Weaning My 13Month Old

I know you've gotten similar responses but I also say unless you've got some concrete reason to wean why not just keep doing it until she's ready to wean herself? I nursed my oldest until he was 9 months old and he began to refuse the breast because I was pregnant and then my youngest til he was 2 and he just got bored of it! Very easy weanings with no pain on my part because it was so gradual. The benefits are so great both physically and emotionally that I would do it as long as possible!

why not just continue to nurse in the am and at night? she gets all the great immunity boosters and vitamins and when she is sick your breast milk will be all she will eat. it sounds like she isnt ready to quite give it up yet, and with all the great health benefits to it i cant see why you should try to stop it? Remember this country is the only country where people think they need to take a human child off of human milk and throw them on the milk of another animal. How the dairy farmers were able to pull off that scam is a mystery to me...but then again for years people thought formula was better than breast milk. Kids that are extended nursers hands down are healthier and hospitalized less than their non nursing counterparts. If she also wants to i really cant see how you could justify ending such a wonderful relationship!

Hi A.,

I weaned my daughter from the breast at 16 months. This was due to the fact that I ahd to start on some medication that was not safe while breastfeeding. I was OK with it, since I had gotten her first year in. Well, she did n't do so well with the abrupt ending to her boobies, and I ended up introducing a bottle. She took to it well, and I thought it was soooo cute! We did nottake the bottle away until she was 3, but she only got it at nap and bed time.

I know a lot of moms think that is ridiculous, but I don't care! I do what works for my children and me. My kids dentist told me to watch out for cavities because there is an increased risk of them if you give juice or milk in bottles at bedtime. My daughter is now almost 5, and she has never had a cavity. If you want to give her a bottle, and you think that would help her, go for it! You know her best, and you are able to evaluate her needs most accurately as her mother. Transitions are hard. Make them as easy as you can. That's my motto. Good luck : )

K.

what I did for my daughter was to start counting from ten to zero VERY slowly when I nursed, at zero I unlatched her and counted one more time from ten to zero while rocking her then put her into bed. I counted faster for the nursing part and slower for the rocking part as the week went on. Eventually I just rocked her and counted down and that was our new bedtime routine. It took about a week to do this.

it sounds like you may have a strong-willed daughter or one who is resistant to change.

i also am in the process of weaning my 13mo. i was down to 2 feedings a day like you, feeding him at morning and night. i dropped the morning feeding...that wasn't so bad. it's the night time feeding that he is reluctant to give up.

my suggestions (which i am going to try soon): 1.maybe start another "habit" before bed or in the morning...like a book, a sippy cup, etc... or 2.just make the decision and stick to it...if you're really ready to be done.

Would it be so bad to keep the bedtime and or morning nursing? It will help her immunity against illness and is a good bonding time for you both as well as a nice way to bookend each day. Just a thought. Women in other countries breastfeed for several years normally.

I weaned my son when he was 14 months old because we were going on a flight across the world and it was so hard to nurse on the plane at that age. In retrospect, I wish I would have nursed him longer. I did end up giving him a bottle, at first 2 times a day but then he switched easily to 1 time a day. He needed the bottle until his was about 18 months old. We stuck to our bedtime routine religiously so when I took the bottle away it was not a big deal, he had the other things in his routine.

Has she been taking a bottle at all up to this point? If not, there is really no need to introduce one now! Everyone has a different experience with the "evils" of bottles...some people just get lucky and don't have the problems.

We finished with the bottles right around a year, but I continued to nurse until my daughter was 18 months. I got "lucky" and had to be away on a business trip for 8 days...I decided to make the cut then. It was a pretty seamless transition--she asked for milk once two weeks after I got back.

She had been weaned from the pacifier, too...until the boob went away...lol. I let her have it back at night (which was the only time she got it before).

The morning session will probably be easier to cut than the nighttime. You should also consider taking steps to diminish your supply--cool cabbage leaf compresses or some people take OTC antihistamines (not recommeding this myself, but know OBs that have). Less milk will make it less soothing to her and you may be able to substitute some other type of comfort more easily.

Good luck...this can be such an emotional time for both of you.