How to Start Weening

I.,

The daycare worker that assists my daughter said that if you start her off with 1% milk and gradually take away the breast milk, this should make the process easier.

Each child is different... but it may work!

I would first stop your pumping sessions when you are away from the baby, maybe one at a time. If she's already drinking from the cup--great! I think it's okay to start cow's milk a few weeks before their first birthday. I weaned my son at 13 months and I was working too, so he was only nursing at night and in the morning. However, he loved the cup (I used the Gerber soft sipper) so it wasn't hard to stop the morning nursing. Going to bed was another story. I started reading him books before the last nursing and then would lay him down awake since he used to fall asleep nursing. Then I started giving him a cup of water while we read books, eliminating that last session. I guess water before bed is encouraged more than milk due to tooth decay. I nursed him only twice per day for many weeks, then went to one side at night, one side in the morning. My milk naturally slowed down enough to stop without problems. However, I do still have some milk in there if I sqeeze and it has been 10 months. I guess it takes a while for some people. Hope this helps.

HI I HAVE TWO TODDLERS NOW AND I NURSED THEM FOR ABOUT 5 MONTHS BUT WITH MY DAUGHTER SHE START EATING BABY FOOD AND DIDN'T REALLY WANT ALOT OF MILK BUT SHE STILL TOOK IT BUT IT WAS EASY WEEDING HER OFF I PUT HALF AND HALF LIKE IF SHE DRINKS 12 OUNCES GIVE HER 6 AND 6 6 BREASTMILK AND 6 2% MILK I STARTED HER ON HOLE MILK AT 11 MONTHS SO SHE COULD GET USE TO IT EARIER AND MY SON IS JUST 11 MONTHS AND I HAVE HAD HIM ON HOLE MILK FOR ABOUT 3 MONTHS B/C HE WOULDNT DRINK FORMULA AND IF HE DID HE WOULD GET HUNGRY IN THE NEXT 30 MINS SO I HAD TO DO IT BUT IF U STOP PUMPIN AND FEEDING HER FROM YOUR BREAST IT WOULD SLOW UP AND START NOT COMING IN THE SECRET IS TO STOP BREAST FEEDING HER SO STOP NURSING HER BUT YOUR BREAST ARE GOING TO HURT SO PUMP A LITTLE AT A TIME LIKE 12OUNCES THEM LET THEM FILL UP THEM PUMP IN A COUPLE OF HOURS THE LESS U DO IT THE LESS MILK COMES IN BUT GOOD LUCK WITH EVERYTHING

HI I.,
I WAS A TEACHER IN DAYCARE FOR 6 YEARS AND WE WEENED MANY OF BABYS MY ADVICE TO YOU IS TO SLOWLY START TAKING AWAY DAYTIME FEEDINGS AND JUST DO IT AT NIGHT THEN AFTER THAT START SLOWLEY WEENING FROM NIGHT TIME FEEDINGS AND START A NEW ROUTINE LIKE GIVE A BATH AND READ TO YOUR CHILD AFTER YOU LAY THEM DOWN CONTINUE W/ THE SAME ROUTINE AND IT WILL WORK THAT IS WHY IT IS HARD TO WEEN B/C ITS ROUTINE FOR THE CHILD AND THEY KNOW WHAT TO EXPECT SO START A DIFFERENT ROUTINE WITH HER AND KEEP IT AND SHE WILL BE WEENED IN NO TIME I PROMISE. GOOD LUCK OKAY.

Definately, like some have already said, start weening slowly. It's a process. Don't express any extra milk. The more you stimulate the breasts, the more milk you make. Start by cutting out one pumping session and one nursing session at a time. Then cut out another. I'd cut out more pumping than nursing right now, just because the nursing is a little harder for your daughter to accept than the pumping. Try to just distract her every time she asks to nurse, and only nurse when she really, really insists. Most babies at this age can be easily distratced. It's no longer something they need, instead it can very easily become something they want out of boredom.
You could honestly cut out the pumping altogether. I'd start introducing her to whole milk in the cup instead. She's eating table foods, and so the breast milk isn't a necessity anymore. Not nutritionally, at least (don't get me wrong, it's still JUST AS BENEFICIAL as before, she's just getting everything from other places now as well).
Make sure you really want to ween. Be sure that you are both ready for it. If you are just super ready to quit, then ween, but if not, don't worry about weening right now. You can cut back, but only stop if you are 100% ready to. And is she ready to stop? Ask yourself if it would be beneficial to her to keep nursing, at least once a day. Just don't stop because you feel like 12 months is a cut off date and it's wrong to go any longer. Some moms feel lots of pressure from friends and family to stop at 12 months, and feel really sad when they do. So, just make sure it's what YOU and your daughter want, no one else!

Hi I.,

Start weening now. Start her off at home by switching breast milk with whole milk. Give her a little first to see how she reacts and slowly increase the amount of whole milk and decrease the amount of breast milk. As for the breast milk stopping. I just stop pumping and it dryed up on its own. But I only breast feed for 3 mos. You may want to consult your doctor since you been breast feeding alot longer. As for table food if she is eating well increase the amount and stop the baby food all together. You little baby is becoming a toddler. Good Luck and Happy Holidays.

Hi....

