I've wanted to wean my son for quite some time, and have tried several times, with no luck. 2 days ago, I went cold turkey and only offered formula in a bottle, and he was having none of it. He'd taken a bottle before, about twice a week for the last 2 weeks (more when he was littler), but flat out refused the formula this time. He has to be on alimentum due to his dairy/soy intolerance. It tastes pretty nasty. After day 1 (about 12 hours with nothing but a serving of bananas), I caved and gave him the breast when my hubby came home from work. I know he doesn't handle a crying baby well, and I was exhausted. He nursed through the night (maybe even more than normal), and woke about 7:30 in the morning. I nursed him for the last time, and then started day 2.
No luck. He completely refused the bottle, but didn't cry very much. He just wanted to be cuddled, so that's what I did. He looked a little jealous of the breast pump when I used it because I was engorged. I cleaned just to maintain my sanity, and by 2pm, the house could've been on a Mr. Clean commercial! At about 3:30, my hubby came home and convinced me to give him some solids (peaches), just so he'd have something in him. He said it seemed cruel, starving him. I agreed, but at this point, I was just making it up as I went! I soon stumbled upon this forum, and got some encouragement from an old 2008 post about weaning cold turkey.
When I weaned my older son (4 years ago), he was so attatched to the breast that he went on a 4-day hunger strike (no food or drink) and finally caved. That was with no distractions, and nothing to do but wait it out with him. He was a year old, and only wanted the boob. That was torture!!
I saw that most moms gave breastmilk first when transitioning, so that's what I did. I pumped out fresh breastmilk and gave it. He was napping, and didn't seem to notice. He took that first bottle at 5:15pm with his eyes closed!! Since then, he's taken a total of 5 bottles, expressed milk only, and doesn't put up that much of a fight (only refused the milk at the 4am feeding, but caved after 25 minutes). My question is when to start the formula, and how much to add to the bottles? I don't have much of a stash of pumped milk, and I'm only pumping when engorged. Tips? Anything will help! I know I made it over the hump, with the bottles, but I'm pretty tired and my hubby is not helping!
