Hi Hetal and Sheeja.
How are you? I see from your messages that you have weaned your kids successfully so I was wondering how did you do it and was there crying involved in whole process and how much. I am thinking of weaning Arjun but don't know how I should approach it. Whenever I think about it, I get very emotional and feel like not weaning as I enjoy that time with Arjun, on the other hand the reason I want to wean is because I wonder that if I continue, it shouldn't become hard for Arjun to let go. Suggestions??

Hetal, how is your pregnnacy going? in which month are you? I tried sending you email on the address you gave earlier but it bounced back. Is that a correct email address?

love to your little ones. Take care. Sheeja replied. Hi Arti, sorry for the delayed reply. i was soo busy on weekends.
how r u doing ? Howz Arjun? Is he going to daycare??
My story on weaning is very differnt. Everyday i use to worry abt weaning Trisha coz as she doesnt take bottle or sippy cup for milk. She had a habit like only when i nurse her she goes to sleep orelse she keeps on crying.That time it was easier to make her sleep while she was in 9,10,11th month. Then on her 12th month my friends started asking me r u still feeding...? the more u delay weaning then its gonna be very difficult to wean..it was the advise from them.
But i had a stuborn thought that i cant wean her that much easily. 15 days back she was playing around 11pm, then by chance we were listening music with high volume in our home theatre sys with all the lights off except dim ight alone. To my surprise she slept in the 3rd song itself.
Next day i did the same techique, but after 2-3 trials i noticed that shez sleeping with 1 particular song.The same technique im following still now, but past 2 days she goes to sleep if i hug her tightly.
Arti, my advise is if u r weaning then try not to change ur dress in front of Arjun.
good luck on weaning
love to Arjun
Sheeja Hetal replied. hi aarti, hope arjun has recovered completely and so did you.are you back in office ?
aarti, for any mother to wean is very hard,i have been thru it and i very well understand it.
i weaned nirja abit earlier considering my plans for another baby and by 8-9th month & other thing that made me wean was couple incidences where we went out for late night parties at friends place,nirja was trying to open my buttons of tops to get her feeds,,,so i was alarmed that i have to stop it now.

the weaning tips that i gave before on this board, i kind of attacked on all of them at the same time. as i wanted to wean her as soon as possible. since in your case is no hurry, but make sure you stick to watever tips you follow.
wat is the time you feed him ? if its night time or evenings, try to avoid it from your part and see how he reacts.it was tiriing for me to prepare bottles/warm bottles of bm or in early morning 5,,so i used to feed nirja in early mornings & at that time she used to look for me in sleep.
once she started crawling, she used to come herself to me from her crib(i had attached it to my bed with extentions)and get the feeds and sleep with me, it was easier that way..sometimes i never knew,,it was all in 8-9th month..
for weaning,i just went and slept the other side of bed, where gnerally my dh sleeps,before the feed time, around 4-5 mornings, i covered myself with comforter, trying to make sure she doesnt know that i m sleeping next to her.she knew it and would try to tumble over my dh,by going out of his hands,, babies who bf,mostly can smell their mothers within 10metres of area mostly because they can smell bm and moms smells is diff from anyone else.

the first day she didnt find me, she was frustrated, cried in sleep.my dh kept patting her back,she slept back. and again after 10mins she cried making it harder for me. and she wokeup finally after many cries like almost 4-5times,.that day i had to feed her.couple more days, it went all same.
i continued this thing for almost 15-20days, alongwith other tips that i gave ealier on this board...and slowly she kind of left the hope that mom is not going to feed me or is not available. i felt very bad, in frst couple weeks of weaning, at first it was making me emotional, once i cried too when i could hear her crying in other room with my dh..and miserable part was leaking bm when she cried and i had to pump in early mornings.that was frustrating as well.
whenever it made me feel that way, i would go and sleep in guest room and shut the door. my dh was very patient and i have to tell i couldnt have done without him.then she started asking for feeds before sleep,,i did the same thing,i will go for ride or walk or just go out of my home at that time.making sure she doesnt find me until she forgets about it. that was working for me that way.
so thats how i weaned her, in 1.5months successfully.after that she never asked or looked for it. in first 15-20 days, you might feel uncomfortable depending on milk supply,so you can pump that milk increasing the pumping time(eventually you want to stop the milk supply rather than letting milk dry in the ducts,,which in future might cause lumps,not to scare you but it happens in 1 of 25/30cases).
i did that until i knew i was pregnant.nirja still takes one feed of stored bm with her sippy, esp when i feel she had a hard day with her dad roaming around and she ate all she wasnt supposed to eat..bm improves baby immune,,so i give it as a medicine :)
it stays well upto 3-5months depending on freezer temperature.

so basically you have to look for how your baby reacts when you feed and try to avoid that time, just go out of the room at that time be unavailable,let someone take care of your baby for a while and try to divert his mind.for mother its very hard to see baby crying for feeds.
hope this gives you some idea.

i hope it was of some help.my weaning was earlier than 1 year,so was hard for me, thats y its said the best time to wean is when your milk supply is totally dwindled, which is in generaly around 1 year,, and that your baby himself wont be interested in bf at all.

m 4months pregnnt, and its kind of taxing for me with college & home. my dr this time warned me,,so wil take a break once this semister ends,by next week and then i can enjoy my pregnancy with nirja.

myemail address is hetalnagaraj at rate yahoo dot com and lately,i had forgot my password for almost 15days,,& my inbox was totally full for 2 days ! so prob you might have mailed at time..and it bounced.sry about long reply :)

love to arjun , take care, good luck in weaning.