giving up bf tomorrow - some advice please.

[Lovejoy]

Well I've decided after 1 year and 1 month that I'm (sadly)ready to give up the boob juice.  I only feed dd in the morning when she wakes up, and she has a bottle of ff cow milk at bedtime.
So how do i do it, should my  husband  offer her cow milk in a bottle or a beaker/spout (she drinks water from beaker without lid on)?  Should he do it for a few days without me in the same room?
generally will there be tears?

[Samuel's mum]

My gut feeling would be to try and avoid 'reproducing the situation with cow's milk'. i.e get her out of the room completely after a quick hug, downstairs, looking at something exciting. Even perhaps have music playing in a different room that she can go off and investigate. The milk can be replaced later in the day (I think she'll need 12-18oz overall at that age) or with breakfast that's downstairs waiting. I would say get daddy to go in and they can both come and find you downstairs. A cup of milk could be around but I would try and avoid anything that might make her think 'but this is when I would normally expect boob...'. I don't have experience myself but I imagine she might be a bit confused which is why I would go with distraction. Some babies are ready to wean and aren't fussed. Some find it very upsetting. Just lots of mummy hugs in different contexts. Good Luck.

Just my opinion - what does your gut tell you to do?

[Lovejoy]

no idea!  I think that she should go to brekkie straight away, but then she is used to having her liquid once she wakes up...

[Erin (redstarfalling)]

I completely agree with Emma - just change the morning routine a bit so that she heads downstairs right away with her daddy (or even you).  See how it goes.  Remember, if it doesn't work well the first time, you can always delay it a day or 2 or even more - there's no real "deadline" on it, right? 

And with us, there were no tears at all - it wasn't even an issue.  And I stopped at 18 months.  We just changed the routine, and she didn't even seem to notice (now MOMMY on the other hand...  )

[ks6]

Ds went from bf to bottle for the morning feed at close to 1 year.  If your dd already takes a bottle before bed, it should probably be an easy transition for you.  However, I now wish I went straight to the cup of milk with breakfast instead of bf--bottle--cup, because it was one more transition I had to worry about.

By the way, my ds hasn't had a single issue with the changes.  I think he looked at me the next day and said "breastfeeding? what's that?"  

[Lovejoy]

i felt the same when she was happy to go for bottle at bedtime.  I do think i will be more gutted than she is, agter all we have a lovely closeness lying in bed in the morning.  Husband keeps telling me we can still have lots of cuddles.  boo hoo! 

[clh]

We substitued a bottle of cow's milk with no problem, but we're now having to break the bottle habit.  The one at bedtime has been replaced with a sippy, but I'm still addicted to the one in the morning.  He'll take it & (generally) go back to sleep for 30-45 minutes.   

[Lilah'sMommy]

I also found going straight to breakfast the way to go.  We went straight to sippies, as DD never took a bottle, and since we weaned fully at 22 months (we'd been doing a feed morning and night since 12.5 months, when we cut out the two day-time feeds), she had been taking a sippy for quite some time.

[Katet]

I personally think go straight to breakfast & offer the milk with breakfast or later in the day, if you move to a bottle/sippy then you still have to break that habit later, I know so many people who have early wakeups due to offering milk early & to be honest as long as they get it in the day then why have that extra step. I give milk to my boys as part of their snack (when I have my cuppa) & that has worked fantastically well.

[Lovejoy]

daft q - but should i give her brekkie asap when she wakes up, or have a play first?? that is should i feed her cereal immediately when she wakes as she will be hungry or should i have a say 10 min gap first so that we're not making a habit of early wakeups due  because she  needing her brekkie asa she wakes up.
when should i offer the milk then?  I do want to continue giving her milk

[CaedensMama]

daft q - but should i give her brekkie asap when she wakes up, or have a play first?? that is should i feed her cereal immediately when she wakes as she will be hungry or should i have a say 10 min gap first so that we're not making a habit of early wakeups due  because she  needing her brekkie asa she wakes up.
when should i offer the milk then?  I do want to continue giving her milk

It depends on the kiddo. For us, Caeden now gets up and comes out and plays a bit, sometimes I offer him his milk cup while he plays or while I am making breakfast. We eat anywhere from 15 minutes to over an hour after he gets up - depends on our day and how is. I find if I change it around a bit from time to time he doesn't get too stuck on "having to have" milk or breakfast right away.

[Katet]

I too am of the school of thought of a gap before breakfast eating, so it isn't a habit.
As far a milk is concerned I was told 600ml (20oz) of calcium containing foods per day, so that includes cheese, yogurt & milk  & as well it can include calcium rich foods like salmon & brocolli... But have since discovered places like Canada have Vit D enriched milk so more milk is recommended where as here in Oz we get enough sunlight so it is just about the calcium.

[jbepko]

I used to BF immediately upon awakening and now its wke-up, diaper change, walk around a bit, breakfast in booster with milk....he didn't mind....not one bit!