What Do I Need to Do to Start to Wean My 11 Month Old?

I would recommend attending a La Leche League meeting, because they have really good info about breastfeeding and weaning, and then you can meet moms around you and get specific questions answered along the way. The info I have is just what I've read not personal experience since my son is only a month old, so I'll leave it to the experts, but good luck!

If you're not feeling like you want to wean him, then don't worry about it. He's still getting the best nutrition from you, not to mention lots of good mothering and built-in cuddle time. La Leche League would be a good resource to check out.

Why do you need to wean? If you and your son are both enjoying it, and he is reaping the benefits I don't see why you have to follow your early expectations to a T.

Years ago I was a La Leche League leader, I recommend you be in touch with a leader or group where you are if there is one. You started weaning with your first solids. We used to recommend that at age one a mom would stop initiating nursing at any time. Which means the toddler has to ask. No real reason to switch to a bottle...unless you have one I'm not thinking of. A sippy cup will give what he needs in between nursing. Why do you want to wean? A baby will lessen his nursing as he is ready if you quit offering and do offer the sippy cup. He may continue to nurse although much less until he is two years old and that will mean he is meeting his own needs. One of my boys weaned at 9 months, the other at 27 months...and now that they are adults both boys seem to have only nursed for a moment in time...a very precious moment. If you need to wean...then please do it slowly. Cut out the mid morning first with snack and sippy then. After a few days do the same with the afternoon nurse. Then the lunch time one..night time with daddy next and the last one is the morning one...and it can happen by just getting up and eating breakfast. The last two can be interchanged depending on whether you are up early or late as a rule. I suggest slowly and just not offering, but that's cuz that worked so well for me and for my friends who are nursing right now. V. ok, now I see your response. If you are leaving him in June, I think you will want him to be nursing less when you leave...so the not offering is still a good idea when he turns one. And, since you will be gone for ten days, the bottle idea may be a good idea. When I left my second little guy who was still nursing for five days, I thought he would wean. When I returned, he started right up again. It turned out he had had a bottle while we were gone and he really enjoyed it, but dropped it when we got home again. Every kid is different, also try to be sure he has a lovey that you have helped him attach to before you go..it could be something silky or fleecy...a toy or a blanket...just be sure you have it with the two of you when you nurse and when he naps. T his will leave him with a comfortable smell when you leave. I'm not going to read all the other responses, but I'm glad you had so many responses. V.

Start by skipping a feeding every 3-5 days. It's easiest to skip feedings that fall in the mid-morning or mid-afternoon first. Replace it with a sippy cup of water/juice/formula and extra play time with mommy. The last feedings you'll give up are those before naps, bedtime and first thing in the morning. My daughter was mostly attached to her morning feeding, so that was the last one I cut out (I replaced all the feedings with milk as she was almost 12-months when I started weaning her). I skipped on morning telling her mommy had no more milk and gave her a sippy cup of milk instead and the next day I was engorged and had to nurse her. Then we skipped two days and I nursed her one last time and that was it and I never dealt with any serious engorgement. My daughter was sad to end nursing so I avoided being in our usual nursing spots with her and put away the nursing pillow we used and that helped ease the transition for her.

Good luck! I hope it goes smoothly.

C. - I understand setting an expectation and then as the date approaches, trying to make plans to reach the goal. From my experience with my boy, it rarely works that way. I nursed my son too but really had no expectations as to when he would be weaned. I really enjoyed nursing him and I knew it was good for him. I did begin supplementing a bottle on occassion if I was gone for some reason and he took to that ok. I also got him drinking from a sippy cup (the kind that don't leak if tipped up). You say your boy is active and crawling around. I found that as soon as my son began to walk, he was less and less interested in nursing. He was just too busy. We nursed at night and early in the morning and occasionaly during the day but those times became more for comfort than nourishment. I remember the day when I realized that he had not nursed at all. I was a bit sad. He had completely weaned himself. He was 13 months old. I know other friends have had more trouble with this process but I believe we were so successful because I let my independent boy decide when it was time to stop. I gave him lots of love and comfort in ways other than nursing and switched his nutritional needs over to food and drink. He was not confused. I also kept my need for being connected to him in that way seperate from his needs. I did feel sad, but I never went back to him to fulfill my need to be connected like that. (May sound weird but it happens to the best of us - being a mommy is emotional). I hope this helps. Of all the things I faced in raising my boy, weaning was the absolute easiest! I hope this helps.

