Weaning in Your Late 30s: Navigating Hormonal Shifts With Compassion

No one told me that weaning my baby in my late 30s could feel like falling off a hormonal cliff.

Combining any stage of perimenopause with postpartum weaning can create a “perfect storm” of hormonal shifts that intensify symptoms. Both life stages involve significant changes in cortisol and other hormones.

If you’re in your late 30s and weaning your baby, this post is for you. You’ll understand the biochemical shifts happening in your body and, instead of feeling trapped in anxiety or depression, you can approach this phase with compassion and understanding.

Stay with me, because I’ll also share 5 key nutrients to stabilize your nervous system—so you can say goodbye to sleepless nights, anxiety, depression, and overstimulation, and hello to more ease and contentment.

Meet Omega

If you’re new here — I’m Omega, a women’s hormone health coach and the creator of the NASM-approved Hormone Health Certification for personal trainers.

I make hormone-focused educational videos for personal trainers, cycle syncing workout videos, and hormone health fitness and nutrition content so that you can feel educated and empowered in your hormone health journey. Links to all of those playlists are in the description of my videos.

If you’re curious to work with me, you can fill out an application form through the link below.

Subscribe and tap the bell — especially if you’re navigating motherhood, weaning, or perimenopause — because I don’t want you to go through this phase of life alone.

My Personal Experience: Nighttime Wake-Ups

My most frustrating symptom at this tender intersection of perimenopause and weaning isn’t depression or overstimulation—it’s waking up in the middle of the night for 2–3 hours.

Even on better nights, this disruption combined with anxiety and mood swings made things feel overwhelming.

When my therapist told me that weaning causes an oxytocin drop, everything started to make sense.

Understanding the Hormonal Fallout

There’s essentially a hormonal fallout during both weaning and perimenopause. Understanding the chemistry helped me see myself not as “broken,” but as someone undergoing massive biochemical changes. That shift in perspective helped me climb out of one of the darkest emotional seasons of my life—and that’s why I’m sharing this with you.

Oxytocin & Prolactin Drop

When you reduce breastfeeding sessions, your prolactin and oxytocin — the “bonding and calm” hormones — plummet. Oxytocin regulates mood and stress response, so this drop alone can feel like a loss of emotional stability.

Research shows that the hormonal shifts during weaning affect dopamine and other mood-regulating neurotransmitters, disrupting reward and motivation pathways. For some women, this can feel similar to withdrawal symptoms from anti-anxiety medication.

For me, weaning has been gradual—now down to one session per day—but during the 2–3 sessions per day stage, the hormonal drop-off felt dramatic. Before understanding this process, it truly felt like my whole world was crumbling.

Progesterone Decline in Your Late 30s

Layer the oxytocin drop with progesterone decline, which naturally begins in perimenopause. Progesterone depletion can make your luteal phase (the two weeks before your period) feel anxious, depressive, and sleepless.

There isn’t one definitive test for perimenopause. You and your doctor need both subjective intake and lab tests to determine your stage. Understanding your hormones can shift your perspective from feeling “broken” to feeling informed and empowered.

Estrogen Rollercoaster

If oxytocin drops and progesterone declines weren’t enough, estrogen swings in perimenopause can cause PMS symptoms like cramps, bloating, headaches, and breast tenderness.

Cortisol & Nervous System Stress

Finally, as a mother, cortisol levels shift with reduced nipple stimulation during weaning. Add sleep deprivation and toddler chaos, and your nervous system lives in high-alert mode. Cortisol can block optimal hormone production, leaving you emotionally and mentally exhausted.

5 Key Nutrients to Support Your Nervous System

Before you go, here are practical tools you can implement today to calm anxiety, improve sleep, and reduce PMS during this tender time:

1. Don’t enter progesterone depleted.
   Continue loading up on Omega-3 and Vitamin D. These nutrients nourish your nervous system. Get them from chia seeds, wild-caught salmon, or pasture-raised eggs—or via supplements.

2. Calcium & Magnesium.
   Well-researched for reducing cyclical anxiety and depression in the luteal phase.

3. B Vitamins.
   Key for mood regulation and nervous system support.

Supplements help, but food is the best source, especially when paired with co-factors for proper absorption. For convenience, I break down all the key hormone nutrients in a Cyclical Grocery List and Recipe Guide, available for just $27 with the code: PERI.

You’re Not Alone

If this post resonates, share your experience in the comments—you’re not alone in these changes. This is such a tender time of life, especially since many women before us had children in their 20s.

For a deeper dive, I offer personalized hormone health consults, where we unpack symptoms, pinpoint your perimenopause stage, and create a support plan for your next chapter.

Book a session through the link below—I’d love to help you feel like yourself again.

If you found this post helpful, subscribe for more hormone education and check out my next video to continue your journey toward ease, understanding, and balance.