Kiran had his last breastfeed about a week and a half ago so I think I can say at this point that he’s finally weaned. This was rather overdue – I’d alwaya intended to stop around the 2 year mark (I’m not one of those women who can breastfeed their kids until they’re 4+ though I have huge respect for those who do). After over 3 years of breastfeeding with only a 3 month break between weaning Maya and Kiran being born, I was done. I wanted my body back!

I knew weaning Kiran was never going to be an easy task as he was far more attached than Maya ever was. Maya was down to only a couple of feeds a day when I started weaning her at 10 months and by the time I totally phased it out at 12 months, she barely noticed. I substituted night feeds for a bottle of water and that was that.

Kiran however would scream at me if I refused and work himself up into quite a state. His word for feeding is “numbedik” – a contraction of the Balinese for “little drink”, minum bedik,  and I was getting really tired of those being his first words to me every time he saw me. Obviously a simple distraction/refusal plan was never going to work with Kiran.

I’d heard that Japanese women put sticking plasters over their nipples and say they have an “owie” so I tried this first. It worked right up until bed time when he started hysterically screaming at me again and telling me to take the plaster off. in desperation i googled and found a mumsnet thread where several women had put vinegar on their nipples with success. i’d already tried the Balinese method of coffee a few months back with no success but I had vinegar in the house so worth a try right?

The next time he tried I told him that because I had “owies” and it hurt he could try but it would taste bad. Of course he wanted to try, which he soon regretted. He didn’t try again after that :p I couldn’t believe it was so easy after all that effort! He did ask a few more times and asked if it “still hurt numbedik?” but I just showed him the plasters again and he gave up. 28 months – not a bad run!

Freeeeeeeedom! I was also an emotional wreck when I weaned Maya (i guess being heavily pregnant didn’t help) but no hormonal craziness this time. Hurray!

Even better, since he’s been weaned he’s slept through the night at least twice. This has NEVER happened before. He’s nappy-free at night time now too. Where did my baby go?!