Just read the most awful way to wean a child!

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.)

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.

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..

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.

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? :-(

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? :o

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

Eww, WTF would you paint nail polish stuff on your nipples for anyway!! Actually the thought of it makes me laugh :rofl: Poor kid.

I've read all sorts of horrid things to get baby off the breast - including to wet them with a wet facewasher. Choice information going around.

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

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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.

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).

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.

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.

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Who knows what's in it

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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.

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 :dunno:

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 :(

:hug: Clover, it is so hard. Hope she gives you a break soon.

we had cut down to one feed a day and then dd got sick and so was having more. now, whenever she wants a feed she tells me "i'm tired" or "i hurt". for a little while i thought she was starting to recognise how her body was feeling and when she needed sleep, but i actually think they were just euphanisms for "i want boob".

thats awful! to be honest thats why i deleted myself from some of the pages that kept putting up "ok so our mum needs advice on blah blah" i found people put up some horrible solutions, and i got attacked for what i put up. it was just awful.

I actually did something similar with my 18 month old (who is now 18). My mother ground up bitter gourd (which is edible by the way) and I slathered it on my nipples to get DS2 to stop breastfeeding. .

He didn't like the taste at all, because it was bitter, and he quit breastfeeding. It was aversion therapy that, to me at the time, seemed less cruel than just saying 'no, you can't have it because I say so'. He just went from liking the breast to not liking it anymore and willingly gave it up.

Some of my parenting choices could stir a great debate, as could yours. What works some people is always looked down upon by someone else :dunno:

I think it is definitely an each to their own kind of thing, while i don't think i could have done it i can see why someone would try it.

DD2 could be VERY vocal about her want for booby (just ask HotI) and had we had major issues weaning then it not tasting so good might have been my only way out.
I don't think it's cruel, it's another way of weaning.
Just like telling your child there is no milk (when there is), that it tastes bad, that your boobs are sore - all are things that stop the child from getting what they want, all will cause them to be upset at the refusal.

Each to their own, as long as someone is not using actual poison then i don't see the issue.

Boot polish is what the pharmacist recommended to a friend at 2.5yrs. The look alone was enough without having a taste for her Dd. I'm BF my 17month old and it's not much fun when your ready to wean and they aren't.

Actually, I think it's not such an awful idea for a toddler. I am facing the prospect (again) of weaning DS2 (16 months) in the next few months because I would really, really like to try to have another baby and time is running out. I think it would be much kinder to him for him to decide he doesn't want the breast any more rather than me denying it to him for no reason he can understand.

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.

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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.

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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!

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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.

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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!

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

i could think of worse ways of weaning :)

I'm pretty sure my 18 year old doesn't remember that I weaned him by making my nipples taste bitter to him when he was 18 months old. To be honest, he just accepted that he didn't like it anymore and got on with it. And forgot about my breasts like they were an old toy in about 3 days.

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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

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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.

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.

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. Simple as that. No judgement. No statements claiming it's wrong. Just my personal stance.

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The thread title says 'the most awful way to wean'

That's judgement. And maybe not recognising that is what I'm getting at.

Sorry I was replying to the people inferring I was being judgmental.
I meant my post wasn't meant as a judgement. I clearly cant speak for anyone else including the OP

This is a little off topic but interesting I think.
I breed horses and from what I understand there are two schools of thought when weaning foals.
The "old" method is to take the foal (hopefully with a friend) to a place (either stable or paddock) that is out of sight and sound of the mare and just separate them both. I have seen this done and there is much whinnying and lots fence walking and general stressed behaviour.
The other system (incidently the one I use) is to put the mare in a yard (that she has previously used) with plenty of good feed and water and leave the foal in the paddock that is around the yard with it's "friend". If the mre wants to feed the foal she can stand at the fence of the yard and let the foal feed and if the foal wants to feed it usually has to leave it's "friend" and convince the mum to come to it at the yard side.
This second system is initially started for just a few hours a day and gradually the mare is kept in the yard for longer periods. Once the foal loses interest in it's mum (which takes from a few days to a week or so, sometimes I pop foal in yard and mum in paddock so she gets a bit more exercise) then the mare is put in a paddock nearby where the foal can see her but not drink during the day and mare is back in yard at night............generally it's a very gentle weaning process and it also means once done properly the mare can go back into the foals paddock and the foal won't try and drink again.
My point is that it is less traumatic if both members of the feeding system have some choice. The system I use requires co-operation from both parties for feeding. It gives the mare choice not to feed and the foal choice too...................mostly in the beginning the mare calls to the foal to come back. She quickly realises the freedom of having no foal is pretty good then starts to reject the foal who generally only wants food when their "friend" is getting a bit boring!
I am sure people who have breast fed successfully and weaned gently can understand the mares side of things :-)

IMO the cruelest way to wean a child is the way DD had to...still wanting it and needing it, but it just gets less, and less, and less, until one day it just isn't there :( She tried and tried after it went to get something...when the colostrum came in and she hated the taste, she immediately stopped torturing herself with trying to draw blood from a stone and getting extremely upset, and just shook her head and gave my boos a cuddle. Much easier!

Just popping in to give you a hug PZ :hug:
its heart renching when it doesn't go as you had hoped.
I have had 3 weaning all different and not as I had planned.

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unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. its not.
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