Just read the most awful way to wean a child!

[ss_storm]

I am horrified, and it makes me feel sick.. I never made it past about 3 weeks just attempting to breast feed so never had to experience weaning, but I am gobsmacked..
Was reading a post on our local buy swap sell page on FB from a mum wanting some advice on getting her 7 month old to sleep through the night..
Anyway one mum replied with how she weaned her 30 month old. You know the horrible tasting stuff that you can get to paint on your fingernails to stop you chewing them? She put that on her nipples, child went to have a feed, tasted it, went oh wow yuck! And she was weaned just like that.. Apparently she did occasionally lift up mum's shirt as if to have a feed but would look and say 'oh yuck' instead.. How freaking horrible is that?!?

(I did comment after reading that someone else suggested Tizzie Hall..and instead I suggested Pinky or no cry sleep solution, or co sleeping, but that if I was her I wouldn't stress too much, she's only 7 months and it will happen when she is ready.)

[HotI]

i don't know, the mum might have tried alot of other things and felt this was the best option. Weaning a toddler is quite different to weaning a baby, they can be quite consistent if they are not ready to wean.

[ss_storm]

I don't know, maybe. Didn't seem like it though as she never mentioned trying anything else or even said if she'd been trying to wean for a long time, and she also seemed fairly proud of how quickly it made the child wean.
Surely there are many other ways than deceiving your child like that, and if she now thinks boobies are yucky, what issues is that going to cause in later life, or even how is it going to affect her possibly feeding her own children?
Just doesn't sit well with me at all..

[HotI]

it's not something i would do (i hope). and not something i would recommend, especially to the mum of a 7 month old, but 30 months breastfeeding is a good innings and the urge to get your body back can lead you to do things that you wouldn't think you would have done.

[boomba]

Just awful. There is no excuse for that even if you had a great innings and wanted to wean...putting poison on your breasts to stop your child from feeding is just incomprehensible? :-(

[maybebaby2012]

How ridiculous! Is that even safe? It's pretty obvious that that stuff isn't formulated for babies, how on earth would you know how much was too much?

[nothing2lose]

Too bad if dad wanted a little nuzzle... that might really backfire on her then

[HotI]

You know the horrible tasting stuff that you can get to paint on your fingernails to stop you chewing them?

The function of the stuff is to taste bad, but not poison you.

Is doing this worse than putting band-aids over your nipples and saying they are hurt? or that your breasts are sleeping so you can't feed overnight? Or cutting holes in dummy s so they don't suck as well? Or 'losing' dummies or bottles or sending them to the bottle fairy?

These are deceiving the child too, but seem to be more accepted. Parent decided weaning can really suck, and maybe this Mum found it much easier (for her and/or her child) to have an artificial means of saying no than it coming from her, ya know? I'm not advocating her method, just don't think she needs to be crucified for it.

[wysiwyg]

At 30 months I am not sure this is any worse than putting it on their thumbs to stop them sucking them - I have a thumb sucker who is reducing her thumb sucking to only at night time through bribery at the moment but I wouldn't rule out the nail stuff (because the thumb sucking is such a reflex thing she doesn't even know she is doing it half the time). DD is 36 months and has taken up wanting a feed again after weaning herself at 22 months and while at the moment I am happy with a little feed before bed time, I do have to tell 'fibs' at other points in the day - feeding DS in the day is enough for me (maybe if she had continued feeding right through would be different but after not feeding for 9 months or so is different, especially because she is no longer very good at it).

[boomba]

HotI you Are right but to me it pret cruel and it is poison. Who knows what's in it. I Am not crucifying her at all it's her choice but I believe it's cruel.

[Calluna]

I never had to tell Isaac white lies to wean him off day feeds. He its the most determined strong willed little person I have ever known. And I just told him that he's a big boy and that boobies are for bedtime. :shrug: It worked fine. Now he tells me that boobies are for bedtime.

I think it's cruel and there are numerous other (better) ways to wean a child.