The book "The Art of Breastfeeding" is a good resource for helping you wean. Slow and gradual is the best way replacing breastfeeding with things to eat and drink.

I didn't read a whole ton on weaning just a bit here and there but this is what I did and it worked and made sense to me. I started by giving him one of those Nuby ( I think that is what they are called, spell check though) sip cups. They have a soft nipple like sip top. My baby never took a bottle and he didn't quite know how to suck a hard plastic sip cup. These they can learn to suck but biting or chewing on the top will get it out for them as well. I would mix rice cereal with breast milk, then formula or then milk (my way of getting him onto ordinary milk) and make it warm for him. He loved it and I started replacing some feedings with that. Of course he was also eating baby food. I would say at 11 months I was probably down to 3-4 feedings a day with this approach. I continued to replace nursing meals with this approach and of course with all the other things they eat at this age. every few days I decreased the feedings. By about 11 1/2 months I was only feeding him morning and night, then just night then nothing at all. The day he turned 13 months is the day I stopped completely. I will have to say my little boy really like nursing at night before bed so It was a bit of a change but after one or two nights he was used to it. The Nuby sip cups really helped though and eventually he learned to suck them and then all sip cups were easy for him. One thing that helped me through all the stages of how to feed my baby/toddler was a small booklet I received from my doctor. Send me a message if your are interested in seeing it I have it scanned and can email it to you. My advice is to do what makes sense to you. Gradually moving my son to the breast with rice, formula and then milk (and then starting with it warm and by 14- 14/1/2 months he liked it straight out of the fridge cold)along with gradual decreased feedings worked great for me and I didn't ever get engorged or anything. I hope this helps!

C.,

I agree with many of the other comments, why wean so soon? I am a firm believer in child-lead weaning, they grow up so fast, I plan to do what I can to prolong these precious moments. (Besides the fact that there are soooo many benefits to breastfeeding longterm.) Did you know that the average length of time a child is breastfeed worldwide is 4.2 years? I suggest you spare yourself the agony and frustration of weaning your baby now, and let him decide when he is ready for weaning.
And for food, I suggest Ruth Yaron's Super Baby Food, there is so much helpful information for making (it is so easy, and cheap!) and feeding your baby homemade, super nutritious food.
H.
www.naturalchoices4baby.com

I am the mother of many nursed babes. I am glad that you have had such a wonderful time. Some mothers don't and just because you have a wonderful time with one (or many) doesn't mean you won't have a babe that has problems nursing. It can happen to the best of us and has to do with problems the babe brought with her or him. But back to your question. I have notices that babes tend to want more and more real food. I offer finger food during the day and let them play with what we are having for dinner while we eat(I try to plan for at least one thing - cooked carrots, beans, french bread (my kids loved the crusts). Then I let nature do it's thing. Some of my kids just suddenly stopped. Others cut a feeding here or there. One needed to nurse until she was 17 months old- she was a twin with health issues. I always figured that the babe knew more than I did so I didn't cling or push~ I just let it happen and we were all happy.

I nursed full time until my baby was about 10 1/2 months. I slowly cut one nursing session a week. I started with the ones during the middle of the day. The last one I cut out was the one right before bed. Does your little guy already take a bottle? You may just want to try a sippy cup or a straw/cup instead of going to the bottle. My little girl was so interested in trying something different that she saw us using all of the time that the transition went well. The hardest part was letting go of the "special time" of nursing. Georgia is now 1 year and her bottle at night is still a really special bonding time. I hope this helps.

If there is no real reason to do it right away, I would take it slow. One of the other moms suggested doing away with one feeding every 3-5 days, that way you have a chance to stop producing milk slowly and it is less uncomfortable for you. I think that before you start you need to decide if you are going to replace the nursing with a bottle of milk or a sippy cup. Since he is so old I would say take him to a cup and avoid the bottle. But just because you are not nursing him doesn't mean that you can't take the time to be with him as he is eating his meals and such. The biggest key is when you decide it it time to stop, stick with it and don't waver just because your son might throw a fit. The more nursing you do, the more milk you are going to produce, therefore no nursing means no more milk.

