Breastfeeding:Weaning

At what age should we wean our baby?

Comments: Breastfeeding - Weaning

Comments 26 to 49 of about 75.
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martam - 889 days ago.
Any help? I have to stop breastfeeding today because my daughter is very allergic to my milk, her symptoms have only gotten worse in the last month. She is 5 months old and the doctor recommened a soy formula. I feel terrible to stop breastfeeding so abruptly, but last night she was up have the night vomitting. So today is her first day on formula. She seems to be taking it well. But my breasts are so lumpy and engorged.. any suggestions?

mountainmama - 900 days ago.
thanks campimama....it's weird to have her not interested in nursing, just a year ago i couldn't get her off me!! ;) how quickly it goes. will i have enough milk if she only nurses 2x a day & 1 pump @ work?

campimama - 901 days ago.
mountainmomma- The disinterest in nursing is the big cue. Keep giving milk in a cup but give other things like cheese, yogurt, cottage cheese etc. Juice and water to keep hydrated too. Some kids aren't milk drinkers. There are lots of foods that you can give that are high in calcium- broccoli for instance. Feed her a healthy diet with a range of foods and things should be good. My son has decided that he wants to nurse once or twice during the day and the same at night...he has no desire to nurse before bed (that just started a few days ago) so I cuddle him and read a book and he goes to bed. Just take the process slowly. Sounds like your little one is ready to start the process.

mountainmama - 901 days ago.
what are some signs that your baby is ready to wean? my little one is starting not to want to nurse when i get home from work, yet she's not drinking that much milk (if any lately) during the day at day care....she's 14th months old...thanks!

campimama - 935 days ago.
We've started the weaning process. I can't believe my baby is almost a year old. He's been losing interest in the booby, so I introduced reg milk in his cup to see how he'd do. He did great. He didn't 'ask' to nurse all day long and just drank from his sippy. We fed before bed and then 2 times last night. It just is a strange feeling not to be 'needed' like I was before. What a big boy he's becoming :)

Bri - 939 days ago.
sydbabe - Your chances are high. Most women can breastfeed. Now that you have this site then with any problems come here! I had so many in the beginning. My son couldn't latch for over two months but we made it work. He is now almost 21months and just now weaning. He's self weaning which I'm proud to say. As for the pain with the first. It can be painful for many reasons. If you had a bad latch and because baby couldn't get it right it just ended up painful or you might be very sensitive. My son was awful and it hurt like Hell. But, after a few weeks it got better. Then there was no pain at all. Another reason could have been a case of Thrush which is a yeast infection that cause pain. It feel like needles on the breast. I've had it before and it hurts. I've never felt that much pain in my life. This time around if you do have pain doctor to your lacation consultant or doctor. They can help you work through what is causing the pain or diagnose Thrush if it happens. A little meds and you are good to go. I got an awesome ointment that literally had my breasts feeling better within one dose. Anyways, breastmilk is so good for the baby. Don't let the previous experience dampen your efforts. Each baby and time is different. This time you may have the best sucker. You may leave the hospital with little or no pain at all. Oh and always remember lanolin is a breastfeeding mom's best friend.

sydbabe - 939 days ago.
I couldnt breastfeed with my oldest son, my breast were way to sore and had me in tears. My second son had a congenital heart defect and was in a coma for the first few weeks of he's life so we opt'ed not to breastfeed him niether, im pregnant with my third boy and due on the 11th of the 11th and was just wondering what everyone thought of our chances of breastfeeding?

Erica93 - 953 days ago.
we are offically done weaning as of three days ago. No more feedings. Kinda sad, but I was so sore because of this pregnancy so I needed to stop. We made it to 13 months, which I am very proud of. The last to go was the middle of the night feeding. When I told my husband that feeding was over, he got up with her in the middle of the night to change her and put her back down with no feeding. The first night she cried for about an hour. The second night only 5 minutes. Last night was the fourth night and she slept the whole night!! Awesome. Cound't have asked for a better weaning experience! I love my girl!

