Need Advice on Weanig

When I weaned my daughter - I did it one feeding at a time/day. In other words when it came time for that feeding - I would give her a sippy cup, instead of having her latch on. It took about a week, but that way it wasn't overwhelming for her. I started with an afternoon one and then went one at a time from there. The last one I weaned was the night feeding right before she went to bed. It went pretty smoothly. I hope this helps!

Hi A.,
How about not weaning her? Did you know the world average time span on nursing is 3 years. In America that length of time sounds weird but the longer you nurse the healthier she will be as she gets older. I nursed my duaghter until she was 2 and quit because I was due with my second child 3 months later. Most babies will wean themselves when they are ready. Unless this is just becoming really stressful for you don't rush it. It's not weird to nurse until she's a little older. Don't worry about what other people think. Good luck!!

Hi! My suggestion is to check out "the womanly art of breastfeeding." It's a wonderful book and packed full of information that relates to breastfeeding moms. It's got a great section on weaning!! Also, if you have a La Leche League in your area they would be a great resource full of support, encouragement and reliable information!!! They've helped me tremendously.

Hi A.,
I just recently went through this and was in so much pain... so I know how NOT to do it! and learned the best way to achieve a painless transition for both mommy and baby.

Cut one feeding a day. Occupy them with a sippy cup, or a snack instead of the breast. Also, do not sit in the same "breastfeeding area" with them during this time.

You can even cut say the 11am feeding for three days in a row... then chose another feeding to cut.

Do this for another three days.

Eventually you will be down to one feeding. I made the feedings shorter and shorte by five minutes each day...

Here is the key... what I did was kept the morning and night feeding... I would feed in the morning and then not breastfeed again until the next night... so it was almost two days without the breast. This only took a couple of times.

The more time you take to slow down the whole process, the easier and healthier for you and your baby.

Just please dont go cold turkey!

If you have any questions, I consulted my local la leche group... LOVE THEM! I was so close to tears in pain from going cold turkey and she informed me how to do this slowly... so I tried it and it worked!

Good luck and congratulations... this is a big step!

I had trouble, emotionally, weaning my son. At his 12 month appointment he had actually lost a couple of oz. so I did it cold turkey and he did great. He was ready and I was the one hanging on.

Hey A.! I know you may have already accomplished your task of weening, but I do know other moms read these posts for help (as I do) and wanted to put in my 2 cents worth. LOL

My son will be 1 in about a week, and I started weening about 1 week ago. I spoke to a girlfriend who told me to try to cut out one feeding a day (he was down to one feeding in morning as soon as he gets up, one in the daytime before nap, and right before he goes to bed by then). He was already familiar with the sippy cup from drinking juice from it and so when I started cutting his feedings, I started putting milk with Carnation Instant breakfast vanilla flavor in it. (I weakened it alot from the directions on the box, because it was so sweet. I used only half the powder required for a cup of milk.) He took right to it and we are still weening but he is doing great!! I had some good advice from my friend though......don't pressure them or push them beacuse you have a "goal date" to stop breast feeding (like his first birthday). If we are having an extremely hard day and he needs soothing I will still offer him the breast, but often times, he wants a 2 minute snack and then wants to play! Good luck on the weening and most of all, enjoy them while they are little. They grow up soooo fast.

With both of my kids I just had to litrally let them cry it out. I did use some of the other suggestions you already got but of course they still cried. I started with cutting back a feeding a day for a week or so and then another feeding the next week. I weaned both of them at a year though and they say the older the child the more stubborn they are about giving it up. Good luck though, and don't give in, it just makes the battle that much harder.

I would add after all of that cuddle time with you for his sake please don't let him just cry it out. That may be okay for an adult who understands, but babies only do what they need, and they don't understand why they are being left in bed to cry it out. Some people say they don't even remember it, but for those seconds,minutes, or even hours..they do! So now for the real advice...

