WEANING thread #2... Come share experiences and offer support

[PaulsMom]

Well done!

If you want to stop pumping at work, it would probably be OK since you are planning on weaning very soon anyway.  Your supply will start to decrease for those feeds so the only issue you may face is that if you choose to bf on weekends, you may not have enough.  The alternative is to replace that feed with formula here-on-in and then slowly start to drop other feeds.  The order that you are planning on dropping feeds sounds fine. I think that a lot of ladies do just as you are planning.  I dropped one feed every 5 days or so starting with the daytime feeds, then evening and finally morning.  It worked out OK but in retrospect, I should have probably given my body 1 week to adjust to each dropped feed.

In terms of replacing breast milk with formula or cow's milk, this may depend on your LO.  Has she had any reactions to any dairy products so far?  Any history of milk allergies in your family?  If she has experienced any bad reactions, then I would start with  formula and slowly introduce cow's milk after discussing with the pediatrician.  I introduced cow's milk when ds was around 11.5 months.  I just gave him a some in a sippy at meal times as I had heard that some LOs don't like the taste so the switch to cow's milk may be problematic.  I didn't want to have to start buying / making up bottles of formula so I started the cow's milk before I actually started to wean him.  During this time, I also breastfed him at our usual times so I knew that he was probably getting enough breast milk until he was 1 yr.

Once I started to wean, I replaced the entire feed with milk in a sippy.  I also didn't want to start bottles as I only had one 9 oz bottle and didn't want to buy more at this stage of the game.  Using a bottle or sippy is up to you and your LO.  If she takes the sippy, I would go with it.  If there are issues, you may want to keep a morning and bedtime bottle but try a sippy at other times of the day so that she begins to accept the sippy. 

In terms of how much milk to give, it's recommended that toddlers get between 2 and 3 cups of milk / dairy per day.  That's only 16-24 oz per day.  I initially replaced each feed with milk so ds was getting milk 4 x per day.  When ds was around 14 months, I dropped the afternoon milk so now he only gets milk at breakfast, before nap and before bed. 

Hope this helps!

[Riley&Avery'sMommy]

Thanks for your advice.  I didn't pump today at work and I think it was ok, no real pain or engorgement or anything.  Normally, I do BF her at that time on weekends but since I'm beginning to wean, I'm going to now give her the bottle for that feed on weekends.  I'm excited to see her drink from it, my mother (our babysitter) and DH say it's so cute
I think I'll continue with the formula in the bottle for a bit and then slowly introduce the cow's milk.  A friend suggested doing a half & half mixture then slowly increasing the amount of cow's milk until it's just milk.  DD eats yogurt, cheese, other foods with dairy in them with no problem and we have no family history so other than getting used to the taste, I'll think she'll do fine.  I'm going to start switching over to the sippy as well.  She drinks water from it throughout the day so I know she's got the hang of it.  Maybe once I drop the next BF, I'll do one bottle and one sippy cup (in addition to the morning and bedtime BF). I think I'll do what you did as far as replacing the 4 feeds with milk and then as se gets a little older, I'll drop it down to 3x.  Did you drop to 3x at 14 months because your LO went from 2 naps to 1?

[PaulsMom]

Glad to hear that today went well.  If you do get engorged, I've heard that cabbage works well (as do warm showers).  Your plan for weaning and introducing sippys of milk sounds good.

In terms of going to 3 milk feeds per day, it had more to do with how much milk he was taking at each feed.  When we started out, he was taking around 4-5 oz at a time so 4 feeds worked out well.  Then he started to take more before nap and at bedtime so I dropped the afternoon sippy of milk and provided more solids instead.  I think that there are some moms that give milk only 2 x per day at this age so there is certainly a lot of variation out there. 

[angelacol]

good morning I need some help. Im trying to "cut" breastfeeding. My baby is now 11 months and a half. one month ago I breastfeed him 5 times like this:
when he woked up
at 11 am
at 3pm
7pm (before bed)
11 pm (he woked up)
4am (he cried)

Now Iīm feedng him
2pm (for his nap)
7pm (before bed)
4am (he cries)
My problems are:
he canīt leave breasfeeding at "night" (4am)
he wakes up now 4 to 5 times at night (I pad him but can take 2 hours tos leep again)
at day he looks for me all the time and complains for everything
He doesnīt want any doll or blancket
he enver has liked bottle (now he is sometimes recieving cup)
an at 4pm he doesnīt sleep his nap if i donīt feed him
 Please, help

[Otownmama]

