Weaning from BF

I continued the pm breastfeeding long after all the rest were gone. It was more of a comfort thing for my daughter, but I kept it up until she was about 18 months. I agree with Margaret about redirecting her in the morning. If you are willing to continue the pm (I presume it's before bedtime), just tell her you only nurse when it's "night night" time. When I started thinking about taking out the bedtime nursing, I took a sippy cup with us for our bedtime routine -- read books, rock in the rocking chair and sing lullabies. My daughter held on to the sippy cup even while I nursed. I also told her that pretty soon we would not nurse any more and she would just have her cup to drink from. After our "new routine" was established (about a week), I just held her in the same position as nursing but had her drink from her cup. My daughter did OK with the gradual change. I have had several friends tell me they just told their daughters the milk was "all gone". With my second daughter, I got really sick when I was long past the time I wanted to stop nursing. I told her when I was sick she couldn't nurse because mommy was sick, and she cuddled with daddy instead. I was "sick" for a long time, and when I was better I told her there was no more milk. She cried for a few nights and went to daddy for comfort, but I stuck to my decision and she survived and started going to sleep without the nursing part of the routine. I also want to give you kudos for nursing this long. Good luck!

If she's not 1 yet what are you giving her in place of breastmilk? That should still be her primary nutrition until she is at least 1. She ideally should still be nursing at least 3 or 4 times per day to get enough milk. Her system isn't ready for cow's milk yet.

And when it is time to wean it's a slow process. You don't want to go cold turkey. When I weaned my son at 16 months it was because he was ready and we were down to one nursing in the mornings. Even then it took about 2 1/2 weeks to completely drop that session. When I weaned my daughter at 20 months she was more attached and nursed more randomly thru the day so it took longer-about a month.

If you give in once, it will be harder the next time because now she knows if she just cried long or hard enough you will give in. If you are going to ween you have to stick with it. She will fuss, but once she knows that the tatas are closed she will come around. Just give her other forms of dairy to make up the difference until she starts drinking her milk well, such as yogurt and cheese.

When you drop that am feeding you need to redirect her. A new toy to play with or activity. What worked for me was to feed her breakfast right away and keep her mind somewhere else like playing in the kitchen with me. And you have to be firm don't give into her crying. This will probably go on for at least a couple of days but she will get the idea and stop fussing. As for the nighttime feeding I had more issues with it than my daughter did and she gave it up with no problems. Good luck and congrats for nursing so long! By the way you don't have to give up BF just because she is a year old. I continued with just the am & pm feedings until she was about 17months.

I weaned night feeding first when I was down to am and pm only at 1yr. That seemed to go so much easier since he was tired anyway and only nursed for a few mins just to get some Mom time. Needless to say, I'm still doing am feedings when he wants to. Sometimes he'll wake up just ready to start the morning and sometimes he's restless until he gets that feeding. It felt so freeing to get that night time one out of the picture because sometimes I may have to work late or maybe even try to do a date night w/ the hubby and I don't have to worry about pumping or wondering how he went down w/ the sitter. And I always plan on waking up w/ him, so I love the morning feed anyway. Just my opinion, you can try that if it works great, if not, she just may not be quite ready. Good luck and it's ok to give in sometimes!

Curious why you are anxious to speed up the process? My daughter is 2 1/2 and we still nurse multiple times a day. I nursed my older daughter until she was 3 1/2 (but only at bedtime from about 3 on...)

It depends on the child whether they are ready.