So. . . Are There Any Rules to Weaning? I'm Lost Here.

I weaned my last two at one year old and did what you are doing now. I cut out one feeding and then the next and ended up just one time a day and then nothing. That way you don't get sore and you can cut out that one feeding at a time. I did give a cup to some of my kids, depends on the child, in place of bottles and at meal times. You could try that and skip the bottle if you wanted to try that. Some of the sippy cups are more like a bottle than others. You will have milk there for some time probably but not enough to satisfy a baby. Don't panic if there is some though. It will go away eventually.

Great job, and you are doing it exactly right all on your own! It's fine for him to nurse once a day when he's interested. No problem at all. But, probably your supply is naturally getting pretty low and one day soon he'll probably lose interest entirely. And that will be it - he'll have weaned without any effort. This is the most natural and easiest way to do it - good job!

Don't worry about engorgement, etc. Since you are not pumping and only nursing once per day, I doubt you will have any pain or side effects. Except maybe some mommy sentimental sadness when all of a sudden you realize - wait a minute, he hasn't nursed for 3 or 4 days - he's done and I didn't even realize it!

HI--
I support the "Don't offer, don't refuse" method. That's what I did with my oldest and when he was done he just stopped asking. Your body will adjust just fine because it's all happening naturally.
J.

Follow his lead on this one. There is nothing wrong with nursing once a day, or skipping days - your milk supply follows nursing demand. It sounds like he is nearly done nursing. Weaning doesn't need to be painful for either of you. In fact, if you follow his interest in it and nurse when he asks, but don't try to force him to nurse when he doesn't want to, weaning will be easy, except in one way - you sound a little wistful about stopping. I understand. It's a transition for both of you. He's growing up. Your relationship is already changing.

To me, one of the hardest things about being a mom is that it is a succession of things you let go of. It is also one of the most beautiful things about being a mom. Your little guy is leaving early babyhood behind. He may be done with nursing. But he is not done with you. :-)

I am newly "weaned" so hopefully I can pass on what's been told to me. The first "rule" is: There is no "wean" size fits all. If you are comfortable still nursing once a day then so be it. If you are not, then perhaps you can pass the little guy to Dad or another caregiver for that morning feeding. Having another caregiver administer the bottle greatly helped me wean that before bed feeding. But it's really up to you and mostly up to the little guy. I was told that when baby is ready he/she will let you know. It sounds like your son is getting there by being finicky.

As for your milk supply, I think it depends on the individual. If you're not in pain then let nature take her course!

Good luck.

I would go ahead and wean him not. If he's almost a year as it is and you are not in pain when you skip I would stop. Now if he wants to you can. Or if it starts to hurt you can try. But I think this is good timing.

Good luck and God Bless!

Hi, I can only tell you from my experience: at the age of 2yrs 3months, one night, my daughter started to nurse, stopped, and said, "You don't have milk on this side." I think it just hadn't started flowing because she was taking awhile to settle in. We were down to only this evening time, and I had been ready to stop for awhile and she hadn't been, so I'd been thinking that when the opportunity arose I would take advantage of it. I said to her, "Well, we can stop and I can read you an extra book, and we can just read extra books from now on since I don't have much milk." She thought about it, agreed, and we went on from there. She did ask about nursing the next night but I reminded her that we were going to read an extra book and that I didn't have any milk now. The milk stopped easily and without pain because I'd been producing less. Good luck!

Just work off of his queues. If he wants milk then nurse him if not then dont worry about it. I think it is great that you have nursed this long.

With all mine, they did this until they just stopped. From 9 months to 26 months. He's weaning himself which is fine.

Weaning is a slow process. I'd try "don't offer, but don't refuse" and see where he is. With my DD, we slowly dropped sessions and then slowly made those sessions shorter. Then one day I realized it had been a few days and she was really done. I had no pain, since she was barely nursing by then anyway.

I think at the end once a day or fits and starts is alright and expected. Just make sure he's eating well and getting enough calcium from his food.

The secondary question you need to ask is, at 22 months, are you going to transition him off formula, too?