Working Mom Seeking Advice on Weaning One Year Old

I am nursing my 20-month old, only twice per day, naptime and bedtime. I think as long as you do it gradually you will be fine. Drop one pumping session one week, drop another the next week, until you have dropped all pumping and are only nursing twice per day. kellymom.com has a lot of information on breastfeeding.

Hi R.,

I am in the same boat as you - my daughter is almost 15 months now and when she turned one, I stopped pumping as often during the day at work. I think I cut down to once a day for the first month and then it turned to once or twice a week and now I just pump if I get uncomfortable. She nurses in the morning and when I get home, at night and as she pleases on the weekends. As long as she is getting the equivalent of 2 bottles a day through nursing - and I am sure she is with the nursing she does - then she is safe to drink water during the day and with meals. I was worried my supply would run out but it seems to be fine. So I think you will do fine too!
Good luck!
A.

Hi R.,

I too work full time and breastfed my daughter till she was a little over a year. She was never given anything but breast milk. What I started doing a few weeks before I was going to stop 100% I had our nanny mix 3 oz of breast milk with 2 oz of cow milk. Than every few days as she got better at it we increased the amount of cows milk. At the same time I gave up one pumping I did at work, I usually pumped twice. Than about 3 days later I gave up the second pump time at work. I would only bf morning and night. After a few days of her doing great on the cow milk during the day with the nanny I gave up the morning feeding and eventually the night. The only tricky thing is what you do during the week you have to do on the weekend because it confuses them. So if you start with the cows milk during the week do the same on the weekend with the bottle. Soon she will not even remember your breast. My daughter now 20 months doesn't even remember that I fed her with my breast.
It is easy but sad transition. It took my a few weeks to let go the night feeding.

Hi R.,

I'm not sure if you would have enough milk for the weekend but I weaned my son from day-time feedings at 6 months and had plenty of milk to give him for 3-4 feedings at night. I fully weaned him sooner then you did but I probably could have went a lot longer. I would elminate one feeding at a time probably one per week because it hurts A LOT if you went cold turkey. My sister didn't wean her daughter until 18 months and would nurse her in the am, bedtime and once during the night. I also would give your daughter 1 oz with your milk at a time for cow's milk when transitioning. My pediatrician recommends about 4-5 days. I know some people do every 3. I would call Bellevue womens hospital they have lactation consultants for free. They like to take your name and you have to leave a message but they are really good at getting back to you in a timely manner. Also they have monthly La leche league meetings. I don't have any experience of a child weaning themselves sorry...
M.

Hi R., I have 5 and my youngest is 26 but I do remember that your body will adjust to baby's needs. I think you can continue to nurse your little girl mornings and evenings and weekends too. If your milk starts to dwindle it will be a very natural way to wean her. Enjoy her, the time goes so fast. Grandma Mary

Pumping definitely regulates your production of milk. Call a la leche league near you for options. (Lalecheleague.org)

Good for you to work ft and breastfeed for a year!

Hi R. - What I did to transition my now 4 year old son is to start topping off each bottle of breastmilk with whole milk during the week. Gradually my supply went down while I was pumping and the bottles were filled more and more with whole milk until finally they were all whole milk. I continued to nurse him on the weekends until he gradually gave it up (I don't recall exactly when, but I think it was pretty fast that he lost interest in nursing during the day) and I also nursed him every morning and evening until he was 2.5 years old.

I wanted him to wean himself, but it seemed like that was never going to happen and we were not able to conceive another child until the first was weaned so on his 2.5 birthday we had a party and said no more "ba-ba" after today and he was fine with it.

SO, to answer your question, your supply will adjust and should continue as long as you want it to. I'd say it took about 2 months for my supply during the week to gradually reduce to almost nothing for pumping and I think at a year, he was only nursing 1 - 2 times during the day on the weekend (not including the morning and evening sessions).

Good luck and congrats for nursing for this long!

I basically did what you want to do with my first child, but very quickly her weekend nursing became just at the extremes of the day just like the weekdays. I am trying to figure out what to do in my new situation because this time I have one year old twins. I am still pumping once at work (compared to three times, it already feels like a vacation!) but, of course, I would love to stop altogether. Like you, and doubly so because of having two kids to nurse, I am afraid to decrease my supply by not pumping at all. My son will not put a cup to his lips right now and I hate the idea of weaning a one year old to a bottle AND he will clearly request to nurse during the day when Mommy's home (which my oldest child wasn't big on). Both my twins-especially my daughter - are on the small side, so there is another reason I don't want to take any chances on eliminating this source of nutrition too soon. It is hard. I would say that if I were you, I wouldn't stop pumping altogether unless your daughter really likes cow's milk- and preferably drinks it out of a cup- and you know that she could get enough liquid during the day that way. Once you know that nursing is simply a supplementary liquid for her and not a primary one, then if is probably safe to take the chance on decreasing your supply by not pumping all day at work.

When my daughter was one I stopped pumping at work during the day and continued the am/pm nursing sessions and transitioned her to cows milk at dayccare during the day. I don't know how often you pump at work during the week, but I was only able to do it at lunch so I was only getting about 4 oz total by a years time and it was getting a bit stressful to never have a mid day break. Maybe for the first week I experienced fullness after not pumping, but I then either nursed as soon as I picked her up at daycare pumped when we got home but gradually stopped that as well. I had no issues with supply on the wkends doing this. Your body is pretty amazing and kinda self regulates on this. I also began to try to wean a bit on the weekends by doing more things with her so we got down to just am/pm and to go down for nap and that was it. Self weaning all depends on how attached she is because I thought my daughter would not want to nurse as she got bigger, but she was still doing nightime feedings only at 22 months when I had to wean her as my back was killing me from this second pregnancy and I had had enough. Hope this info helps you.