Should I stop breastfeeding cold turkey?

I always quit cold turkey.

My oldest day weaned on his own around 13 months. I initiated night weaning at 17 months (dropped all night feeds cold turkey) and fully weaned the remaining sleep associated feeds at 22 months cold turkey as well.

I felt like cold turkey was less confusing for him but we still did lots of prep beforehand. I don’t think it has to be traumatic to do it that way, and it depends on your child.

I stopped night first. We fed in a different room with a light on and then into bed. Slowly I backed that up and put more and more space in between the last feed and bed until the last feed was with dinner. Everyone I know who keeps nights longer than days has had a bad experience with stopping so I made that the priority.

After that we were only feeding in the morning pretty quickly as he loved food and was happy to not have boob during the day.

When I stopped morning it was just I decided today is the last one. We had an extra cuddle and the next day I offered him something else and he patted at my boob to indicate thats what he wanted, but I just redirected. He only asked for boob for like 3 days after that

I stopped day feeds first over a week or two I think, then done night cold turkey. It was 2 nights of no sleep, but after she was absolutely fine.
I plan on doing similar with my second when she gets to around 18 months

Depending on how much you are still nursing, cold turkey could be bad for both of you. I would drop in chunks 1.no nursing except to sleep and overnight 2. Drop overnights 3. Drop nursing to sleep
It can be really helpful to have someone else put babe to sleep for a couple nights to adjust to that. Mine nurses to sleep and is almost always put down by me. But we had a night event on Saturday and he went to sleep with my mom no problem-without nursing. Give that a try for some breaks.

I dropped one feed and my milk decreased to like 1 ounce a day so I basically went cold turkey unintentionally but I continued to give my daughter warm milk in a bottle for another few months to bridge the gap (she was used to the bottle). She was about 10 months when I stopped though so not exactly the aame

With my first I got pregnant when he was 7 months so he sorta self weaned at a year cause that’s when I’d assume the milk started tasting different maybe? But he took a pacifier which helped a lot with the weaning aspects that we had to help with. I stopped day feeds first down to maybe one a day here or there but day feeds were easier for me to cut out since he was eating regular food and whatnot. Night feeds were a bit harder to cut cause that was more a soothing thing I think than an eating thing. Basically though my son would cry for a couple minutes if he woke up and instead of giving boob right away I’d give him his paci instead, took a night or two to really get past the freak out of it being a paci and not a boob but it ended up being a fairly easy process. With my second tho he never took a paci and I ended breastfeeding before I got pregnant again this time so it was full force weaning lol. Stopped day feeds first which was easy. Night feeds took about a week tho

I think it's easier for both of you if you stop gradually. Cold turkey is very painful but it's doable if you're really done. Totally support you wanting to quit! It's a lot of work mama!

I night weaned and then distracted during the day until fully weaned

I weaned very slowly at 13 months and still got blocked ducts every day and eventually mastitis. Don’t go cold turkey! 18months is amazing if your ready start cutting out feeds, lengthening the gap between them. Setting a timer and cutting down by 2mins per day. Baby will adjust, but give your boobs a chance to also!

If you go cold turkey it could be a few days of years for everyone. But it could be quicker.

I would suggest going slowly over a few weeks.

If you quit cold turkey it COULD (not for sure) cause YOU issues. Not just mastitis, but hormonal changes can make you feel low etc.
Do what works for you but just be aware it can take a toll on your body. You could wean for yourself by pumping a little less each day for a while until the milk is gone?

I went cold turkey with my first at about 18m due to illness. I slept in a different room and lo slept with dad. It was a horrible experience for me but lo was fine after the first night.

I went cold turkey because my kid had chewed the crap out of my nipples. I just sat on the couch crying one day after yet another bleeding bite wound and said "I don't want to do this anymore."

I went to exclusively pumping to wind down my milk. My son was fine because he didn't really care if he had a boob or a bottle. No drama. I was probably more emotional about it than he was. He was 13 months old.

Breastfeeding in my opinion is sooo hard. When it started to hurt my nipples a lot, I just also went cold turkey and switched to formula instead.