Is She Trying to Wean? - Normal,IL

Congrats first of all for nursing this long! You have really made a difference in her life and made her and you healthier. She may just be weaning off those daytime feedings. Continue to nurse her in the evening and at night when she wants to. You body will adjust to meet her needs. That is the essence of baby lead nursing. keep up the good work!
I nursed my daughter till she was 18 months and my son till 13 months. Near the end they were just nursing once before bed. It was still such a wonderful experience!
Steph BSN, RN, IBCLC

A.,

Good for you for making it this long! My twins are 12 months old, and we're currently in the weaning process. I think she is ready to cut out the nursings during the day. I found with my boys that when I went back to work in the fall(I am a techer), my boys loved to nurse at 4:00 when I came home from work, but after a month they would eat for one minute and be done. I could tell they weren't very interested, so I stopped nursing at this time and replaced it with a snack and whole milk. I think you're on the right track. Just follow her cues for the last feedings left. She'll let you know when she's done.

A. - this is very normal for a 13 month old. Your body WILL adjust to her new schedule, so don't worry. From the time you start solids she's been "weaning" and this is just another step. Don't take it to mean that she's done at other times, though. My oldest did that, and continued the night & am wakeup nursing til he turned 2 and stopped altogether. My 31 month old is still nursing over night.

Hi A.,

I wouldn't worry...your baby is growing up on her own, in fact she is no longer a baby. She is a toddler. She is probably want the sippy cup now, because she has an older sister and brother and wants to be as grown up like them. I feel that breastfeeding is important up to the first year. Congradulations on keeping it up for one year. Feel great that she is weaning on her own.

She is simply dropping the nursings she's no longer interested in. Your body will adjust. When my daughter stopped nursing through the night my supply was fine during the rest of the day.

congrats on nursing her this long!!!! She is NOT trying to wean herself, she is jut too busy during the day to stop to nurse. Many people nurse once or twice a dayfor a long long time, which is a good thing since the bad flu season is coming! Nursing kids will nurse when sick but will not eat food (drink formula etc.0 this is why breastfed kids are less likely to be hospitalized. Keep up the good work! You will have a healthy baby this winter as your reward!

Seems pretty typical at this age - life is so interesting and they get so busy that during the day they don't want to nurse. My daughter (15 months) is similar - she drinks cow milk during the day and at bedtime will sometimes request cow milk in addition to nursing ('cause she's a goof - sometimes she will take 2 swallows from a bottle of cow milk, then nurse for 2 swallows, then go back to the bottle - I guess she's just experimenting? whatever makes her happy...), but she still nurses every night before bed, sometimes during the night, and every AM. Your milk supply will adjust and as long as she doesn't skip too many days in a row it all works out. I nursed my son 2x/day (morning, night) for many months - then dropped back to 1x/day, then we would skip a few days, and finally one day he was just done. It worked out very nicely. I plan to do the same with my daughter.

Your body will just make it when she wants it, for the most part. I was down to 2-3 times a day by 18 months and my daughter continued to nurse until age 2 during those times, before weaning.

Hey A.,
Well congratulations on nursing your daughter this long, so many moms stop nursing sooner. At 1 yr. babies are really motivated to start doing things themselves as part of developing their sense of independence. So self-feeding with a sippy cup and using other tools like spoons are great ways for them to practice self-help skills. Using their fingers to pick up small bites is also wonderful practice. As long as she's still getting the food intake that she needs, continue following her lead like you're doing and your milk supply should still be okay for the night feedings until she decides to give those up too.