I’ve heard stories from mothers who practiced child-led weaning who said that nursing phased out so gradually that one day they just noticed that their child was weaned, and they didn’t remember when the last time was. Some have said this with regret, that they wish they could remember that last nursing. Knowing that I would want to remember Munchkin’s last nursing, I started tracking her nursings on the calendar when they became sporadic.

The last time Munchkin nursed was 3 weeks ago at bedtime when I sat down to read her bedtime story. It had previously been a part of our bedtime routine to nurse while we read the story, but we hadn’t done it for a long time. A week and a half prior when she had asked to nurse, she had asked in the morning when she woke up, which was the other nursing time that had once been routine for us. This night, as I sat on her bed with the Disney chapter book we had recently started reading, I said to her, “Really? You want to nurse? I thought that maybe you had weaned?!” She said “NoOh!” in that sing-songy way that says  “Mom, you are SOO silly.” I asked, as I have before, “Do you think that you might be ready to wean soon?” She said, “Well, maybe when I’m 5.” I said, “Oh, okay, we’ll see” and we nursed. For about 5 seconds! She was barely on when she popped right back off. I said, “That’s it? You’re done?” and she said “Yep” so she sat on my lap while I finished reading the chapter.

It has now been three weeks since Munchkin’s last nursing. She nursed 5 times in December, but not at all in January (so far). Is she done? Was that really her last one? I don’t know. She has gone two weeks without nursing before, but not three; this is the longest she has ever gone without nursing. But, I have been convinced before that she was weaned, and she wasn’t, so I’m not ready to call our nursing days over yet at this point. When will I be convinced that she is really done? After a month? Two months? More? I don’t know.

Munchkin this winter

Do you remember your child’s last nursing?  Did you make special note of it?  If you practiced child-led weaning, how long did it take for you to know that your child was really done?