I wonder if I could get some feedback on my plans to daytime wean? I'm going back to work March 15th and want to drop the two daytime feeds by then. Beatrice is EBF and refuses a bottle (she took it as an infant, but last two times I left her with EBM she refused it...). She has been taking a sippy of water with her solids 3x a day since around 6 mos and does well with that, so I'm hoping to wean directly to sippy with no bottles. She has never had formula, but will be only 11 mos when I go back to work and I don't want to start milk early. Was planning to introduce a sippy of formula for her 3:00 nursing session in early February and then 2-3 weeks later offer another sippy for the 11am feed. Thought this would give some time to get my supply regulated before I go back, because I've always had a strong supply and assume I might have some engorgement issues. I'm concerned she will not like the formula though - anyone BTDT introducing formula so late? Or introducing milk a bit early? Baaa...it was so hard getting BFing established and now I don't want to stop!

[EloysH]

you might find that she doesn't drink much of either, I found that our LO would only take a sip or two as I started weaning, so quickly was only on one feed a day.    It took a good four weeks to build up to drinking 100ml at a time.He is 2 years old and even now, hardly drnks fmore than 50-100ML a time, he sips his drinks in little amounts throughout the day.

 He was never on a bottle either and took well to a sippy quite young like your LO.  I just found that he preferred water, he didn't drink much of that either.      I got advice to mix some formula/milk into a bananna smoothy if I was worried.   I guess you just got to look at their overall calcium and iron intake, and make sure that it's ok.  There are plenty other ways to get those nutrients other than milk, and  other sources are better absrobed by the body, like fish with bones. That's what I ended up doing, we focusing on getting 3/4 cup of yoghurt, some tasty cheese daily, offeering fish at least 3 nights a week and red meat the others, spinach with lemon juice a few times a week and fortified rice milk for drinking.

 Anyway, hope that you LO just loves the milk / formula and you don't have to worry!

I hope that your supply is ok, mine has always been abundant and I struggled with lumps alot, but funnily enough weaning gave me no trouble.   I  am thinking that the LO's take in so much less as they have been on solids a long time anyway, so engorgement is not such an issue.

[scarlettsmom]

Hi, looks like I am formally joining this thread!     I thought it was going to be a nightmare to start weaning, but it's going well thus far.  (I copied my post from the extended nursing thread below).   

The last couple of weeks I've just felt that the time has come to wean.  I have LOVED just about every second of our nursing relationship and am SO proud we made it over 17 months.  However, I am starting to feel that I want my body back (I've pretty much been pregnant or BF'ing for the last 5 years, lol).  I have found over the last week especially that I am not enjoying the daytime feeds when she randomly comes up to me for a snack.      I decided I'd try for a day or two, just not nursing during the day.   Yesterday was terrible, she was very upset and I figured we would try again in a few weeks.  Then today I got a different kind of almond milk (she is allergic to cow's milk) and OMG!  MOMMY WHO?!  Lol.  She didn't approach me once.  She had sooo much more fun today - carrying around her little sippy and playing and laughing and snuggling up to me.  It was incredible.  I think she was just scared she'd be hungry or something?  She also ate a ton more today.  I nursed this morning when she woke up and planned to nurse tonight.  But she kept asking for her sippy to be refilled (something I NEVER thought I'd see!) and I ended up just reading her and Scarlett a bedtime story and putting her down without nursing.  Not a peep!      I am SO happy.  I think she feels it's time to move on too, just needed something else to make sure she could drink when she wanted.

I am hoping it will continue to be smooth sailing.  I just wonder how full I'll be tomorrow morning.  Surprisingly am not very full at all today, so clearly she was just taking sips all through the day. 

Thanks for listening and hope everyone's weaning is going well!   

[Gypsymom]

Just a quick tip on the straight-to-sippy plan. We did this although DS did take occasional bottles of EBF. I used Born Free bottles and bought their version of a sippy when it was time. For weeks, I offered it to him with cow's milk at meals and it took a long time for him to actually take it, but later he would often drink the whole cup and ask for more! We have lots of other brands of sippys and I will use any of them for water (we don't do juice at all, just heaps of fruit). But, he *always* gets his Born Free cup for milk. I recommend them even if you don't go the exclusive route. They have snug lids and the extra seals keep side leaks a bay too. I never worry about just tossing it in my bag

For those of you trying to ditch the daytime feeds, I found DS actually upped his intake when I took his post-nap feeds away. Within a few days he just learned to drink more in the morning and bedtime and this pattern lasted us another few months before I dropped bedtime (the one I was most worried about! FWIW, with a bit of help from DH, it actually wasn't too bad at all). Kept the morning feed until just shy of 17 months when DS started repeated refusals. He was more keen for cereal by then!

