15 Month Old Outsmarting the Weaning Process!!

I don't have any answers, I just wanted to suggest that you talk to some consultants at the Elizabeth Blackwell Center. I really have benefited from their advice and services, so I recommend them to everyone.

Good luck to you.

There is no need for her to be on formula at this point. If you want to wean her, go straight to milk in a sippy cup. Don't even offer her the bottle. She's far old enough to be off the bottle. Does she take a sippy with other liquid, like water or juice? If she's familiar with the sippy, just put her milk in it. If she doesn't drink it, put it in the fridge for later. Don't offer her anything else to drink, other than milk. Some people try to add chocolate or strawberry, but I never did. I figured then my dd would NEVER drink reg milk. She'll drink it when she's thirsty. If she doesn't, just make sure she's getting plenty to eat. I don't think it's the end of the world if kids don't drink milk. Personally, I would go cold turkey with her. Let her take a sippy with water to bed if need be. Playtex makes some great ones that have valves, a hard spout and dont' leak. Good luck!

at 15 months they don't need formula and you don't need to shove milk down them either. they can get the dairy requirements (which really aren't that much) through yogurt, mac n cheese...etc. I would offer her a sippy cup of milk with her meals and let her have what she wants. my daughter took a couple of weeks to really get into whole milk. You may have to find the right sippy cup too.
And at 5:30 or 6:00 i would get her up, get her dressed, get her breakfast and a sippy of milk and then move on with your day. she will break the habit faster then you think and that's not really early to have her awake. If you start her on that routine this week, it will probably make next week a lot smoother for both of you.
I think you can go cold turkey on the nursing too and not have any issues! good luck.

My suggestion would to be to act like you are squirting your milk into her "special" cup so that she thinks it is your milk or you could make it "daddy's milk" and add some choc or strawberry syrup in it to make it more special. Maybe even a special straw that makes it different than any other drink.

I am still nursing my 3 yr. old and my 22 mo. old and I find that my 3 year old is ok with nursing whenever I am ok w/it. It is my body and I have boundaries - yes, your little one is younger but you don't have to tell her NO, just tell her not right now. As you know things change quickly and it may be after you go back to work she will change her habits that may be more accomodating. Best of luck!

First, congrats on getting past the 12-month mark!

I wouldn't go cold turkey, it just seems like a brutal thing to do to a little one, ya know? They don't just nurse for nourishment, they do it to bond and spend time with you. So a lot of kids feel neglected when they are told all of a sudden that they can't nurse. I'd start shortening each session and see which she is more likely to give up first.

Try alternatives like rice milk, almond milk, soy milk, etc. Some kids take right to whole milk, others don't. She doesn't need whole milk if you are giving her other dairy products like cheese and yogurt. We're the only species that weans to another's milk, which when you think about it really is kind of weird! So if she doesn't like it, don't push it. Just try again in a month or so.

I agree with the 1st post.. my daughter was bullheaded to pull this stunt on me when she was 12 months (& i cold turkey the bottle right away).. so i put the milk in it, set it on the counter & walked away.. i'm like u'll drink when ur thirsty.. & sure enough that lil' woman grab the sippy and went into the living room w/ it, but she would not take it out of my hand!! plus i hid all the bottles in the cupboard so she wouldn't see them.. Now my 8mnth old boy he's on a sippy all day except night he get's his bottle, but I already started to wean him off the bottle.. he drinks from a nuby that has a straw to the advent to the hard plastic ones.. doesn't matter & i prefer not to get them use to just one kind of sippy if at all possible.. as far as breast feeding i would cold turkey it too.. & w/ her getting up in the morn.. u may just have to let her cry i did with my son.. he was getting up at the same time & i'm thinking this is enough!! so he did, after bout 3 days went back to sleep.. also i tried to gradually re-arrange his sleeping schedule to put him down round 7:30-8 so he would sleep longer & wouldn't want that milk at 6 in the morn.. Good luck to you.. hope u find something thats works!

