Wean a 13 Month Old Girl

Is she in her own room? You will need to sleep train her and might want to read about sleeping through the night. You can still continue to breast feed during the day, but she needs to learn how to self soothe and put herself back to sleep at night.

Why stop? You can still continue to breastfeed if you want. You daughter will still be receiving all the benefits of you breastmilk but if you are ready try having daddy help comfort her back to sleep in the middle of the night. A pacifier works for some babies but I always resorted to a lot of pacing the living room and crying right along with them. I have never been able to wein my babies when I wanted to I've always had to stop due to another pregnancy.

Good Luck

I just read a book from the library called The Nursing Mother's Guide to Weaning by Kathleen Huggins, which I liked.

My daughter turned 16 months old today and I stopped nursing last Saturday. She would nurse before bed and during the night. All I've done is tell her, "'nana' is all gone" and "there's no more" which she understood and for the most part it's been easy. At 13 months old your daughter should understand these words, too, or some form of it. There have been a couple nights where she's gotten upset and really wanted the comfort, but after a minute or so she calmed down and went back to sleep. I've been able to do this even with her sleeping with us. She starts off in her bed, but ends up in ours. I should also point out that she's working on a hard tooth that should break through any day.

I have to admit I'm missing it and I still have quite a bit of milk in one breast. I'm tempted to start up again, but then she's sleeping better (she would some times eat at 3, 5 & 7am). The main reason I've stopped, though, is that I want to get pregnant again and have been trying since September so I'm hoping by weaning her we'll get #2 on the way.

Merry Christmas!

I just successfully weaned my 16 month old. I told him "boobie Milk" goes "night night", there was some whining and fussing at first but make sure you have something else to distract her with, whether it is a song or a book or a little toy or just cuddles. I would let my son play with my nipples for some reassurance but no sucking. You can also have a sippy cup of milk ready to quench any hunger. It takes some time, I worked on it gradually cutting one feeding at a time so it took a few month but the adjustment went well. He still will ask sometimes but I remind him that milk went "nigh nigh" and now when he sees my breasts he waves "nigh nigh" to them- pretty cute
Well good luck and be patient yet firm

What worked for me was to bring my son to my bed (where I used to do the night time feeding) and just lie with him until he fell asleep. There were a few nights that it was easy, and others where it was clear to me he wanted to nurse. You just have to remain strong and remind yourself that your daughter isn't hungry, so she is just looking to feel comforted. So, just hug her and lie down next to her. Eventually, you can transition to putting her to her own crib. For now, just work on ending the feeding. She should adjust really quickly. Your milk supply will!

Best wishes to you!

Congratulations for making it past 1 year of breastfeeding!!! Wooo Hooo. Please ignore posts that make you feel bad for not going to two years. There are a lot of women who use formula from birth, but I am sooo impressed you made it to 13 months. I am currently breastfeeding and working and pumping, and it is a lot of work--let me tell you I think you have done a great job. I hope I can make it past a year too!! Some women have other things to do in their lives than produce milk for children-- like make money for college, get enough sleep to be a good parent, raise other children, volunteer, continue their education, research children's activities etc. etc. There are a lot more ways to be a good mother than simply provide milk. Geez.

Just curious why you think it's time to stop. In most other countries, up to 2 yrs is the average, so...no need to rush if you don't really need to.

You can keep on nursing to 2 years if you wanted to. I miss nursing so much sometimes. I wish I had gone longer. I nursed my twins until 11 months. Oh I was so heart broken when they stopped. If you really do want to stop, give her something else, milk in a cup and let her lay with you. I didn't have to wean my girls, they did that themselves.

If you feel there is a need to stop, stop. It's that simple. Offer her something else at that time or have someone else take care of the night time feeding. I swiched to a bottle with milk and it went well. Then the milk was thinned with water over time to get her off the bottle to help her get to sleep.

Do what feels right to you.
Stephanie

why do you think it's time to stop? Maybe consider weaning at 18 months to 2 years when she can understand better that your milk is going away. At 13 months separation anxiety is still high (until about 18 months). She may get more needy, clingy, etc, if you stop now. Breast milk is so much better for her than cow's milk. She is still getting antibodies until you stop. During winter you may want her to keep getting them from you to protect her.