Weaning - San Antonio, TX

M.,
This is the link to one of my favorite breastfeeding websites. Hope this helps you! http://www.kellymom.com/bf/weaning/weaning-night.html
G.

Why the rush? I weaned my daughter when we were both ready, which was at about 18 months. She hardly ever gets sick now, even at age 4 and it was a wonderful bonding experience. My son stopped nursing at 6 months, when I returned to work, and he has asthma and gets sick easily. I plan to nurse my third (due in 2 months) for as long as she wants. The benifits last for years. Hope this helps.

Hello, I weaned my 2 older children around 12-13 months also. I started with the daytime feeding. I just cut it out one day.It was pretty easy, I gave him a sippy cup of milk if he was thirsty at that time. Then about a week later, I quit the 4pm feeding. I gave him a snack and sippy cup of milk before nap. At 1st I rocked him to sleep. He cried and faught to get out of my arms for a few days, then he settles down and I rocked him to sleep.(in his room with the lights out) (when he cried, i sang to him and said things to distract him like "oh, remember the dog we saw today" in a singing voice. So then after a week or so I cut out the morning feeding and I gave him a sippy cup of milk right away. that one was easy because he wanted breakfast. a week later I did the night time one. I did the same thing as the nap time. After a week or so of rocking him to sleep (nap and night) I would put him down when he was asleep, but not deep sleep for a few days. then i would put him down more and more awake. until i was just rocking a little while i stood up and i layed him down. Sometimes he would cry when I laid him down, but I just quickly said "I lkove you, have a good nap, sweer dreams, etc." I layed him down covered him up and left. He usually went to sleep within 1 minute. (you should wait till the last minutew to put him down so he is good and tired.) Now I just have to carry him to bed, he lays down, i cover him up. I tell him good night, i love you, sweet dreams, etc. and I leave. He doesnt cry at all now. He just goes to sleep.
Sorry it was so long, I know you didnt ask about sleeping, but that really goes hand in hand with weaning.. for my anyway.
Hope this helps,
K.

I would say to feed her closer to the time that she goes to bed, that way she will not want a bottle. I know it is hard and I am going to have to do this with my daughter but I did it with my son and it seemed to work. I t was hard at first but after a few nights it was great.

Will she take a bottle? I breastfed my daughter until she was 13 months old. She never would take a bottle, but right around the end of that 12th month I started putting regular milk into a bottle and giving that to her. Lucky for me she liked it and drank from it. But I still nursed her, I just started cutting out one nursing per day, until finally I cut out the last one, just substituting with a bottle. The pediatrician recommended weaning to a sippy cup, but my daughter didn't get the hang of a sippy cup for a while. I was glad to have her weaned from nursing so I didn't care if she was on a bottle. I figured I would deal with that part later. So she drank milk from a bottle until around 18 months old, and at that point I cut the bottle down the same way... I would just try giving her the sippy cup when she asked for milk. It took a few weeks but I just stayed consistent, had to listen to some crying, but she finally gave up the bottle too. I know it's hard. You really have to figure out what works best though... it's a lot of trial and error because every child is different. Just stay consistent with her... you may have to put up with some crying at first, but just remember that it won't last forever and she'll finally give in to what you are trying to wean her to.
Best Wishes!

Weaning your daughter is going to take time. She is used to the closeness between you two when she eats. You may have to try several different bottles to see which one she might take. Or if you are trying to wean her to a sippy cup, you might want to try the ones with the rubbery tips. Let your husband introduce this new way of eating. She won't get as confused that way. She should be eating solid foods, so feed her well before bedtime. She should be sleeping the whole night or at least the majority of it. This is when you just have to take a deep breath and be persistent. She will eventually get the idea. Good luck.

M.,
I weaned my son at almost 13 mos, and my daughter right at 12 mos, and it went well both times. Both my children refused a bottle, and we went right to a sippy cup, which they were drinking out of even at the end of breast-feeding. They were already used to the cup, so there wasn't much transition. At that age, nursing is more about comfort, so I would just substitute other things. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it), both my kids had already picked something to pacify themselves. My son was a thumb-sucker, and my daughter was a pacifier baby. Daytime weaning is easier b/c you can find other distractions, but at night, I would just hug them, reassure them with my presence, then let them try to cry themselves back to sleep with their chosen comforts. This was hard at first (I was not good at schedules, and neither of my children slept through the night until they were weaned), but they did survive it, and so did I. And when they learned they didn't really need that nursing in the middle of the night, we were all much, much happier. Best wishes!
M.

As I was telling another mother, Christina O, I weaned my daughter at 3.5 years old. That may be a bit long, especially if you are a working mother, but it worked for me. I had been ready for some time I must say. Finally, I told her some day my binkies would stop working and run out of milk. So weeks leading up to this,I would remind her. She woke up one morning and I had put bandaids on my nipples and informed her she could no longer nurse. She was sad and concerned for me, asked if it hurt...that type stuff. She did ask several days but didn't insist as she must have figured it would be useless. I tried several approaches, but this one definitely worked!

Weanin from the breast or however baby is bein fed is not the easiest thing to do compared to potty trainin I think. Have you tried maybe givin your daughter soy milk!? I am still breastfeeding my 1 yr old, and also give her soy milk which the 2nd best thing. I also introduce regular milk as well so she too gets a try them all. She may like it, mine did and soy has much vitamins and all as opposed to reg milk!! Go figure right? lol let me know how it goes.