[wysiwyg]

Who knows what's in it

As it is designed for being put on nails and ingested is probably safer than many things that toddlers put in their mouths/ingest as at least has been designed with that in mind (as opposed to shampoo bubble bath etc which get ingested through drinking bath water and the like).

I am sure there are 'natural' alternatives to the stuff in the bottle - it tastes like ear wax so maybe that is an alternative, chilli would work too but might not be so good for your nipples :-)- but really is one of those things either you agree with the 'method' e.g. using something to discourage feeding and to me the actual stuff used to simulate the taste is neither here nor there.

Would it be worse to just tell your child they taste bad?

Sounds like the toddler was ready but just needed a bit of encouragement to give up - all kids are different, some need to 'experience' things just being told doesn't work. If this woman goes on to breastfeed for an extended amount of time subsequent children because she feels she has a method for ending it when the time is right then that is a positive in my book.

[~clover~]

I was just looking for info on weaning & found this. Have to say, I seriously considered it! Though I'm not so sure it would stop DD. She's very persistant

I was going to find a sauce or something she didn't like. That will be my last resort. I know heaps of people who've weaned that way & heapes of people who were weaned that way. A close friend was weaned with chilli sauce at 3 & still breast fed her DS til he was 2.5. So it didn't cause her any issues

Its hard with a toddler. They know where the boobs are, they can quite easily help themselves. They know how to ask & yell for it & have an awesome memory! My DS is 4, hasn't had boob for over 2 years, but still lives with a hand down my tshirt for comfort.

I wouldn't suggest it for a 7 month old, because they won't understand a boob going yucky like an older child can. It'd be pointless.

I'm thinking I'd rather my boobs go yucky & DD decide she's done, than listen to her scream the way she is now because she wants her boob

[Floweryfields]

The function of the stuff is to taste bad, but not poison you.

Is doing this worse than putting band-aids over your nipples and saying they are hurt? or that your breasts are sleeping so you can't feed overnight? Or cutting holes in dummy s so they don't suck as well? Or 'losing' dummies or bottles or sending them to the bottle fairy?

These are deceiving the child too, but seem to be more accepted. Parent decided weaning can really suck, and maybe this Mum found it much easier (for her and/or her child) to have an artificial means of saying no than it coming from her, ya know? I'm not advocating her method, just don't think she needs to be crucified for it.

Gosh I must live under a rock, because I've not heard any of those ideas. I remember that nail biting stuff - I used to just suck it off and chew away!

[Tegam]

I think that any woman who has BF her child for 2 1/2 years probably has her childs best interests at heart

How she chooses to wean a child of that age is her business really.

Thank you. It's so nice to hear people being positive and respectful about other peoples choices!

Would I do it? I don't think so but boy dd3 is 20months old and showing NO sign of ever letting up....

These threads upset me. It's really comes off as ' oh look how bad she is, I'm much better than that!'

Mothers need support! Not judgement!

[bellany]

I just think it's sad to turn something that the toddler enjoys and gets much comfort from into something yukky and leave them with that memory
To me it just doesn't sit right so I wouldn't do it myself

[~ Zarava Flutterby ~]

I just think it's sad to turn something that the toddler enjoys and gets much comfort from into something yukky and leave them with that memory
To me it just doesn't sit right so I wouldn't do it myself

What about a parents emotional state? the toddler may enjoy it but the parent may no longer enjoy that side of their relationship.
i don't know many people who have memories of being say 2 or that are emotionally scared because their mum weaned them.

I felt more horrible weaning DD1 at 5mths onto a bottle than i did telling DD2 NO for booby - it's personal choice and it comes down to what may or may not NEED to be done.

[bellany]

Each parent is different I just said for me I wouldn't do it.
I understand a parent being finished before the toddler, I myself am over my 32 month old with his bad latch and my sore pregnancy nipples and trying to eat enough to sustain him and a twin pregnancy.
For my situation I'm weaning him gently by cutting down feed times and cutting down on the amount of feeds
Every parent needs to make the choice that is right for them. For me I wouldn't be comfortable using the approach of making it taste bad. Simple as that. No judgement. No statements claiming it's wrong. Just my personal stance.