I start at about 7-8 months with solids, by about 1 year they don't nurse except for sleeping times. If they are really full when they lay down, they don't really nurse all that much until they are out. If they won't lay down and nurse I put it away. They are too busy to lay down so eventually they just don't. You might try that if she doesn't lay down and still she doesn't get to nurse at night. That might deter her from wanting it. Like that lady before said it is good to nurse till 2 years old, I just don't want too!! However, I would if my kids didn't wean themselves so easy...well I say that now but I have one about to wean and we will see how he does! Best of luck to you!

I have yet to wean my one year old, so I'm kinda in the same boat. Except he's already only nursing in the mornings and evenings (for the most part..). Something I've read from the Sears family is simply "don't ask, don't offer". You might try that at first, just not offering it to her and see whether or not she asks for it. Sometimes they're so busy throughout the day playing that it doesn't occur to them to ask. But there may be times, like naps that are associated with nursing that may make it difficult. I think if she's used to nursing right before going to sleep like that, you might try at first nursing 15-20 minutes before you put her down, and in a different place, so it breaks the routine, then you'd simply start doing something else in place of that, so that when you put her down to nap or sleep for the night you just hold and rock, or whatever you decide to do. I did try a similar thing the other night, when my son woke in the middle of the night. He's pretty much been sleeping solidly for 10-12 hours at night for the last couple of months (thank god!!) and not waking to nurse, so when he did wake, I just went in there, gave him his pacifier and held him for a couple of minutes, and swayed with him, then put him back down in his crib, and he rolled over and pulled his feed up under him and went back to sleep just as peacefully as he would have after nursing! So it does work! Good luck. Let us know how it goes. I'm feeling a little emotional about weaning, but I need to. My son will be 16 months when I'm due with my second, and I don't think I'm up for tandem nursing! So, I'm going to have to get a little more serious about weaning very soon!

Love,
Missy

ps- remember if it's slow going, don't freak out. even though she doesn't "need" the breastmilk as a primary part of her nutritional intake the who (world health org) does recommend nursing for the first 2 years. so you've done great momma!

Hi A.,
I don't have really any solid advice because I have never breastfed my kids but I would think it's no different than bottle breaking (along the same lines anyway). So I would say start off with one of her nursing times in the middle of the day but not one that would be her naptime. You didn't state wether you were going to the sippy cup or bottle but whichever it is offer that to her but still hold her. I seen on supernanny that a woman was trying to do this samething, "Jo" the supernanny had the mom put a towel over her breast folded a couple times and then hold her daughter like she normally would and offer a bottle. I would imagine you could do the sippy sup if you would rather. As you try with one nursing time try another.
With my kids when I was bottle breaking I would put their formula/milk in their sippy cup just as if it was a bottle. I would warm it up and pull the little rubber stoppers out that make it spill proof until they learned how to suck on it. Once they new to suck on it to get something out of it I would put the rubber thing back in and then gradually stop warming it up until they were switched to formula or milk whichever. Hope this helps a little. W. mom of 4

You got lots of good advice for mother initiated weaning.
I was a stay at home mom until my daughter was two, continued breastfeeding until 2 1/2. She just didn't ask one day. Then 2 days. On the third day, she asked and I explained to her there was no more milk. We were feeding so infrequently (down to once a day) that I didn't have any engourgement issues, either.
Just throwing it in as an option. I had also read that older toddlers are harder to wean, but I guess it depends on their personality.

have you already weaned her during the day?
start that first because weaning morning or night feeds are harder to change
more infant cereal and baby food during the day

Eliminate one feeding a week. I always started with the one that happened right around dinner time so that my husband could be there go give the baby the bottle. Then I would eliminate the one before it until I could finally eliminate all but the first thing in the morning feeding and the right before bed ones. Then I would eliminate the morning feeding because I could transition from my nursing bra into a smaller cupped regular bra for the day to ease the pain.

It takes a while but it's a lot easier to do it this way than every few days because your body has the whole week to adjust.

In eliminating Pre sleep feedings make them 5 minutes shorter each day and try to put the baby to bed when she's drowsy but not fully asleep.