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

[LCBO0912]

Thanks - I'm going to try it today and see how it works out.  He won't take whole milk on it's own, but seems ok with even a smidge of BM in it. 

[teamcarbone]

Hi Ladies!

Well my DD is 15.5mo old and I'm gearing up to start the weaning process.  Currently she takes 2 feedings a day, AM and just before bed, but never to sleep.  My DH works out of town and is out of the house most mornings before DD wakes so I'm figuring I'm going to do this alone.  I plan to start with the morning feeding and my questions is do I just take her downstairs for BFast upon waking and offer a sippy of milk then?  BTW-I haven't been successful at getting her to take any type of milk but I'm hoping that changes once BF stops. 

[hayes]

With my DS, I offered breakfast with milk about 20min-1/2 hour after waking.

[coopers_mommy]

teamcarbone...I did want to suggest that when DD wakes in the AM to go ahead and take her downstairs for breakfast.  Or what we do with DS now is to walk into his room with a sippy of milk.  Sometimes we will sit with him in the rocker while he just sips on it.  Most of the time for the first 30 minutes of being up, he's upstairs with us while DH gets ready for work, so he's walking around with his sippy and drinking milk at his leisure.  Then we go downstairs for breakfast.  When we were weaning this feeding, I always made sure that I had a shirt on (I got used to sleeping in my bra b/c of the dreamfeed that we used to have).  This was I think the EASIEST one to wean from.  We're still working on getting to the other 3 (before naps and bedtime). 

HTH

[teamcarbone]

I'm hoping this will be an easy feeding to drop because she loves to eat her solids and I'm sure she doesn't really "need" the BF now.  I like the idea of offering her the sippy and letting her hang out with it in the morning before BFast but I don't think it will work for us because she doesn't take any cow's milk right now   So the plan is up, diaper change and downstairs into the highchair.

I'm shooting for this Thursday or Friday!!!

[coopers_mommy]

Could you pump some breastmilk and put it in her sippy and slowly add more and more cows milk?  We didn't really have to do this (DS seemed to love cows milk!), but maybe it will help with he adjustment.

Good luck and keep us posted on how it's going!

[Hannah's Mom]

hey, sorry to interrupt, but I just wanted to post for anyone else who comes across this that I just came across a not-your-ordinary-way of weaning an older toddler.  My girl is 2.5 (yes, I never thought I'd ever nurse this long!), and I've got her off her evening nursing, thanks to daddy, but have been afraid of dropping her naptime nurse-to-sleep cuddles.  I found a woman who posted on her blog about getting the idea of having her 2.5 year old "pretend" to nurse during that same naptime nursing.  Her boy totally took it in stride that first day--didn't nap, but the second day he did after a half-hour.  I'm hoping the same works for me!!!

[dairymom]

My son is 9 mo. and I plan to start weaning at 11 mo.  to have him totally weaned by the time he's a year old.  I'm wondering what you're talking about when you say "pretend" to nurse?  I have never heard this one. 

[teamcarbone]

Well just a quick update.  I'm on day three of weaning the AM feeding and things are going rather smooth.  She wakes up pretty thirsty so after her diaper change, which she's fighting me on at this stage..., I take her downstairs and give her a sippy of water.  Then I put her into her highchair and feed her about 1/2 of a banana plus more water.  I haven't been successful with milk but I'll give it a go after a week off BF in the AM.  I then take her out and let her play for another hour or more when I give her a real breakfast.

I haven't gotten engorged which makes me think she was nursing a lot and the way she adjusted...I think it was me "thinking" she would have a difficult time. 

Good luck to anyone else trying to wean.  My advise is you need to be both mentally and then emotionally ready and once you make the decision go for it.  Each day as we got closer to the "official: day I would tell my DD "X number of days until our last BF"

Thanks ladies! I'm give you all another update and I'm sure I'll be back when we get ready to wean the night feeding...It's not a feed to sleep but it is the last thing we do after her book and sleep sack but before night time prayers...

[Hannah's Mom]

Diarymom, sorry, I should have included a link to the blog posting.  Here:  http://www.lechebaby.com/2008/01/27/weaning-a-toddler/  I came across it while searching "weaning" and "toddler".   It probably wouldn't work for a baby, but an older toddler who likes to pretend, well, it worked in this case.  My girl wasn't too keen on the idea, though, so that flopped!  Oh, well, back to the drawing board! 

