my son will be 9 months old march 2nd, i dont plan on weaning him till hes 1. what i want to know is how i go out weaning him when the time comes. and how long does it take, and if i plan to wean him when hes 1 when should i start?
thanks for all the help!
R.
*edit* sorry for not putting this in, im talking about weaning him from the breast, not the bottle
I just weaned my 21 month old and I agree about cutting our feedings. With both of mine, I just cut out the morning, then the afternoon after I got off work and then finally, the night feedings. By the time they were both weaned, they just nursed at night for comfort so it wasn't too difficult to do.
Just words of advice, if you stop cold turkey, be prepared for gorged, painful breasts. It;s great for everyone around if it is gradual.
Hi R.,
I am a mother of 4, and I have found that the best time to start weaning a baby from the bottle is at or before about 9 months old. I have found that only giving them formula in the bottle and every other liquid in a cup from the first time it was introduced helped wean them quite quickly. I found that they gladly accept the cup, because the child prefers the taste of the milk, juice, and possibly even water over the taste of the formula. By the time they were 11 months old I gave them at least one cup of milk per day in the sippy cup, which helped their bellies get use to it as well as helping them get use to the taste. By their 1st birthdays they easily took the cup, and after a few weeks, they completely forgot about the bottle. I hope this helps you.
C. W.
Great job on nursing for a year! I started dropping a feeding each week (after she turned 1). I dropped the mid-morning feeding, then the mid-afternoon feeding, then I replaced the bedtime feeding with whole milk in a bottle, then I dropped the morning feeding.
It might help to have some expressed milk to mix with the whole milk to make it taste better. Distraction is key to dropping feedings. Just keep him occupied doing other things.
It's safe for you at one to switch him to milk and he's old enough to eat solids. Just offer them more often and with the milk in a sippy cup, that should fill him up. It's good that you're waiting until he's a year. Good Luck and doesn't the time go fast with a little one.
I didn't breastfeed, but try giving a sippy cup in the high chair at every meal or snack times. That is what I did and both of my boys were off the bottle before 14 months. Hope this is at all helpful.
