Almost Done W/ Breastfeeding

I had to abruptly stop breastfeeding my twins at 2 weeks, and it was a sad moment for me. I think as the other poster stated slowly weaning a feeding at a time will help decrease the milk production.

I just wanted to address the issue of kids who are not breast fed getting sick more often. I breastfed my oldest for only 3 months. She then went to daycare 3 days a week at 4 months old. To this day she is the healthiest of my 3.

Congrats on breastfeeding for a full year.

Great that you've nursed for so long!! If you plan to stop, start feeding him less. 3x a day, and try going longer between feedings for a couple of days. Then go to 2x a day for a few days, maybe skiping the middle feeding and supplementing with formula and down to 1x...you get the picture. Your body will get the signal and stop producing as much. Good Luck!

Good job on breastfeeding for so long. Be prepared for some tears when he doesn't ask anymore.

I started weaning my daughter around 11 months. She was doing 4 feeds, your three plus right before bed. What I did was dump the 11ish one first, offering her milk at lunch instead, and then I dumped the 3ish one about 5 days later, again offering her milk (in a "big girl's glass"). Another 5 days later, I offered her a glass of milk at the morning nurse. After doing that for a a day or two, she just stopped asking full stop, even dropping her before bed nurse.

I'd start offering the whole milk ASAP. It sometimes takes them a while before they will accept it. I gave my daughter some at lunch every day for a good few weeks before she decided she liked it.

Believe it or not N., I was still lactating when my sons were two years old, so don't wait until your milk runs out it might be a very long time. What I did was that I told my 16 month old that my milk was all gone, and I told him mommy had no more milk, because he was a big boy now.

For some reason, he understood it and accepted it and said milk all gone. He then started drinking from a sippy cup. I couldn't believe it! You might want to try that. Otherwise, I hope someone else has a better idea, because that is all I did.

Drop one feeding a week until you are down to zero. You may have some engorgement as i did, but i used cabbage leaves to ease the discomfort and hand expressed a tiny bit of milk when it got to be too much. It was about 2 weeks after i totally stopped before i was back to normal and dryed up. You can look at or talk to Carol Chamblin's website for help. She is fantastic. Its breastnbabylactation. Just google it or her name.

I would cut one feeding out right away. Then slowly cut back on one more. Maybe stay with the am feeding if that's when he gets up. If that's the one you can continue when you go back to work, it may take more than a few weeks to completely wean him. And it takes a while for your milk to adjust and go down also. It can take up to 2 months. And it's not enjoyable, I used to pump just a little bit to take the edge off the pain until my milk started to dry up. There a couple of nights I couldn't fall asleep and I had to pump just a little bit. Your milk will adjust to his feeding pattern so if you can slowly wean him over the next month or 2 you should have no trouble, and no pain.

I hope that you might find some helpful articles on this page...

http://www.llli.org/NB/NBweaning.html

Best wishes,
J.

Good job on breastfeeding until 1 year. Just decrease feedings one at a time. It would be easiest to stop the 11ish feeding first (give formula instead) then a week later stop the 3ish, etc. By waiting a week between decreasing feedings, you'll allow your body to adjust. It truly is a supply/demand system. Good luck!