Erica93 - 960 days ago.
Just wanted to leave an update for those visiting and wanting info on weaning. We are now at one time a night (only one side). This is going to be a hard one to break! We have been good so far and she LOVES her whole milk.

erica93 - 987 days ago.
Well, weaning has been going really well. We are down to three feedings a day. We were at 6-7 a day about two months ago. I only nurse her before bedtime and twice at night. My BB are awful full by nighttime, but hopefully that will go away soon. She is drinking from a bottle her whole milk and loves it if it is warm. I will worry about switching her to sippys for her milk later. Right now weaning is top priority!! Next to go is one night feeding, but that isn't until next week. A lot easier than I thought it would be...

kathy=^.^= - 1000 days ago.
argff this weaning is hard... with my first it was way easier!!! but this time around being a sahm its hard!!! he doesnt want anything but the boobies!!!

erica93 - 1000 days ago.
Hello everyone! I am 11 weeks preggo and my DD is turning 1 this weekend. I have been in the process of weaning her for about two weeks now . We are going slow. I have dropped one feeding during the day and went down to two feedings a night (used to be three-four). she is getting whole milk with her BM during the day with Nana. My concern is that my BB are so sore right now and my supply is going way down. I dont' want to increase it just hoping to wean her off a little bit quicker. I think I am going to just keep doing what I am doing and if my supply goes, it goes. I am just worried that she won't be fully transitioned to whole milk before my supply goes down. She gets about an ounce and 1/4 in her bottles now and we are increasing by 1/4 every couple of days. I want her to get her nutrition, but I don't have any stored BM in the freezer (except for like 8 oz.). I am not sure what I am looking for here, I guess just advice/support from others who have been through this.

smurfwxmama - 1000 days ago.
I weaned my lil guy a month ago and it took a few months as I wanted to do the gradual wean, as I had plenty of time before I actaully had to leave as i stated on here before. Since I've been home lil man has no interest in me as a food source at all and is completely on formula now, but here's my lil weaning experience......I had about 170 oz stored up so we weaned over a gradual time, I think the he cared more for the mommy comfort than the actual eating at night which is evidence in that he now sleeps through the night almost every night... Starting about 2 mths before I was scheduled to leave we introduced him to formula, about a bottle a day to start and then more at daycare as he was to get that primarily at daycare and bm at home. He did great on it, never threw a fit or anything, so we gradually increased his intake at daycare over the 3 wks before I left and decreased my pump sessions accordingly as well, so at the end I would pump once a day, we'd also maybe give a bottle of formula at home at night to see if it mattered to fill him up and not wake during the night, it didn't matter either way he'd wake up. I was set to leave on a thursday so the sunday before I left was the last time to nurse. And that monday I tried to stop pumping, I however had to pump one time on tuesday afternoon as I was pretty uncomfortable but after that I never pumped again. I did take my manual with me on the chance I might have to, did not want any infections or pain while I was away from docs but never had to use it. To help stop the production I used 2 sports bras to keep myself nice and bound up. I think the reason I had to pump on tuesday was because I was not completely emptied at the last nursing so it kind of just increased a bit, but after I pumped I never got the engorged feeling again and it took about a week and a half to two weeks that I was gone to stop making milk. I don't leak at all and my breasts are down to normal size again. Everyone thinks I've lost weight and I haven't it's just that my boobs are not huge anymore!

kathy=^.^= - 1003 days ago.
oh im trying to wean but its not working.... my son is a little over 8 months and i really cant get him to eat any baby food... and he still wakes up like 3 or 4 times at night... can anyone give me some advice? other then letting him CIO

mandarae - 1015 days ago.
Well, I thought I was ready... The babies did OK taking the bottles for their dad and gramma over the wknd, and even drank 3 ozs for me at 5:00 yesterday morning. BUT when they awoke, it was all out war. I was trying to hold out (long story but no family support to continue nursing) because I didn't want DH and mom upset with me. AFTER having the absolute worst day of my life, I decided to nurse my beautiful babies @ 2 in the morning. They had refused drink almost 24 hours. I was a basket case. WE are SO not ready to be done yet. HOWEVER, tonight Breanne drank a 4 oz bottle before bed.. I am hoping they will start to take one now and tehn for me... I am going to continue to give it at least once a day (plus my milk when down alot when they were away from me for 3 days) Bri - you were so right. I totally thought I was ready, but my body told me otherwise and the crying... oh my!