Is there a reason you are using formula? I weaned my son at a year because he was no longer interested in nursing. We went straight to milk. Unless your child cannot tolerate milk there is no reason they should not be drinking whole milk. Kids less then two years need the fat of whole milk for brain developement. The formulas were way too expensive. I could by three months worth of whole milk for what one carton of formula cost.

Good for you for still nursing!
My son is 18 months and I nurse him in the morning, after work and before bed. He is on Hemp Milk during the day (has a dairy sensitivity).
I'm not sure what your morning schedule is like, but my son also wakes up early to nurse and goes back to sleep. We co-sleep, so I set my alarm 15-20 minutes before I need to get up, so I can nurse him, he falls back to sleep and then I get up and get ready for work. Right before I am ready to go out the door I wake & dress him. Works very well for us.
I personally wouldn't go cold turkey on nursing. I think going cold turkey could be very tough on your daughter, especially on top of adjusting to you going back to work.

from about 14 mo to about 20 months I nursed our son at night only, he had formula at other times. I kept him on formula a bit longer because his older sibling had lactose intolerance when young and i just didn't want to mess with going to cow's milk until he was a bit older. It was not strange to do it just a night- it was a special sweet way to put him to bed. I loved it.

What do YOU want to do? I stopped nursing my oldest around 15-16 months (the others were interested in nursing longer). At that point, your body isn't making that much breastmilk so if you stop cold turkey it's not that bad.

As for the formula - why? She's over a year old. Just give her regular milk at the table. By 15 months she should be eating whatever the rest of the family is eating at meals and snacks so just continue to offer a variety of healthy foods and she'll get what she needs. A 1 year old's appetite sharply declines around this time, too, so if she is filling up on fluids she won't be eating as much.

As for the early morning thing... my kids would do a similiar thing. It's a habit. What happens if you just leave her in her crib and ignore her when she does the early morning wake-up? Does cry and then go back to sleep after 10-15 minutes? Try sending your husband in to comfort her (without picking her up) or check her diaper. I found the early morning thing was mostly due to a full diaper (solution was to nurse earlier in evening and not just before kid fell asleep so they would pee and change diaper before sleeping). My hubby would change the diaper and kid would go back to sleep. Most of the time, though, ignoring them and letting them fuss for 15-20 minutes would result in them going back to sleep.

But more or less all my kids were up between 6-6:30am at that age. They are just morning people so we learn to adjust our schedules and live with it.

Hi D.,

How wonderful that you are still nursing your baby!

She does not need formula at this point. If she won't drink milk fromthe sippy, give her water. She'll drink it when she is thirsty.

I think you should continue to nurse her even though you are going back to work. Maybe I should say ESPECIALLY because you are gong back to work. It will be a big change for her, and the nursing will comfort her. Also, she'll still get the immunities from your milk, and she will stay healthier--that means less time off work for you (unless you have someone else to care for her when she is sick, in which case it is not a problem, but you may not get as much work done if you worry about her when she is sick).

You may also find you miss her alot when you are working, and nursing is a great way to connect and spend some quality time together. She is at an age where she can begin to understand things like "We nurse when we get up, when Mommy gets home from work, and at bedtime".

About your morning schedule--I mostly stayed at home with mine, and we never had much of a schedule, so I am not much help here. I did however go back to work when my first one was about that age. As I recall I just got up extra early to get myself ready (night-before planning really helped), and then got him up to nurse, eat breakfast if he wanted it, and then go to the sitter's (and on certain days he stayed home with Daddy, that was easier). Allow WAY more time than you think you need.

Are you in La Leche League? You could ask some of the other members (you can go to the meetings or call a leader even if you are not a member). Or check out their website.

Can you possibly start back on a Thursday so you have a couple days to try it, then a couple days to rest up and regroup before starting a full week? Just a thought.

Think about cooking double batches of stuff that you can freeze for easier dinners down the road. (and/or leftovers later in week)

You will figure it out! Good luck and let us know what happens!

K. Z.