When I started weaning my boys, I started replacing some of their nursing times with drinks from a sippy cup. It took a while for them to get used to it, but it worked. Take the stopper out of the sippy cup, even though it will be messy, until they get the hang of drinking from it. Once my boys got used to regular, whole milk, weaning was done. My first son was easier because he had his pacifier still for a few more months. My second son didn't have any "lovies" other than me, so it was harder, but I just pretty much stopped nursing when he was still wanting it at almost age 2!!! I was done, so he was too. Just remain the one in charge of it. I always left the nursing times before naps and bedtime as the last ones to go. I hope this helps!

I read that you are planning to continue nursing for now (which is AWESOME) but that you are going on a trip this summer and leaving baby behind. So I am responding with this in mind.

First of all, begin the weaning process long before you plan on going, unless you want both of you to go cold turkey!
Cut out one nursing at a time. At his age, most of the nursing is probably more for comfort any way, especially if you are feeding him other foods as well (that's how it was with my baby). Midday nursings are probably the easiest to cut out, so start there. Bedtime is the hardest (that was our last to go).
If he is hungry, replace the nursing with some other food. If it is a comfort nursing, distract him with a toy or game. It will take a few days of consistancy for each nursing, so like I said, give yourself plenty of time before your trip.

And...when you return expect him to regress a bit (its normal). You'll have to decide then whether to allow one or two comfort nursings or not.

Good luck!

First try getting him to take breast milk out of a bottle or sippy cup, just a few times a day. Then transition him slowly to milk. There is no need to get him to go for a bottle if he is turning one and you don't want to form habits, but you need to alternate now with formula/milk/breast milk and get him used to taking different things from sippys or bottles now. I would take away one feeding a day for each week, so in a month you will be down to nursing once. Be careful as nursing at this age can be out of dependency, like a pacifier so be prepared for him to pitch a fit and maybe just feed him out of nutritional reasons and not before sleep so he gets that habit broke.
You will need to stay away from him once you choose a cut off day at mealtimes however, as you will still have milk and he will still be able to smell it, so be prepared with him resisting if you are the one giving him new things...hang in there.

When I weaned my daughter, she was younger, but the concept is the same. I used formula. You could probably use milk now that he is almost old enough. I would replace one nursing or feeding with a bottle, or in your case, possibly a sippy cup of milk. I did that every week. So it took a month or more since I only cut one feeding a week. So it would maybe take 5 weeks, since that is how much you are nursing. Usually the night time feeding is the last to go. Don't fret if that one lasts longer and is the only one he gets. It's normal.

For me the hardest part of weaning was the feedings at night. It sounds like you only nurse during the day. I would start giving him more solid foods and other things to drink so that nutritionally he doesn't need your milk anymore. When I decided to wean I did it really slow. I first got rid of the ones during the day. I would just knock off one feeding and wait until he adjusted to not having that one. I would then take the next one off. If he asked for it I would try and distract him with a toy or something to eat. Once we were down to nighttime feedings only I would do the same thing, one at a time. It went fairly smoothly. The hardest was the last couple of feedings. This slow way is easier, I think, on baby and mom because you slowly lose your milk supply and don't get horribly engorged. I started the weaning at about 14 months and quit at about 18 months. Hope this helps, good luck!

I have weaned all of my children starting at 11 months old. Check with your pediatrician, but according to mine, if your kids aren't showing signs of other allergies, you can start giving cow's milk at 11 months. I have with my kids and haven't had a problem. What I did is to start with dropping a midday feeding & replacing it with offering the baby a sippy of milk. Then I let my body and the baby adjust for a few days (at least 4-5 days) and then I drop another midday feeding, etc. I always dropped the morning & bedtime feeding last. It was a gradual process and went very smoothly both times for me and for my babies. It took them a minute to figure out how to drink from a sippy, but it eventually worked for both and then I didn't have to worry about weaning from a bottle later. Good luck!

