5 answers

Help!! I Need to Wean Him Now!

I am posting again since nothing has worked. My 10-month old son does NOT want to wean. I have tried bottles, sippy cups, regular cups, Daddy giving the milk, different times of day and any combination of the aforementioned. It is always with breastmilk too, not formula (so I can't blame it on the taste). Nothing seems to work. I need to wean him as soon as possible as I am taking a trip in a month or so. HELP!

What can I do next?

More Answers

This is kind of drastic, but it might do the trick... Have you tried taking birth control pills? If you do, your milk supply will start to diminish and your little guy will realize that he's not getting as much milk as he wants.... I know this is the reason my milk supply didn't hold out as long as I had hoped...

Do you mean that you want him to learn to drink breastmilk from a bottle??? If so, try soaking various types of nipples in breastmilk in the fridge overnight so that they smell and taste good. Then, leave the house when your son is hungry and have your husband experiment with all of the different nipples. My son has one particular type of nipple that he likes and hates the rest. The type of bottle doesn't matter to him at all, it's only the nipple.

If you meant that you are trying to stop breastfeeding, maybe you could freeze milk for use during your trip? We're weaning, but it's a very gradual process that has taken much longer than a month.

Whatever happens, I hope it works out well for you and your family.

When I eaned we did it slowly so it was not an all or nothing deal. So if he is eating 5 times a day then start with one bottle and then few days later move to two bottles and then three and so on. I always gave the bottle when he / she was most hungry - e.g. first feeding in the morning. If they are hungry enough they are going to eat. Be patient. It may take a few minutes but don't give in. If you do then he will learn that if he fusses enough he will get the breast. It sounds drastic but we had a day or two of fussiness and then it passed. I also tried the following. First feeding in the morning, he was fussy with the bottle, I gave him his pacifier for a few moments pulled the pacifier and then inserted the bottle. He continued sucking but this time on the bottle. I would also suggest warming the bottles if you have not tried this yet. Warm not hot. It may make for a more smooth transition. Stay strong. Best of luck!

Any chance you can just cut him back to 2-3 feedings (morning, sometime during the day, and before bed) per day? At that point I found that traveling away from my son wasn't a big deal at ALL. I'd just pump and dump and since you're dumping the milk you don't even need to clean out the pump parts really, so it's really fast. Plus when you're nursing that infrequently your body doesn't really care when you pump, so long as you get a few pumps in each day. So you can make it flexible for your schedule.

Just a thought, anyway....

I don't know how long your trip is for, but there is not need to wean, if you don't want to. Just pump and dump to keep your supply up while you are gone and then he may return to nursing after your trip. With you gone, he may take a bottle or sippy cup easier.

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