My son is 15 months old and I already cut back nursing to 2-3 times a day, usually before naps and before bad. I'm going to begin cutting back completely but I don't know whether to cut him off completely or to cut it out during the day and then gradually at night. Oh I failed to mention that he is pretty attached to nursing! Any advice?? Thanks in advance.
There are a ton of opinions out there but if you want good advice/direction, contact Jackie Kelleher, she is a doula, childbirth educator & lactation counselor. She has a great store called Birthmark in Media PA & Newtown Square PA.
http://familybirthmark.com/index.php
107 S. Monroe St.
Media, Pa. 19063
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33 Bishop Hollow Rd.
Newtown Square, Pa. 19073
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She will give you great advice. Good luck!
With my first one, I simply didn't offer it unless the child asked, and it was kind of funny, because she never did. The same thing happened with the next 3, and weaning was more about weaning mom than weaning the child. :-)
Give him lots of other cuddle time, so he isn't missing out on the love and the warmth he got while nursing. You could hold him and read a book before nap and bedtime. Then nurse for a little while, and put him to bed. Gradually the book-reading becomes the routine, rather than the nursing.
T.
Hi S.,
For me, I found it pretty easy to cut out the evening nursing. She was eating dinner around 6p and went to bed just 90 mins. later, so I knew she wasn't hungry at that point. I did my usual routine, even rocked and held her in the same position, but instead of nursing I gave her the paci. I weaned at 12 months and she just gave up the paci with no fanfare at 15 mos.
At that point, I was down to only the morning nurse. We just changed the routine a little and went downstairs and gave her a cup of milk and it was done!
Cutting out session by session allowed my production to gradually decrease so I never had any pain. You might have a day or two of fullness, which if you just pump to aleviate you should be fine. And I've also heard the thing with the cabbage leaf, so you could probably try that, too, to help with fullness. That's my advice!
My second child was also very attached to nursing and refused to ever drink from a bottle, so I know what you're going through. I did find that my son was much more receptive to drinking out of a sippy cup though. You may want to try out several different kind of sippy cups and see if one appeals to your little one. (My oldest refused to drink out of one kind of sippy cup but would happily drink out of another brand. Go figure!) Maybe ask some of your mom friends if you can borrow some different kinds of sippy cups until you see what your little one may prefer.
Once my boy had the ability to drink well out of the sippy cup and was happily drinking a decent amount at mealtime, I started gradually weaning him off, one feeding at a time. I waited probably a week or two before cutting out another nursing time, but this is just what worked best for me.
I decided to start with the nursings at mealtimes and just tried to get him to eat more at the meal so he didn't miss the nursing too much.
Then I eliminated the nursings right before naptimes. I just made sure he was really ready for naptime and rocked with him in my arms (which is exactly what he was used to doing while nursing) until he fell asleep. Since I had made sure he was already sleepy before we got in the rocking chair, he never put up much of a fuss about not getting to nurse.
Last to go was the bedtime nursing. It was hard for me to let that one go, but my son actually is the one who decided HE was done nursing. It started with him not nursing much and often refusing to nurse from the second breast. Then he just quit wanting to nurse altogether, so we would just rock in the chair until he was sleepy enough for me to lay him down.
I think the most important thing to keep in mind is what is right for you and your child will NOT likely be a carbon copy of what is right for someone else and their child. All of the ladies here are offering some great advice (and I'm sure LaLeche and other support hotlines will also offer you some great advice too), but it's up to you to figure out what will work best for you and your child (and maybe your signifigant other too). Oh, and NEVER be afraid to change up your strategy if your current one is making you both miserable!
Good luck to you!
Hi S.~
I nursed my son until he was 7 months old, and really only stopped at that point because I had resumed working full time, and my milk supply just diminished to the point that he was more satisfied with the bottle!
As for your situation, I would suggest (and I am going to even surprise myself with this recommendation) contacting the LaLeche League for some advice. They are the guru's of nursing, so if anyone can help, perhaps they can. Another place I always look when I need info, is www. askdrsears.com. I don't know whether they will have anything specific to your situation on their site, but if you have the time, its worth a look.
Personally, I would probably say that it would be the smoothest transition if you cut back one feeding at a time, or like you said, eliminate the naptime nursing, and then, ultimately the bedtime nursing. Does your son use anything else for sooting himslef? Naturally, I would supply him with whatever that is to ease the transition. My son started taking a pacifier at 6 months, which at that time, was a lifesaver, because he constantly wanted to nurse just to soothe himself. Of course, now it's a nightmare, because we have to get rid of it, like yesterday... but that's another post all in itself. The point is, that it really helped us through that transition, but I wouldn't suggest giving him one now, if he doesn't already take one, but that goes without saying.
Also, does he accept a sippy or a bottle for milk? If so, he might not have too much trouble with the transition.
Best of luck to you... I know it's an emotional thing for both baby... and mommy...
Hi S.,
I pumped and froze milk before we started weaning and began mixing it (at first mostly breast milk and gradually mostly whole milk) for the feedings during the day. I continued to breast feed for the first and last feedings and over the course of a few weeks went down to one breast feeding. Then after a few weeks we were completely switched over... it seemed like an impossible task in the beginning but it actually went very quickly and smoothly. Good luck to you and your son! Before you know it he will be drinking out of cups and eating with forks and spoons :)
hi,
I weaned my son at 16 months. I weaned him day and night at the same time. he didnt care for his day nursings as he was drinking cow's milk by then.we had few tears when he went down for nap and during the night time..lasted for around 4days .i just patted him to sleep.
PS : Just make sure that you are really DONE with nursing before you take the leap.I miss the nusring sessions and wish i had continued for few more months /until my son was 2.I think AAP recommends BF until 2
Enjoy this time, it will end sooner than you think. While others may think it odd, it's trully natural. I just weaned my youngest dd at 2.5yrs. There is nothing wrong with him wanting to continue to nurse, it's a great bond between you.
I had the same problem. I seriously never thought my son would stop nursing but he was fully weaned by 13 months. I cut out the middle nursing first. Then I cut out the night nursing. I had previously seen a post on this on mamsource and used it's advice on this. When my son woke up to night nurse I said - you are a big boy now and you don't need to eat now. please go back to bed. He screamed at me but I did not give in. I did however hold him to make him feel secure. He used to night nurse a lot so this was hard but within 2-3 nights of doing this he was nightweaned. then i cut out the bedtime feed and finally I weaned him from the last nurse which was the morning feeding. It went really well since he was used to taking bottles of breastmilk/whole milk. The only real problem I had was with my body. I had read many books on how to wean but they really don't tell you about how to wean you. Make sure you continue to pump while weaning. when you drop the 1st feeding, pump for 5 mins during that feed the first day and decrease by 1 min each day until that pumping session is fully finished then move on to dropping the next feed the same way (this is what the lactation consultant advised when i experienced engorgement). If you still feel engorged you can put cabbage leaves on your breasts just remove them when they wilt. good luck and feel free to contact me with any questions.
Dear S.,
Because this is your first child and he is quite attached to nursing, you must have done a great job so far.
There is a program that you might be interested in to gain his interest in the rest of the world so that he will be weened....it is called, "How to Teach Your Baby to Read." It was developed by Glenn Doman, who started the Institute for the Achievement of Human Potential and has been quite successful with the full range of infant, toddler and children's abilities. The Website is www.iahp.org. It is a wonderful program for interaction and a great way to advance to the non-nursing stage by substituting a program of reading and learning interaction. Enjoy! Please feel free to contact me...my first read at 2 years 9 mos., 2nd - 4 years, 3rd - 5 years.
