Seeking Advice to Wean My 11 Month Old from Breastfeeding

Hi B.,
I also stopped breastfeeding around 12 months with my son and with my daughter. I would cut out one feeding at a time (or switch to a bottle) and give it a few weeks before I would eliminate another one. We still did the morning and bedtime feedings towards the end - the bedtime feeding was the last one to go. This worked well because my body decreased its supply gradually. Have your husband do the first couple of bedtime bottles when you decide it's time to stop breastfeeding altogether.

Agree with the advice to eliminate a feeding at a time, but replace with a sippy, not a bottle. The bottle will just be another thing to wean him from - babies should be off the bottle at one year anyway. I was nursing on demand and offering the sippy at meals anyway, so it was only the feedings in between where I needed to replace the nursing.

The night feeding is usually the last to go. Personally, I didn't try to wean totally because I enjoyed breastfeeding, and that night feeding was a special time for me and my daughter. But she eventuallly self-weaned off the last couple feedings - first she started nursing for comfort more than nutrition and then just stopped asking around 13 months.

Congratulations on nursing so long!!

You can start now by eliminating one feeding at a time. Skip that feeding for a few days before eliminating another one, to give your body time to adjust. Afternoon and daytime feedings are the easiest to eliminate, since the morning ones you usually have more milk, and night time you feed less and build up more milk. If you do it gradually, it will be a lot easier on you.

12 months breastfeeding! Great job! I can tell you how my pediatrician advised me to discontinue breastfeeding. I took away one feeding every 2 days (you can extend the amount of days between taking away feedings if you are having difficulty with your little one adjusting). I took away the easiest feedings first (My son loved the morning and bedtime feeding so I left them for last). At the end of 10 days I was all finished breast feeding. My milk really started to diminish by the end of the 10 days so I really had to make sure he got a snack with the feeding. I think it was more of a comfort thing for him at the end than actual breastmilk. It was really easy on me because my supply diminished slowly so it wasn't painful. I gave him sippy cups of milk with meals to help him get used to drinking milk and to supplement for the breastmilk he was not receiving. He transitioned pretty easily. If your son is having difficulty using the sippy cup you may want to try the Nube brand which has a softer, bottle like tip to drink out of. We then gave him a harder, more advanced sippy cup as he got practice and now he is a pro. I hope this was helpful. Please let me know if you have any questions. Each person is different and you have to tweak your plan to make it work for you.

B.,

This site has some great information about breastfeeding in general including weaning...

http://www.kellymom.com/bf/weaning/index.html

Good luck!

Congrats on nursing so long. Job well done! You've gotten some really good advice already. I just wanted to second the move to sippy cups not bottles, and add a different approach. I nursed about the same length of time as you. I purposefully did not make the nighttime nursing the last one to go. I did not want to fully wean on what may be the most "comfort time" of nursing. I wanted my babies to see they could go to sleep at night without it, before we were trying to be completely done nursing. When it wasn't a problem, that also showed ME they were really ready. For my girls, the morning was the last to go. And this way they were well rested, and interested to see what the day was going to bring so it almost came down to them being too interested in other things to stay still and nurse. Incidentally, both of my girls had just started walking when they weaned, so their new-found mobility probably played a role in this succesful transition.

Hi B.,

Call the La Leche League: www.lllusa.org/VA/WebTidewaterVA or 1-800-525-3243

Good luck. Hope this helps. D.