None of my four sons had a bottle! I nursed all of them close to year or right at a year. When it was time to ween them I started by cutting out the snack times and then lunch time feedings and replaced them with a sippy cup. Morning feeding was next to go and the last feeding was bedtime. That was the hardest to go. I did it a week at a time to ease them into using a sippy and less of Mummy and it was also easier on my body to do it a bit slower. I did take a bit longer to ween the bedtime because it was sad to stop. It worked wonderfully for me and never had to us bottles, which was my goal.

Why should you stop nursing just because of a date? If you are still enjoying nursing, I would say keep on doing that.

But now that he is older you can introduce a lot of new foods that he'll enjoy. Of course, feed solids before nursing. A natural transition should occur as he comes to eat like big people. He'll stop nursing for nutrition and start doing it for comfort. Nursing will become more of a naptime/bedtime or got hurt kind of occurance.

Also, incorporate snuggling, rocking and reading a lot of books into the bedtime ritual as well. Then when it is time to stop, he'll have other things to comfort him and it won't be as hard a thing to lose.

We started by letting lunch be hit or miss so he was used to not always having it. Then we dropped lunch all together. A week later we dropped dinner. Dinner was a bit harder, so we did yogurt or milk with enough chocolate that it was a musty white for desert. Worked wonders. I waited 2 weeks since dinner had been harder and dropped breakfast. A week later I was going to drop bedtime, but I missed it. It took me a while to do it. I had a harder time than our son did. Our second son just kind of self weaned after I dropped the second feeding. If your son does that, it can be painful. Cabbage leaves worked wonders. Both somehow reduced milk production as well as relieved pain. GL

I mean this question practically, not critically - do you need to have him weaned by 1 year, or could you continue awhile longer? I found the transition easy with my daughter because I waited until we were down to 2 nursing sessions a day most days before I started to transition us out of nursing. We went from twice to once a day (she could request milk whenever she wanted, but only once a day). Then she gradually stopped asking more than once or twice a week. Then I finally said, "If you didn't need nummies yesterday, you don't really need them today either. If you're hungry or thirsty, let's go to the kitchen and see what we can find." I did try to add in extra cuddle time and let her know that giving up nursing did not mean giving up mommy time. The advantage to doing it this way was that it was very gradual and gentle and not traumatic. The disadvantage is that it takes time. Weaning her was a process that took several months.

If you need to be done by one year, other people's suggestions will probably be more useful than mine. I'm sure that whatever you decide to do, it will be the best possible solution for you and your little guy.

Hi C.!

Nursing is such a healthy thing for both of you ... physically & emotionally. Unless there is a medical reason, I'm wondering why he's not eating some "people" food? He really should be. Pancakes, bananas, cut up fruit, etc. This will help you (and him).

My three babies weaned themselves. The last two feeding times to go are usually morning and bedtime, with bedtime being the last. My suggestion is to not put your baby to your breast, let him come to you. He should be getting busier and busier during the day (and should be eating more and more solid foods) and will start eliminating those feedings himself. Leave a sippy cup within his reach ... I don't recommend breast milk because 1) it's a reminder to him and 2) you're body won't know to stop making milk for that feeding ... of juice (100% natural, no sugar) for him to go to. You can start introducing him to the sippy cup at meal times. If you allow the weaning to come naturally (letting him come to you), you will both be happy! One of my daughters was not fully weaned until fourteen months until she was ready to give up bedtime nursing.

Much love and blessings to you,
L.

First you will need to get him used to a sippy cup. I used the disposable sippy cups because they were easier for my baby. I put a combination of water and juice in the cup to get her used to it before she was ready for milk. On her first birthday I substituted a sippy cup of milk for the breastfeeding at dinner time. Then after 3 to 5 days I dropped another feeding for milk. It was a gradual process that took about 3 or 4 weeks. Be sure to drop the feedings gradually or you will have problems. Once you have him completely weened, try to express as little milk as possible so you can stop producing it.

Hi C.. I have a 9 month old, but I have survived baby stages with my 2 other boys! I remember with my first I was working, so I eventually cut out one, then two daytime feedings. So for quite a while I was just doing a morning feed and 2 evenings I believe. This definitely frees you up during the day too! Then for a while I just did morning wake up feed, and before bed feed. Eventually I just did one for a month-you pick. Then he was ready and I was ready to be done by aprox. 12months.
My boobs were perfectly fine with this too! Gradual is good!

