There is a positive correlation between weaning and tantrums: the more you try to wean your toddler from breastfeeding, the more temper tantrums you will get.


I have been breastfeeding for close to 2 years now, and I feel that it's time to stop. Or else I fear it will go on and on forever. I have started to refuse her requests to nurse only just recently, but boy has it had an impact on my body! I have been producing milk on demand for over a year now, and not really producing extra milk when I am away from my daughter. But suddenly, after trying to ignore her crying tantrums, and refusing to give her the teat until the very last minute (right before bedtime), my breasts are starting to get sore. I find that I am producing milk while I am at work, which has not happened in a very long time (though I am not leaking, thank God!). By the end of the day, when I finally pick Salma up from day-care, I find that (and I think she does, too) I am smelling of milk, and right away she will ask me to nurse, while I'm driving!

And of course, I have to say no, because how can I breastfeed her while I'm driving? And we have to wait until we reach home. And it's such a relief to finally be able to feed her, too, when we reach home, because it alleviates the soreness. So now I'm thinking, how do wean my child but at the same time reducing the pain for myself? I have asked quite a number of people, and none of them could provide me any options. It is bound to hurt, and your breasts will get sore. One lady I asked said her breast got engorged when she weaned her kids, and had to resort to expressing milk manually in the loo. Yikes! How am I going to do this?

I have tried pumping with the electric pump, and even though my breasts are as sore as they are, I am unable to express more than 0.5 ounces. I think I will only be able a proper let down if my skin comes into contact with baby's saliva. This going to be really tricky then, because I'm not that good at expressing milk manually.

It's hard for me to concentrate at work when my breasts are this sore. And I don't think I can quite explain how it feels like in words. It's just this really irritating feeling. And if I drink water, I get the odd sensation that the water I drink goes straight to my breast. Haish. It's uncomfortable. I just want to be able to wean her without feeling all this discomfort.