My son is 10 months old and my goal was to breastfeed until he was one year old. So far I have been successful, but now that his first birthday is approaching I'm wondering how I'm going to transition to not breastfeeding anymore. We are moving at the beginning of June and then I'm going to be starting work full time and I don't want to have to pump. I've read that weaning in the midst of a lot of other changes (like moving and starting new day care) is a bad idea, so I'd like to have him done with bottles, at least during the day, when we move. He'll be 13 months old when we move, is a month long enough to wean gradually? He's never had formula and I doubt he'll drink it at this point. Recently he has started drinking water or dilute juice from a sippy cup, but he won't take anything but breast milk from a bottle. He currently nurses 4 times during the day and then usually once in the middle of the night. I'm hoping he outgrows his need to eat in the middle of the night soon, but how do I go from 4 feedings to just 2 (one when he wakes up and one before bed) and then eventually none at all? Do I go from 4 to 3 to 2 and gradually space them out more or do I just replace a bottle/nursing session with a snack or cow's milk after he hits 1 year?
Also, please don't judge my decision to wean. I know I could keep breastfeeding beyond a year and I know what the benefits are to him and to me and I have enjoyed nursing so far, but I'm really ready to be done with nursing and pumping and don't want to do it much more than 15 or 16 months.
i am also on the verge of weaning at 1 year. i give bottles of breastmilk and plan to use whole milk next month. i will mix BM with regular milk until he is on it completely . not sure why you are opposed to using bottles longer though. he has plenty of time to use a sippy cup.
you just need to drop feedings(nursing) little by little.
I know what your going through i breast fead all 3 of my children, and it seems to me that you know your doing the right thing so far, as you have lots of changes hapening so close together. i also enjoyed nursing and missid it when weand, snacks and lots of new drinks to trie is a good thing you seem possitive in what you need to do, if you trie some of your own tips asap you mite be supprised with how he reacts,hope all gose well.x
you don't have to pump after a year. If you are working full time you can nurse when you are together, ie waking up in hte morning and at bedtime. And he can drink milk, water, almond milk, goats milk, etc at daycare :) That way he still gets your milk, you still get the bonding time, and you wont have to take it away from him during the stressful times coming up for him.
Hi S.,
Congrats on nursing your son for this long! Around 10 months is when I started to think about how I was going to wean my son too. I didn't start until he was about 13 months old, and finished right after he turned 15 months. He was nursing about twice as much as your son though, so I bet you could do it in a month! Here's what I have told other moms!
I weaned my son when he turned 15 months. I was sure he was only nursing for comfort and was almost positive I had hardly any milk left anyways. When I first decided it was time to start weaning my son, he was nursing first thing when he woke in the morning, before his morning nap, when he woke from his nap, before he took his afternoon nap and when he woke up from his nap, and then when he went to bed. I also (admittedly) nursed him in the middle of the night when he would wake up to get him back to sleep. So 7-8 times a day. I decided to eliminate the nursings that would bother him the least first and that was when he woke up from his nap. I would offer him something to drink to distract him and give him a chance to wake himself up. He was usually cranky as soon as he woke up so that was one reason he loved to nurse then. He would be a little fussy but no crying or screaming.
The next nursing I gave up was the afternoon nap, it was a little easier because he actually started only napping once a day at this time anyway. Then I cut out the first morning nursing. He really loved this one so again I used distraction. He usually liked to watch Sesame Street at the time, so we would cuddle on the couch together and watch the show. I would get him a little snack, a cereal bar or cereal, and a drink and he would be happy until breakfast.
With each nursing I cut out I probably waited two weeks or more to cut out the next one. I thought this would be best for avoiding engorgement and also for him, so it wasn't too much at one time. I also wasn't completely ready to wean him yet emotionally.
When I finally decided it was really time to get down to business, I knew I had to cut out the middle of the night nursing. This one was really benefical to me because it was an easy way to get him back to sleep, unless that didn't work, which started to become the case. All I did was when he would wake up, I would scoop him up and give him his pacifier and rock with him in his room, sing, or whatever to get him back to sleep. Once I was able to get him to sleep WITHOUT nursing him even one night, I didn't backtrack! I think you have to be consistent and once you cut it out, you can't go back or you're sending mixed messages.
After that was done, I cut out the napping nursing. We would go into his room when he was sleepy, change diaper, brush teeth, read some stories, maybe some quiet playtime, and then I would close the blinds and we would rock in his chair. Some music playing and singing, something soothing.