Since he's already 11months, you could go slow, maybe one nursing feeding every 2 weeks and just do it a little longer than you planned. Otherwise you could take out two feedings at a time and be a little sore. I wouldn't recommend all at once! Too much pain involved!
Good luck!
J.
p.s. I already have eliminated one feeding with my 9 mo old.

I just realized I wrote a response before I read enough! I was going to support you continuing to nurse if you felt pulled in that direction at all and then I read that you had decided to continue! There truly are so many benefits for your baby when you nurse past one year. I think the American Academy of Pediatrics increased its recommendation for nursing to at least 2 years. It's very cool because your breast milk changes it's chemical properties as your baby grows so your baby continues to get just what he needs. Pretty amazing :-). It's so much better for your baby than water, juices or cow's milk at this age. Best wishes and good luck!

There is no reason that you HAVE to stop breastfeeding at 1 yr. The American Academy of Pediatrics (quoted on the La Leche League site) states, "Breastfeeding should be continued for at least the first year of life and beyond for as long as mutually desired by mother and child." * As solids are introduced, usually around the middle of the first year, your baby will shift his primary source of nutrition from your milk to other foods."

When you are ready to begin the transition, I would suggest eliminating one nursing time first. You can pick one that would be easier for your husband to offer a bottle/cup instead. Or, you can pick one that he seems to nurse less anyway, and expect him to nurse a bit more on the next one. You can begin teaching him to drink from a cup during this time, and really emphasize what a big boy he is becoming. Then, based on how things are going, continue to drop another feeding time.
The latest, before bedtime feeding can be the hardest to give up. You might consider dropping that one while you are still allowing him to nurse in the mornings. Be sure to replace that time with some other close/bonding time like rocking or reading. For some kids, it helps for Dad to take over at that time for a few days.

Keep in mind that you are only changing HOW you provide nutrition, physical closeness, comfort, etc. Don't start the process when he is sick, while traveling, or some other higher stress time for him. (Though I do know someone who weaned by taking a 4-day trip with friends and leaving Daddy in charge; and when Mom came back she just told the child there wasn't any more milk in there. They got rid of bottles and pacifiers the same abrupt way - threw them all in the trash because he was a big boy now, and that was it. That would not work for us, but it worked for them.) When you are confident and comfortable with weaning, then your child will sense that, and be more likely to adjust more easily. If you are not sure he (or you) is ready, he is likely to sense the tension or anxiety and be more upset. Throughout this time, be sure to provide physical touch/closeness, security, and comfort in other ways and/or at other times of the day.

Two other miscellaneous thoughts:
1- If you have not done any pumping, you might consider pumping around that time instead so that you have a dozen or so bottles in the freezer. If he gets sick after you are down to one nursing or less, you will be able to give him breastmilk without reversing the progress you've made toward weaning.
2- It is possible that he will decide before you that he doesn't really need to nurse. A good friend shared the emotional dilemma of realizing that her 9 month old did not WANT to nurse any more. Of course, she soon realized that whether he needed or wanted her milk had nothing to do with the fact that he still needed HER. (Just thought it might be good to know that it happens that way sometimes.)

Little bit about me:
I have five children, 4 girls, one boy, in that order too. :)
I nursed all of them for a year and then gradually weaned them by using some great advise from my pediatrician.

She said to choose the easiest time first, so say it's morning since the baby will probably be having some kind of breakfast. For one week, eliminate this nursing time. Then the next week, choose the next easiest time to eliminate, and continue with each nursing time over a week span for each time. This may take a month or so to do, but it was easy on me and for the most part easy on my baby. Sometimes the baby would still want to nurse a little at night, as a comfort, but I decided not to stress about it and just took it gradual. Good luck.

enjoy it! This is your time with him - it won't last forever.

I say keep on nursing! However, your little guy is old enough that you can cut back or set limits and he can understand. For example, I found it was very easy to cut back by limiting nursing to naptime, bedtime and first thing in the morning. By nursing them I got my boys to sleep easily and was assured they would take a nap. When I cut out middle of the night nursing, I told my sons that they could nurse when the sun came up. I nursed my three boys, 2.5, 3 and 3.5 years respectively and it all went well. In the end, weaning was a gradual and natural process.
Good luck.
S. K.

