My two and a half year old has had a couple of very successful potty training days. She’s wearing panties throughout the day, except when we’re out or in the car, and of course at night she wears a diaper. The strange thing is that over the past couple of days her interest in breastfeeding has declined. Has anyone else experienced this? I was expecting the complete opposite. You know, that the step towards further independence would have her reaching out a little more for me than usual.
And then if you google “Weaning and Potty Training” most of the articles are about trying to wean children from the bottle in order to potty train them. It is not my intention to wean her to have a successful run at potty training at all. This made me wonder do you have to wean in order to potty train? My first was weaned before she potty trained, but she was almost four! She just wasn’t ready before that, but this one is. I can understand wanting to cut down on or eliminating night feedings to ensure a dry diaper in the morning, but we aren’t there yet, and I don’t feel any rush.(Maybe I’m just so elated that she shows any interest in using the toilet before age three that my need to ditch the diapers is skewed).
Anyway, she isn’t necessarily weaning herself, but she sure is excited about and proud of being able to keep her panties dry. She’s doing all that she can in order to ensure they stay that way, like telling me she has to go pee and running to the toilet every five minutes. Maybe that’s why she’s not nursing as much – she doesn’t have the time! Plus she has distinguished that there is a correlation between nursing and needing to pee. And peeing kind of makes it difficult to stay dry.
Oh well. If she’s ready to wean then I welcome that. I’m all for child-led weaning, but I have to admit that this unexpected behaviour has thrown me for a loop.
Has anyone else experienced this?
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I don’t know the answer but this is a very interesting post. I’m really keen to see what the other commenters say – it certainly makes sense that if the child makes the less drinking/less peeing connection then they might self-wean.
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My first child toilet trained at 2 1/2, and then weaned completely a few months later. So, in her case, she was dry before she was weaned. HOWEVER, there was definitely a time when we were pursuing both actively. And I actually worried that it was maybe too much all at once. But I found that, no, it was actually OK.
I think that toilet learning and weaning are sort of complementary skills. In both cases they’re about a child moving from a parent-centered way of meeting their needs to a more independent way. And I think that often they seem to happen at around the same time if we follow our child’s cues. Which isn’t to say that weaning a child will necessarily impact toilet training, so much as when toddler nursing is the norm they often happen concurrently.
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This isn’t what I’ve experienced, But, I had B in underwear before she was 2. Please, don’t read that she hasn’t ever had accidents. Because she does. 2 reasons. 1. She is mad at me (after an accident, she’ll ask, Mommy are you mad? Are you frustrated? 2. Because she is an extremely focused child who doesn’t like to stop what she is doing. Just like her Dad. Anyway, her nursing never slowed down. In fact, it has been weeks since my milk dried up, and most every day she asks if she can have milky. I feel bad, because I was not planning on weaning her. So, boy I am tangent-y today.
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I don’t think the two have to be related. DS was potty-trained at 18 mos. He’s now 24 mos and still nurses at least 3 times a day. It probably is just the time spent running to the bathroom. Days with less nursing are outside days because he’s just too busy. This is something newer to her so her attention is just refocused, I think. In a couple of weeks you may catch yourself thinking “why did I even put a shirt on today” because she’ll be back nursing so much and then you’ll wander what you were worried about. Or at least thats how it seems to go here.
Not here. DD started potty learning at about 2.5, and was in undies consistently at 3. She weaned at 3.5. It never occurred to me that the two might be connected in any way – she was just old enough to wear undies, and eventually, old enough that she didn’t feel the need to nurse before bed any more. It took longer for her to be night-trained, but it was quite a bit after she weaned.
Naima is 22 months and has been in panties since she was at 19months. However, this is only when we’re home or out on short trips. She also doesn’t drink milk when I’m away but makes up for it during weekends, when I get home and at night! So based on my experience, I don’t see the correlation.
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I wish I could help but I’ve never nursed for that long. I can say that my 3yo is still in diapers, though. Ugh. Ooh! I know! All of my kids were different when it came to potty training…my oldest was using the potty by the time she was 2½ but I’d forced the issue. My 2nd trained himself (completely) by 2½, I had nothing to do with that. But my 3yo wants nothing to do with it unless he’s naked. I’m not entirely sure what to do with him.
(That is completely not helpful, but I felt the need to leave my 2¢, it’s that kind of day…)
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I think it’s ALWAYS helpful to read about someone else’s experiences even when they aren’t the same. There’s comfort in knowing how diverse children really are! Thank you to everyone who is leaving comments.
Interesting, I never thought about a connection. We are slowly starting to potty train. DS sits on the potty to pee every morning when he wakes up and he will occasionally ask to pee in the potty during the day. We’re nowhere near full potty training and his enthusiasm for nursing (even though I don’t have much milk) doesn’t seem to have waned any at all.
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