Good luck!

[Riley&Avery'sMommy]

About the Born Free sippy--I have it too because once I went back to work, I used Born Free bottles.  Which cup do you have?  I think I have the "training" cup, but I think I've seen a "drinking" cup too.  Is there a difference?  My DD is 11.5 months and I've weaned down to just the morning & bedtime BF with 2 bottles during the day but I'd like to get her on a sippy sooner rather than later.  Luckily DD has been very easy and has taken the bottles with no problem.  I'm waiting to give cow's milk until I see the pediatrician right after her first birthday.  How did all of you out there proceed with giving milk & solids after you weaned?  Milk first thing in the morning?  With solids? Right before bed?  Not sure where to go from here . . . .

[Gypsymom]

We have this one: http://www.newbornfree.com/ProductInfo.aspx?id=941602. I've never had to replace the spout even though DS does gnaw on it sometimes. I like that the liquid comes out easily as I like to squirt some into the sink when I give it a rinse between meals (I take it apart for a full wash once per day).

We started with cow's milk on cereal (Cheerios, Rice Krispies etc) and that seemed to help DS get a taste for it. The other thing that helped is that I started offering him "moo juice" (that's what I called it) in the blue sippy as being different from "milk" since in his mind that meant nursing from mommy. Eventually he would ask for Moo Juice! I offer it with every meal and just water in between. Now it's a bit funny trying to get him to call it milk though (don't want kids in preschool to laugh at him, but I'd say the distinction was really worth it!). To add to the fun, we also have "Daddy's milk" (which is So Nice soy beverage)

FWIW, the Nuby cups are his least favorite.

[scarlettsmom]

Will check out the born free!  Right now she will only drink her milk from a pink sippy where she can see through.  Will only use the other sippies if they have water.  Crazy girl!

Well - we are doing REALLY well.     Had a couple of times where she was very tired, or hungry and started asking for the breast (num num), and I just got the sippy with her milk and said "here's your num num now", and it actually seemed to work.  She is now cuddling with me and drinking her sippy which is amazing.  We still have the early morning feed, but I've taken sudafed the last 2 days and it has pretty much dried me up.  I don't think she got much at all this morning (usually I'm ready to explode, barely felt like I had anything).  She was a bit upset about that, but turned out ok.  I am considering dropping that feed tomorrow.  I can't believe how quickly we've gone! 

Wish us luck!

 

[Riley&Avery'sMommy]

Gypsymom--the link to the cup wasn't working.  I was trying to use yellow Born Free cups for milk and all my pink cups for water so she'd associate the colors.  I have the Born Free training cup which requires sucking while the drinking cup does not.  My mom (watches her while I'm at work) has been giving her the training cup but tried the drinking cup and said she was having a hard time with it because it comes out so fast.  She ended up pouring it back into the training cup.  How should I get her used to the drinking cup? 

[Gypsymom]

Hmm. I'm not sure if you need to switch or not. DS still likes the training cup style (with the soft spout) and he's almost 21 months! I've never felt the need to switch. But, as I say, we only use that type of cup for milk. He does have other brands (Playtex, Nuby, Tupperware) cups that I put water in and most of those do have a hard spout (and valve inside). DS is getting better at drinking out of regular cups too although he doesn't get straws yet.

As for colors, that can be a skill that takes a long time I think. DS only just recently got them sorted and I remember thinking it was weird since he already knew so many words, etc. Whenever I asked him what the color of something was, he always said 'blue'! Now he loves to describe things by their color, but my guess is that for younger babies, physical cues (like handles/no handles, texture, size, etc) will be more helpful for distinguishing things than color. HTH!

[Riley&Avery'sMommy]

Ok good to know.  I guess I'll keep trying on the drinking cup spout and if not, we'll just stick to the training cup spout.  I'm down to 2 BF's a day, morning and bedtime.  DD is doing great.  When you dropped the morning BF, did you replace it with a cup of milk and then feed breakfast later?  Or did you start with breakfast then the milk?  And does DS take his sippy before bedtime instead of the bedtime BF? 

[Gypsymom]

Hard to say how it will work for you, but I did the bedtime one first and then wake-up last. Another mama recommended against the sippy of milk at night as it works against sending kids to bed with an empty bladder as they get a little bigger (and start potty-training). We had no problems, just built a new pre-sleep routine:
          1. Teeth