Weaning at 12 Mo.

You should keep them on formula until they are through their 12th month. I just took a baby off of the bottle at 12 months.
I didn't do sipper he went straight to regular cup. The first day without the bottle was horrible. I do foster care. The last 3 babies I had I took off the bottle at 12 months and went straight to regular cup. They did super and by 15 months they are holding the cup on their own.

I would continue nursing her for a bit longer, but cut out the night time feedings first. You want to go slowly, and at 11 months she doesn't need those 1am feedings anymore. Dad needs to help out here, by stepping in and calming her when she wakes to nurse at 1am. It'll take a few days, and your body will easily adjust to not nursing at that time. Give it a couple weeks, cut that feeding out first. Then work on the morning nap one. That one is usually pretty easy to give up.

The last ones to go should be morning and bedtime. If you follow a slow easy weaning, your body will adjust better, adn so will your child. Cut one feeding out every 2 weeks, so your body can stop making milk without becomign engored, and your child can slowly wean. Keep the bedtime one until you are done. :)

If you have pumped milk saved, then go a head and give her that in a cup, otherwise I'd not give her cows milk yet. You can try almond milk for now, or pumped milk in a cup, but I'd hold off on giving her cows milk just yet.

And congratulations on nursing for a year, thats awesome!

Congrats on making it a year! Get rid of one feeding at a time so that your boobs and your baby can get used to it. It may take 2 months or more before you're completely done weaning. You need to start to plan your feedings around meal time or snack times and be giving a sippy cup w/ meals or an hour after. You can do milk after age 1 or their is that next step formula out there for babies that age. Ask your pediatrician for advice.

Skip the 1 am feeding first. Your baby is too old to "need" to be fed at night. It is most likely more of a comfort thing. You can try offering a bottle of water at this time when baby awakes. It won't take baby long to understand she no longer is going to get fed at that time and she may just start sleeping thru it. She may be a bit hungrier for breakfast and make up for it then. :)

wait long enough for your boobs and baby to adjust and then skip the 9:30/10:00 feeding next. Incorporate a sippy cup of milk w/ her breakfast for this feeding.

skip the 2/3 pm nap time next and this will give you practice on how to get baby to sleep without nursing. ;)

5am next. You can offer a sippy cup of milk first thing in the am even if it is not breakfast. My 2 year old still eats 2 breakfasts in the am.

skip bedtime last and this may be the hardest to get rid of. I would try a cup of milk earlier than your scheduled bed time to make sure baby won't be hungry at night and then a sippy or bottle of water at bedtime and again this won't last long. It will be important to have a bedtime routine in place with books, brushing teeth, music, whatever to signal bedtime and not the nursing to signify that. The water will eventually turn into a few sips out of a sippy cup before bed. :)

I hope that helps you out!

I don't feed my 17month old milk at all. We make sure he gets his calcium other ways.

It typically is best to drop feedings at the busiest times of the day. The ones that would be easy to distract through. I would attempt the morning feeding first, distracting with a good breakfast and then some play time.

I would keep that bedtime feeding for as long as possible. Breast milk is so wonderful for your child, and they can certainly use the antibodies for as long as they can get them.

First I will say that I'm sure every child is different. But when i weaning off nursing around 12 months i started with a daytime feeding that would easily turn into a "mealtime". So not 1st in the morning or last at night. But that was my schedule, a little different than yours.... I introduced formula mixed with breastmilk and just increased the amount of breasmilk a little as soon as she would drink it fine. I would ask your pediatrician about milk vs. formula and then make you own decision from there. my personal preference once we did go to milk would be organic to avoid extra homones, antibiotic, etc...but that's a whole other topic!
Basically i just moved the nursing away from the "comfort times" and treated it more like LUNCH!! Night time was the last to go and i will say it was harder on me than her, but we used a bottle for a while and still kept the same routine of snuggling close right before bed.
again, that's my story, your daily routine might be different, and i think the main thing is to do what works for you and your child, so what someone else says is the 'right way"... so CONGRATULATIONS for making it 12 months giving your child such a great gift. good luck.