C.,

I cannot believe that you only feed him baby food and rice cereal.you should start giving him a sippy cup with juice and real food. he will wean himself once he realizes that food and other juice and milk are great his taste buds will change. He will still want mommy but you have to say no and stick with it:)

Dear C.,

I've read the responses above and hope that you will consider breastfeeding longer. I'm not sure why you have picked one year as your target..perhaps someone told you babies shouldn't breastfeed longer than that? The World Health Organization recommends breastfeeding (for the health of the mother and baby) exclusively for six months, and, with complementary food, for up to two years, and beyond. There are excellent resources on line (www.breastfeeding.com, for example - just google breastfeeding and you'll find them..).

From six until twelve months, you should always offer breastmilk first, followed by whatever complementary food (food from your table and mashed or cut into tiny pieces depending on your babies teeth/gumming abilities at various ages). After one year, you can reverse this - start with solid food, then top it off with breastmilk. Even when your baby is drinking cow's milk, you can and should continue breastfeeding - they are two entirely different foods. No other food has the immunizing factor or comfort that breastfeeding offers!

Babies can have any food after 12 months - as long as they have been introduced gradually and it is in a form that is easily chewed or mashed by their gums. If you haven't give your child much normal food, try one food at a time until you are sure there are no allergies.

I hope you are not under pressure by neighbors and family to stop breastfeeding. I was amazed by the comments I got from people who felt they had to advise me to stop breastfeeding! I told a doctor that I was breastfeeding my 8 months old baby and he was astonished - "Are you from Belgium?," he asked me -I guess he figured that only strange foreign women would consider breastfeeding more than six months!

All three of my children stopped when they were ready - one at about one year, the other two at around three years. Of course the babies didn't breastfeed very often after the second year..sometimes it was just once a day - I left it up to them. I had to travel overseas with my job and often left them home for up to two weeks with my husband after the first year - I still had breastmilk when I got home since it had been so well established.

I also want to put my two cents in for the sippy cup and NO BOTTLES. At 1 year, a baby can handle its own cup and you never have to have bottles and nipples around the house - dangerous and horrible things in my opinion. I can never understand why parents go from breast to bottle - I never had a bottle in my house and the kids all learned very early how to drink by themselves.

Hope this is helpful. I've been a nutritionist and breastfeeding adviser for 25 years, but the proof is in my beautiful children (baby is now 11 years old!)

I'm a huge advocate of breastfeeding and want to say that it's awesome that you wanted and were able to do so for your baby. I nursed my son for 16 months and my daughter for two years. I believe in letting your child wean themselves; although personal circumstances did require me to wean my daughter when she was 2. Everything I've read says that giving your baby regular dairy before 12 months may cause food allergies or dairy intolerence. I don't remember feeding my kids much of anything except some rice cereal in fact until after they were 12 months.

So, if I were you, I'd wait till you hit the 12 month mark and then think about weaning. The hardest feedings to give up for me and my babies were the last ones of the evening and the first morning ones. When you decide to give those up, solicit your husband's help. Have him put your son down and get him up in the morning. Once he's happily eating some breakfast, then you can make your first contact with him. I also agree with slowly cutting out the feedings during the day.

Why stop now???? I nursed my kiddos past a year and it was a really amzing experience. I never thought I would be 'one of those mothers', but I totally was.

Look into the benefits, both health and emotionally, of long term nursing. You may be surprised. There are still lots of health benefits to your baby (and you) when you continue nursing.

If you do decide to wean, it is a process. Start by offering a drink or snack when your baby would nurse. It may take several months until you are able to completely stop. And you may find that you or your baby really miss nursing and you continue.

Good luck to you.

Do you pump breast milk?. You could give him a bottle every other feed with bottled breast milk. As he is 11 months old and eating other food he should not need you to breast feed 5 - 6 times a day.
It sounds like you are both looking for comfort from each other. He needs to start eating more solid food and taking a bottle try it hope it works.

