to be the hardest to eliminate, if the child is used to falling asleep while nursing. One way to handle this problem is to read the child stories and then offer a nurse after the child is good and sleepy. Gradually increase the story time until the child is "accidentally" falling asleep during the story, at which point, you may creep out of the room without nursing first. I found it was very useful to read lengthy chapter books with no pictures for this purpose. If you begin reading in an interesting voice and slowly taper off to a slow, boring monotonous voice, your child will drop off to sleep sooner than if he or she is constantly hopping up to get new and interesting books.

Eventually, you will be able to bring your breastfeeding relationship to a natural end point with very little difficulty or stress on either your part or your child's. It is worth it to take the time to accomplish this milestone gradually, so that you and your child can recall these days of infancy with fondness. Children grow up quickly enough. This is not a process that needs to be rushed.

Learn more about this author, Shelley Kishpaugh.
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