Advice to Wean

Gosh, that's great! If you can b'feed 1 yr your child really does benefit, and if you can do it for one more year even better! Have you considered keeping it up and pumping for just one more year? The constipation factor is really hard esp. as the b'milk helps so much in that area having natural laxatives.
It may seem a bit difficult, but I'll tell you from experience WELL WORTH IT! I have 5 kids and tried to b'feed them all for 2 yrs. Very much worth it.

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The language you use when talking about your daughter is interesting: stubborn, broken down. Sounds like the cup was a source of struggle.

It's OK for her to express her needs and preference for how she gets fluids. She's still little.

A wise, older woman said in a meeting I attended this weekend, "It's interesting that in our culture we turn two enjoyable things in life (sleeping and eating) into battles."

She's telling you what she needs.

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Just wanted to encourage you that it doesn't have to be all or nothing. You could stop pumping during away times, and keep nursing when you are there. Of course your milk supply will adjust to the amount that you regularly give her, so you'll just have to suplement then. In other words, you could still nurse morning and night, but then bottles the rest of the day.

Why do you have to wean? She will gradually decrease the amount she nurses as she grows, aned in most cultures babies nurse until age 2 or older. Try some pumped milk in a straw cup during the day. Incorporate the rest into her food. She will be fine.

I thought I would never wean my son, he refused to take a bottle and wasn't into the sippy cup. I finally stopped nursing him at 15 months because I was pregnant again. He surprisingly did just fine. Looking back, I'm thinking it was more about me than him at that point. He never once asked me to nurse again. After we stopped he went a good 3 months without even a sip of milk. I was able to get him to drink orange juice and water, but not much. Eventually it did get better and he survived. He has always been good about eating fruit and vegetables, I actually call him my little vegetarian, so no constipation problems. Try and get her to eat fruits and vegetables that have a lot of water in them. I guess my best advice is that usually things change soon enough and before you know it she will be drinking something. Cheese and yogurt have plenty of calcium, hope she likes those and that this was somewhat helpful.

If your daughter is eating cheese, yogurt, ice cream, and other dairy products she will be fine without ever drinking milk. There are even lots of veggies that are loaded with calcium you can find lists of them all over the internet. If your daughter will only drink water than so be it let her drink water. 2 out of 3 of my children do not drink milk. I exclusively breast fed and once they were weaned refused to drink any kind of milk with any kind of flavoring in it. When I talked to my ped about it I was told that as long as they were getting calcium from different sources than there was no need to worry.

As for weaning you just have to do what works best for you. Start changing her bed time routine and cut out the night time feeding. Give her water and read her a book, sing a song, and then put her into bed. Have your husband start putting her to bed if that is easier.

Good luck!
J.

Try Chocalate milk...that is what got my kids to drink milk! And as far as juice I know it is kinda silly but they make these cute little sport bottles with juice in them already in the juice section or baby section can't remember now that has the juice already in them. That was the only juice my kids at the time would take. I did everything I could think of and my kids where not water babies at all so I was kind of stuck...Good Luck

T.:

I am in the exact same boat with my son who is turning 1 in 2 days. I am going to anxiously watch for replies to your post since I to am desperate for help on this matter.

It might be silly, but I am nervous about going to his 1 yr Dr. appointment. I feel like I am about to go to class without having adequately studied!

H.

Is it necessary to wean her now? Why do you feel the need to wean her? Hopefully not because it's around the 1 year mark. Truthfully there is no cut off. It sounds like your daughter simply isn't ready to wean, so why fight her on it, especially if you are worried about her fluid intake already? My advice is to really think about your driving factors for weaning and see if they are really worth the fight.