Two weeks later came the nighttime nursing cut out. And I did the same routine we would do for the nap, although he takes a bath at night. I didn't have any trouble with him crying.
I think you can get it done in a month. Just try and decide which one is his favorite nursing and save that one for last. Let me know if you have any other questions. Good luck with the move and your job!
S.
Dear S., Congratulations on your baby boy. I am not in any position to judge anyone. I have 5 and nursed most for 3-4 months and one for 9 months. Yes, you should do this gradually for your sake and for his. As far as the timelines on the bottles you may want to see how it works out with your son's needs. Some need to suck longer than others. I understand you are ready to stop and baby will know if you go on and do not want to. They are very attuned to our feelings. My best to you, Grandma Mary
You probably could get it done in a month, but I'm wondering if you should wait til after you move, esp if the baby is very attached to breastfeeding. We went to Mexico for a week when my youngest was a year old, and the change in environment really threw her off. She was attached to my leg most of the trip. Your son is old enough to be affected by such a sudden change in environment and you and your hubby will inevitably experience some stress with the move which affects your baby too. Nursing would be really comforting to him. As someone else said, you don't need to pump anymore. You could consider cutting down the nursing to 2x a day before you move, plus anytime he really needs it.
If you really do want him weaned by the time you move, I think you should start cutting down on the feedings now (esp nighttime feedings, actually you should do that anyway so you can get some sleep!) so that it's not so sudden right before you move. I weaned both of my kids very gradually to where they were feeding just 1x or 2x a day for a couple months, and that seemed to work well.
I weened my son by 17 months. He went to milk by 1 year and a sippy cup full time by 13months. My doc said that I could start giving him milk at 11 months put mostly breast milk in and a little cow's milk for a few days and slowly make it more real milk than cows. I think we got him to milk and then worked on the sippy cup. At first all he would drink out of the cup was water then one day we put milk in it and he took it. I still nursed him in the morning before work and recently we weened from that feeding that was the last one. At first I nursed him in the evening and in the morning but then just the morning.
Good luck
First of all, way to go on nursing for so long!!! I weaned my daughter when she was 15 months. We moved from CT to Switzerland when she was 13 months and I was expecting my second daughter in July. I wanted to wean her before I had the baby but after we moved. Nursing for her was the one thing that fixed everything so I didn't want to stop before we moved. So here's how we did it:
First we stopped the on demand nursing (like when she fell, or was sad, or just because). This was the hardest to stop but I just had to distract her with a toy or her pacifier or a snack. Then we were down to only nursing for naps and at night. (I stopped nursing her in the middle of the night when she turned a year). Next we tackled the bedtime. For a couple of months we had been giving her milk at bedtime and then I would nurse her. When we started to wean I would nurse her and then my husband would do the rest of the bedtime routine with the milk in a sippy. Then after a few weeks I just stopped nursing her. Then we did the same for naps in one weekend. I cried when we stopped and I was so worried that my daughter would be upset but she was TOTALLY fine! She didn't even cry! I hope this helps! Feel free to send me a message if you have any other question! Good luck! :)
one thing that i found worked well with my son was weaning off the breast first (he did most of it on his own) around 9 months he decided he didn't want to nurse right before bed so i didn't nurse him then and instead have him a sippy cup of expressed breast milk. every night after he went to bed i would pump and that was his replacement for the next night. this went about the same for other day feedings and eventually i just stopped pumping one session at a time. by 12 months he switched to cow milk and kept his very first morning feeding until almost 14 months then he decided he was done with it. by then that was the only feeding he was getting so my milk had gradually dried up. there is nothing wrong with weaning you have already done your child a tremendous service by doing it this long.at 12 months i started mixing breast milk with cow milk and it only took about a week until he was on full cow milk. but until he got used to it he didn't "love it" and some days wouldn't drink a lot of it. so dont worry to much if he doesn't take to it quickly
First of all, GREAT JOB nursing as long as you did!!
When I weaned my son, I cut out one feeding each week. I would start with the nighttime feeding. My ped made me cut out night time feedings when he was 6 mos old because he no longer needed it nutritionally.
The most important thing to remember when you wean is distract, distract, DISTRACT!! He will forget about it pretty quickly - just don't give in or it will go on forever. I found that changing our routine was what helped us the most. Best of luck to you!