You still nurse in then night? Your baby should be sleeping thru the night by now! At 12 months, my baby was sleeping thru the night, and I would just nurse him first thing in the morning, and last thing before bed. And all day I would give him whole milk in a sippy cup. And it helped that he went to daycare and they gave him a sippy cup there. I guess it was a bottle up until 12 mo. But it went pretty well. It is okay to give your child whole milk at 12 mo.

I haven't weaned yet, but my twin girls are 11 months old (although they were born a month early so I think of them as only 10 months) and I'm starting to think about starting soon. I'm planning on dropping at daytime feeding first (although my girls sleep through the night so the middle of the night feeding isn't an issue for me). I read that at 1 year you should begin weaning and at a year and a half you should have weaned them of half of the times you usually nurse. My pediatrician says milk is fine for babies over 10 months and that the only reason not to feed them cow's milk before this time is that is is hard for them to digest and because it doesn't have the vitamins and minerals they need for nutrition. So if you start weaning you'll need to replace that feeding with baby food. They can get calories from milk too, but you don't want to replace breast milk or formula with cow's milk only.

I would say drop the 1am at this point and gradually work on the others over a period of time. A sippy cup with water might be a good start to just have around and get used to.
Good job nursing for so long.
Your doctor will be the best to advise as to when you can give your little one whole milk. Mine said at 12 months which is when I started to wean. Mine took very well to the cup and I believe it really helped his independence. Formula is milk based (unless you use soy). If you don't have a family history of milk allergies then I would really not be concerned. Again talk to your doc. I also give milk that is free of antibiotics.
Good luck! Hopefully it will be an easy fun thing for your child.

Have you considered just using breastmilk in the sippy - that is going to be the healthiest and you don't have to worry about the possible sensitivity to dairy or expense of formula.

Congrats for nursing this long. If you have not introduced the sippy cup at all yet, I would do that and keep nursing. You can put water, watered down juice, formula, or breast milk in the cup. I would offer the cup at all meals first, then through out the day. I bfed all of my kids and let them self-wean, which was great for us.
S.

Hi, I have 9 grandchildren and the last baby as well as all the rest were all starting to use sippy cups at around a year. They were on whole milk at a year old as the Doctors recommended. They are all doing fine. It was good to be done with the formula. I wish you luck. Take care. C.

weaning needs to be done gradually, or you and your baby will suffer. Cut out one nurse time every two weeks or so until you are down to just one every 24 hours- generally the bedtime one is best left until the last. no milk should be given until your baby is at least two years old. dairy is actually a common allergen and waiting will help reduce the chances of an allergy developing. Formula is the best idea- and should usually be given with table foods at meal time. Remember that at 12 months he really is still a baby and will need cuddle times just as often whether weaned or not. goodluck.

mother of six, fulltime preschool teacher

Hi J.,

I have a 15-month old son that weaned himself around 12 months. So I know it's a different situation right from the start. But, at the end of nursing, the breast milk was completely a supplement to his "normal" diet. I had cut out the middle-of-the-night feedings before 3 months, so I really would suggest that one should go first just for your own sanity. To think you haven't been able to sleep more than a 5-hour stretch for a year makes me tired! I know every baby is so different, and this is just what worked for me and my son. I hope you can wean down to 2-3 feedings a day in the next month and then your baby will likely be much less interested in nursing at all. Start the sippy cup now, if you can! Start with water or whole milk (this is completely safe for a 1-year-old, per every doctor I've talked to). We also tried a little juice mixed in with the water once a day too.

Best of luck and hope you get more sleep soon!

Sorry I sent the email too soon. Once again my best advise is to check with your sons doctor at his 1 yr old check up. His schedule may change once he starts using a sippy cup. We started our 2 1/2 yr old girl on milk around 11 months. Her doctor said she could start. But, she has the milk in a bottle. We tried some baby cereal and baby food with her around nine months. She was the total opposite from her brother. I breast fed her for four months. She weaned herself of me. She took to a bottle in the beginning. So she was bottle fed for about 11 1/2 mons. We transitioned her to a sippy cup. By this time she was not drinking as much milk beacuse of the baby food she was eating. She still drinks milk just not as much. I hope this helps some. Sorry I my response is so long.
J.