My son is a year old but he was on formula, however I had to ween him of that. What I did starting at 11mos was do part formula/part whole milk till eventually It was just whole milk. He took to it pretty quickly. If she's drinking from a cup that's great, just start putting her milk in the cup. Again, making the transition would be easier if you started out giving part breastmilk w/ part whole milk. My son eat's pretty much anything we eat. For breakfast he has cream of wheat or mini waffles, muffins, banana, yogurt, lunch I will give him turkey and cheese, grilled cheese, pasta, etc. Dinner he eats whatever we eat. He's been on table food since 8 mos. He eats lots of steamed veggies and lots of fruit. Sorry can't help you with the breast milk part, I only breastfed for 2 weeks, and when I stopped I just dried right up! Anyway, good luck to you. Kim

i had the exact same problem. My son loved to breastfeed. He did not take a bottle either. I started to wean him at 13 months. I would put the breastmilk in a cup and then add some whole milk little by little. I would feed him any kind of table food that i could get down him. As far as your breast getting full. I started eliminating one breastfeeding at a time, slowly your milk production will go down. Then it hopefully be so painful. The night time breastfeeding was the hardest for my son to give up. I had my husband start putting him to bed by giving him a cup of breastmilk rather than me feeding him, then he eventually didnt want the cup anymore before bed and forgot all about breastfeeding. It wasn't easy for me or him to give up breastfeeding so if you try and dont exceed at first dont worry about it. You will work it out. Hope this helps some. If you have anymore questions, you can email me directly at ____@____.com

Hi I.,

When I weened my older son, he wouldn't take a bottle at all. I kept experimenting until I found something he liked. He decided on a Rubbermaid juicebox. I got it at Wal-Mart, but they have them in the grocery store, too. I liked them because they didn't drip easily. As for breastmilk drying up, everyone is different. It took forever for mine to dry up -- like a couple of years. The doctor said there was nothing they could do. Just be patient. It will stop. Cold compresses and expressing just a little milk to relieve the pressure can help. Good luck!!

I weened both mine at 11 months. I started by slowly doing it. I would nurse only first thing in the moring and at night. Also I was still doing breast milk in the bottle. I would start the 1st week with 7 oz. of breast milk, and 1 oz. of whole milk, then the next week do 6oz. of B. milkl and 2oz. of whole milk, and so on. Good luck. I would try to wween all at once(as you will be swollen like there not tomm.)

Hey- I dont have much advice. My daughter is also 11 months old and we are still nursing. My family is bugging me to ween her, but I am just not sure what to do. I am debating between weening her and letting her ween herself. However we have cut back on nursing, and this is how I did that, I will also tell you what she eats to help you with what to give your little one..........

.....She drinks whole milk in a cup- she also would not use a bottle. she is also eating table food. What I do is- she wakes up and gets baby oatmeal (made with whole milk) and a either fruit or yogurt with a cup of whole milk (about 3-4oz- she REALLY enjoys drinking her milk with a straw) USUALLY this keeps her happy until lunch time (11:45). I just try to keep her busy until lunch so she doesnt want to nurse, either playing inside or going outside to play really helps. Then she eats lunch- regular food like pasta (I over cook the pasta so it is mushy), a veggie and a fruit along with some meat - the gerber meat sticks are good because they are VERY easy to chew). After lunch she does nurse because it's nap time, and nursing is the only way to get her to sleep :) and by this time she is really ready to nurse and gets VERY happy when she sees the boppy pillow! LOL! She usually only nurses for about 20 min. though. After her nap she gets a healthy snack, cottage cheese with fruit, and some dry cheerios or gerber fruit puffs with a cup of whole milk(around 3pm) then she is good to go until dinner at 6pm. For dinner she gets Infant rice cereal made with whole milk (she still really likes the gerber oatmeal and rice, so she still gets it for the recommended two feeings a day, though its not needed), and a little bit of whatever we are eating for dinner. She nurses again at 7:30ish to go to bed.

So we are down to 2 or 3 nursings a day. I just feed her real food every three hours (breakfast at 8:30am, lunch at 11:45, snack around 3, then dinner at 6.) that really seems to help her with not needing to nurse.

As for you making less milk, your milk supply will go down the less often you feed your baby. Mine did it very gradually so I never had any problems with engorgment.

Oh- some other food my daughter likes is- most fruit (pears, bananas, apples, peaches, avacados, honey dew....) -I dice the harder fruit and boil it briefly to make it soft, some veggies (carrots, peas, green beans, corn, potatoes, sweet potatoes...), I do the same thing with the veggies, meat- (chicken, pork, burger, turkey)- she really likes the gerber sticks, but she will eat small peices of the real thing to. Yo-baby yogurt, cottage cheese, Tofu, pancakes, waffles, bread, pasta, frozen ravioli, rice, nutra grain bars (I get the gerber ones)........ pretty much anything I eat..

I hope I helped a little!

Dear I.,
I too was a nursing mother. I began weaning him at 11 months, from breast milk to whole milk. He too would not suck from a bottle, so I used a cup. Start slowly at first if you decide to start weaning. Here's what I did and it worked for me...I would nurse for the "normal" time in the morning and just before bed, and at his other feedings he would get milk from a cup. The next week, I cut back his morning feeding to about 1/2 the time he would normally nurse and then give milk...and so on, cutting back the length of time each week until by his 1st b-day, he was solely on whole milk. Your breasts will only produce enough milk to be used, so as you use less, you produce less. Sometimes this may take a while for your body to adjust, and you may feel some pain from engorgement. If that happens, (which it did w/ me) I suggest pumping for just long enough to reduce the engorgement. As for the table foods, there's nothing wrong w/ starting them at 11mos. Just make sure you are giving foods that are soft enough for her to chew and not something that she could easily choke on such as hotdogs. Hope some of this helps! Good luck!