I feel bad because my friend is going to tend dd from Thu through Sat and I haven't weaned her from her nap nursing!  She's had a couple days where she's not had it because of doing errands and her falling asleep in the car, but when it comes to falling asleep at home w/out nursing for naps, I've just been afraid to deal with the tantrums I know it's going to cause.  We were able to drop that bedtime nursing, and she's magically sleeping through the night now, but, boy, that nap time nursing. . . . She asks to nurse most mornings and I just have to keep putting her off and keep putting her off until 10:30/11 when she's ready to crash for her nap.  (early napper)  I just haven't been ready to spend 2 hrs listening to her scream. . . . There's got to be an easier way, right???  I really hope this doesn't cause probs for my friend when I leave.  I've heard of some women leaving their kid with someone else to wean them, but many of them said their babes still wanted to nurse when they got back. I just don't know what to expect.  I guess that's why I'm so nervous!

I guess tomorrow I'll have to make sure I have lots of snacks and drinks on hand, and then maybe she'll be full and go down with just stories?  I tried that earlier once last week, but PMS hit and everything was out the window!  I am going back and forth on this weaning thing, though.  I think when I'm tired, I want to keep it up, but when I'm myself, I'm ready to stop. Guess I'd better get to bed, eh?

[camys mum]

Hello Ladies,
My LO is almost 11 months and is BFing.
I am going back to work in a month and I need to find a way for my LO to still take in liquids without me there.
I have tried to substitute one of his 4 daily feeds with a bottle but he just seems uninterested. I have also tried a few sippy cups and while he'll drink water easily, he pushes away breast milk or formula or at least will only take a sip here and there, not any great quantity.

I was reading through your posts and have a few questions if I may?

It is okay to reduce the 4 feeds to 3 BF's a day now and give more food in the milks place. I will also try to offer formula in a sippy cup and can expect that he'll only take in an oz or so at first? I guess I worry he won't get enough milk?

Does this sounds like a good approach to take?

Thanks!

[coopers_mommy]

Most def you can reduce the 4 feeds to 3.  Have little snacks to give instead of the usual BF.  Also, I started DS on cows milk around 11 months.  He is a pretty big child and transitioned easily.  Instead of formula, if you're comfortable with it, then start him on a little cows milk at a time.  That way instead of having to go from BM to formual to cows milk, you're taking the middle one out.  Also, try the sippy cups that they can chew on (Nuby makes a great one), DS took those so much easier than the hard spout sippys.  I would always have water and milk in two sippys for DS at every meal.  Just keep offering it and pretty soon they'll just start going for it! 

Also, of course keep his liquids up as much as you can, but feed him cheese, yogurt, and other dairy to get the amount of dairy he needs in a day. 

As for totally weaning him, I have no clue, DS is 14 months old and still nurses before naps and bedtime (3 feeds a day)!  We'll be working on that soon too!

[Maia&Lia]

Hi everyone!
Looking for some advice on weaning my almost 21-month-old daughter. She is currently nursing 2x/day (asks for it quite often but we've established that we're only doing it twice). She refuses milk in a cup (from me or cow, etc.). We do eat lots of cheese, etc. so I'm not worried that she isn't getting enough milk. In any case, I'm not even sure how to go about it since my first weaned when my milk dried up during my pregnancy with my second. Never had to worry about plugged ducts, engorgement...anything! I'd like to be fully weaned by 24 months, I think. Any suggestions/advice would be greatly appreciated!

[camys mum]

Hey Coopers Mommy,
Thanks so much for your reply, that is great advice, seems like a very logical approach, I wasn't sure about the formula, but makes sense to skip that now that my LO is approaching the 11 month mark. I think i'm going to try a little cows milk and see. My wee man is only taking water from his sippy cup, but from what I can gather it'll take a little time for him to get used to something other than water.

Good luck on your weaning and to all you weaning mums, such an odd time, I had no idea i'd BF as long as I did, i'm sad to see it steadily go, but happy to see my LO moving on and I have to say a little happy to have my body back......
 

[lashwish]

I think my 9.5m old is self weaning. I know its early but she's got my 'spirit' and independence.
She gets mad when eating solids as she wants to feed herself.

At any rate, she really only still seems focused on morning & bedtime nursing.
She has had slow weight gain in last 3months. I know part of it is her lack of interest in nursing. She would rather see what is going on. She is so distracted even in a perfectly quiet room.

Currently she nurses 4xs/day & has 3 solids & some snacks.
I was planning on replacing her 3pm feed with formula. She takes a bottle fine. I was concerned about doing 11am feed first as I figured I had more supply in am & it was closer to lunch.

Is it better for my supply to do this for 1 week & then swap 11am feed for formula as well?
I'm concerned I won't be able to continue to nurse for am & pm feeds since Ill be dropping so many feeds.

I have breastfeeding guilt for doing this but I know she needs the calories and shes not getting it from me. I also didnt really plan on BFing much past a yr.