Bri - 1017 days ago.
mandarae - I'm sorry you are going through this. The best way to wean is very slowly. They say it is hard on Mom because your hormones are now out of whack. Watch out for depression. It can come up like PPD easily. Your body is being shocked into not producing. Please be careful.

mandarae - 1017 days ago.
Warning!!! Long post - mama needs to vent. This is going to be the hardest week of my life. We are trying to wean our 7 month old twins off the breast. We are getting married next weekend and the babies just TOTALLY refuse a bottle. So Dad took the kids to our home town this last weekend while I stayed at home, alone for the weekend. They eventually took the bottle and actually slept fairly well last night. but they are still P*ssed at mommy, they look at my chest and you can just see em drool. Daddy is working out of town until Thursday night, so I am trying to do this on my own. I think this is going to be harder for me than them. I have been crying alot this weekend, although I am stressed to with the wedding and worrying about taking my babies boobies away. I am still pumping, but just enough to stay comfortable. I am making a HUGE amount of milk a day and know that would kill me. Plus this way, the girls still get mama's milk in their bottles. Has anyone else gotten really sad when they weaned? I want to have positive thoughts, like its the best for us all - I was starting to struggle to make enough milk for both of them.... but I guess I am just missing it as much as they are. Sorry to ramble, I just don't have anyone that understands what is going on with me to talk to.

smurfwxmama - 1057 days ago.
I'm thinking I might wean in the month of April, I'm not making all that much lately, so I barely have enough to cover his bottles at daycare. I have a good stash in the freezer but that's going to be for when I go TDY in a few weeks, so lil man will get formula at daycare and bm at home, he does great with either so I'm not really concerned about him not taking formula. The thing I'm concerned with will be when I get home...he is very much a comfort boob man so I'm afraid as soon as I get home he'll want the boob since he won't have had it for almost 3 wks. He's like at right now when we get home from daycare, he wants me to put him to sleep as soon as he gets home, most nights he needs it to fall asleep and then wakes 2-3 times a night....guess we'll see how it goes over the next month and a half....I wasn't ready to wean before but now I'm very ready to have myself back to myself, be able to wear cute bras and not have to worry about getting bit anymore lol!

Bri - 1057 days ago.
Some babies just aren't ready. My son is almost 17 months and gets up a couple times a week around 2:30AM. He is growing out of it but he is so active that he eats all the time. Going 12hours without food is hard for him.

jmarie3 - 1057 days ago.
I'm looking for advice on weaning my son who is 11months old. during the day he is good and can go all day without boobie. once nights hits he needs it b4 bed. then wakes up like a newborn at 3am and again at 7am ; i can't get him to sleep through the nite let alone he only wants boobie. he will be a yr april 11 i want my sleep back and my body back. please any advice on weaning him on the nite feeding !!!!!!!!please!!!

Bri - 1078 days ago.
kmokat - Sometimes babies just aren't ready to wean when mom is. My son is great with a sippy and will even drink out of a cup without spilling but....he won't drink that much. He gets more benefit from nursing still. I'm sure sometime this year he will cut himself down to only a couple times a day but he's not ready yet. You can't force them to drink more from a cup if they don't want to. Only thing you can do is continue to offer it. Kekoa gets his cup with meals and snacks but he nurses in the morning, before nap, the afternoon and before bed. Then if he wakes during the night or early morning and I want him to sleep more. I know bad mommy...put the child to sleep so you can. HAHA!

kmokat - 1078 days ago.
My daughter is 12 1/2 months old and drinks great from a sippy cup. However I am having a hard time getting her to drink reg. whole milk. Any advice, or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Feel free to leave messages here or on my page.

Bri - 1082 days ago.
Hi lilmamma. I totally understand where you are coming from. Doing my own research found that extended breastfeeding is very beneficial. My son is 16months and going strong. He and I both love it. I thought the same as you about getting my body back but decided that we both enjoy it too much. This article I found actually explains a lot of what you are looking for. Let me know if you have more questions but I think this article will help...

http://www.mothering.com/articles/new_baby/breastfeeding/extended-breastfeeding.html

lilmamma - 1082 days ago.
hey you guys, does anyone know if there are any real benefits to bf-ing past a year? I want to stop at 12 months so I can get my body back to myself, but my son loves it so I'm considering stalling for some time. I know drs. recommend you bf for 1 full year, but its confusing bc LaLecheLeague etc. is always recommending extended bf-ing. Are there real benefits to this? My big question is, if I wean my son at 1 yrs time will I be denying him of something important? Should I go for another 6 months? Not sure what to do and I feel sort of guilty...

Pls leave responses on my page if you have any feedback, thanks!

Traviesa - 1085 days ago.
I will start weaning my son off breastmilk in a couple of weeks. I'm really nervous about it...he loves being on the breast..I still even nurse him in the night, couple times!...what I want to do is not have to pump during the day so I'm assuming that I have to push the pumping further apart..so right now instead of pumping at 11am..and 4pm..i'm pumping at 1130am and 4:30pm...then next week, I'll pump at 12:30...then 5pm...??? sounds right? so actually by May I want him completely off the breast..