If your son is still nursing that much, why do you want to stop nursing?

Studies show the longer a child is nursed the less their chance of ever developing a whole range of diseases including (but not limited to):

obesity and weight problems
diabetes
heart disease
teeth and mouth problems (nursing helps the soft palate form in the proper shape)

You're also giving your child invaluable immune support. Your milk is just about the biggest gift you can give your child.

And GOOD FOR YOU!!! For nursing this long!!!

Blessings,

M.

I actually nursed my little boy until he was nearly two. I usually fed him his "meal" first and finished with nursing him. As I added more substantial things such as heavier grains and table foods to his diet that stuck with him longer he naturally nursed less and less. By 14-15 months he was actually only nursing once before bedtime. At about 21-22 months he seemed to lose interest and I just stopped. He never seemed to miss it at that point. I am not a great expert on knowing whether or not this work with every child but it worked great for us.

Hello C., Child-led weaning can be awesome and joyful for both of you! Your son will know when he no longer needs your powerfully protective breastmilk and the important snuggle time that comes with it. Nursing past the first 12mos. has numerous benefits! Mothering.com is a great site for information on this subject.

Trust yourself and your son. ~T.

Why are you so sure you need to wean? It sounds like he still relies on you a lot for nourishment and comfort and that you are still happy in this relationship. We always feel pressure to wean, but really - what's wrong with nursing longer if baby and mom are happy. In fact, many studies show that it only strengthens baby and mom both physically and emotionally.
If that's not true (there are legitimate reasons to wean whenever you or your baby feel like its time), then I recommend simply cutting back on one feeding a day for a week or two, and gradually continue in this manner. I know this is successful for a number of moms - in my case, however, not so much! My kids were avid nursers and I really had to give them a chance to grow a little older and decide that they were ready too.

I would give him food more often and try to cut back on your feedings. Good luck!

Hi C. - when I started wanting to wean my son, I had no idea how. I bought a book that I thought would help--no help at all. So I came up with my own idea! When I sat down to nurse him I set a timer (otherwise I totally lost track of time). This was 8 years ago so the details are a little fuzzy! I think we started out at 15 minutes of nursing for 2 days; then to 10 minutes for 2 days; 7 minutes for 2 days; 5 minutes, etc. down to nothing. He was a little over a year by the time I figured out how to do it and he handled it like a champ - and he was BIG on nursing. The problem I had had with him was that he never took a bottle so he just loved the nursing part of our relationship! The difficult part for just a little while was when he would sit on my lap to read books at night - he would want to nurse...so, once weaned, you may want to have your son sit next to you in the chair/couch and read with you rather than on your lap - just for a little while. However, with my daughter...she took a bottle, I made sure of that! I planned to nurse her between 9-12 months but when she was about 9 mos. she got a pretty good cold and could not nurse well at all. So at that point I switched her completely to bottles and she did fine - when it came time to stop the bottles when she was older, i just cut the tips off the nipples and she easily transitioned when she couldn't 'suck' from them. Hopefully this helps! Good luck!

Hello C. -

Big congrats to you on meeting your goal! I had the same goal of 13mths with both of my kids. I would advise keeping it as a general goal. I think babies that nurse past 6mths get pretty attached to the comfort, etc. So it may be difficult to cut it off cold turkey.

Here is what I did... I started out by giving a sippy cup of breastmilk during the day/meals. At 12mths I started to mix in whole milk with breastmilk in a sippy cup until I ran out of pumped. I avoided breastfeeding during the day. Sometimes I would at naptime... by 12 - 13mths I got it down to morning, occasional nap and bedtime. I wasn't in a huge rush - - just happy to not have to pump anymore. It stayed like that until around 15mths where I switched to bedtime only. Bedtime was done by around 17mths - replaced with extra snuggling/rocking.

I obviously went the slow route... but I think going cold turkey is tough with something that is so near and dear to your child. After we were done - it was no fuss and no relapses.

If you think about it - - many people who bottle feed go to at least 15mths - if not 18mths with a bottle - - so it makes sense to go that long with the breast. I chose to avoid going from breastfeeding to bottle. It took longer that way - but I am happy with the results and the happiness of my children.

Enjoy your time with your baby!