Weaning thread part 3... Come share experiences and offer support

[Bella89]

Just stopped by to give some support and tell you that BF blues is completely normal. Also because of sudden lack of happy hormones I was devastated for a week and wanted to reactivate lactation (I was really desparate:/) but my DH stood up to the challange and kept me distracted :p
After that time I understood that this decision was made for a reason... All that blabber is to tell you it will all pass and give you so many different opportunities to be as close to your baby i.e. now my DS is feeding me :p

My DS loves this straw cup:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Philips-Avent-Beaker-Straw-Colours/dp/B005PW4554/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1458677115&sr=8-2&keywords=avent+straw
Both sizes:)

Good luck!

[*Ali*]

Ah, hugs

[NZ_Mum]

I need a hand held over here ladies!
DS3 (17mo) has suddenly stopped BFing, 2 days after his MMR shots and now it's been 4-5days with no BF and I'm sad that this is IT.
With my other two I BF till 19mo and 2yr and those were both gradually weaned. This is so sudden!
He has done a nursing strike once before when he had a strep throat infection, but I was able to express and get him back to BF after a few days. But this time it has been longer and my supply was already less (older baby) and just expressing hasn't been enough to keep up production.

Logically I know he's plenty old enough to wean and I know it is just me holding onto the wish to BF as long as I did with the others. But part of me wonders if it's premature (he really seemed to enjoy it before this happened) or if that even really matters.

[JennVanessa1083]

Hi ladies!!

I am joining the weaning community 

I am a FTM and currently have an 11.5 month old DS who LOVES to nurse. I am in the process of gradually night weaning. He is teething and seems this bout is the worst so far. He tugs the same ear a lot and cries when laid horizontal. Anyways, I'm going to the doctor to ensure its not an ear infection or ache.

I was wondering how bad is it if you go a little backwards on the night weaning process? So I have been stretching out his NF to 6-7 hours and tonight was going to be night one of 7 hour stretches (I'm extending to at least an hour every 3 nights); however, he had a rough day for so many reasons and woke up4 hours after BT  rolling around in pain so I decided to nurse him thinking it was for comfort. Well he drained both breasts as though he was starving! He didn't have the best dinner or lunch. Seems like the last two days he has been much pickier with food preferring cold fruit and cold cheese instead of anything else really. He's usually a great eater which is why I felt comfortable night weaning. Did I just undo everything? Will it be that much harder to get back to our progress? Should I have stuck to the plan regardless?

Ideally I would like to completely wean by 13 months which why I'm starting night weaning around now. I am also wondering if I can start to switch out a BF session in the day with a cup of BF with either his snack or meal? I started introducing snack time right after a BF session.

Thanks so much!

[*Ali*]

Hugs Cathy. It's so hard especially when it's not your decision.

Jennifer, I'm sure you will be able to carry on. If he's sick now may not be the best time. Yes a snack and cup sounda like a great idea.

[JennVanessa1083]

Hugs Cathy, I honestly can't imagine what that is like when BF creates such a strong bond.

Thanks Ali! I felt a little guilty for going off track especially since I BFed 3 times  but he clearly needed it bc there was no suckling just drinking until drained then asleep. I'm wondering if I should just give him cold foods to hopefully get more calories in him and avoid him rejecting food in general.

[*Ali*]

All bets are off when they're not well.

[JennVanessa1083]

HA! Yes which I don't necessarily mind but he's a slow teether so we will see how long this bout lasts.

In general,how long does the weaning process take? DS is two weeks shy of one year old so wondering realistically how long it will take me to wean in a gradual way.

[Bella89]

We weaned in a month when DS was 8 months old.

[*Ali*]

I think you can pretty much go as fast or slowly as you both want. It depends how he responds to swapping the day feeds.

[JennVanessa1083]

We will see bc he loves his milk!

In terms of cows milk did you ladies just start giving them some right away? Or did you slowly replace the feeds with cows milk? I'm thinking of starting a day or two before he actually turns one.

[*Ali*]

I didn't replace any feeds with cows milk.  I replaced feeds with solids. We just gave a bit of cows milk as a drink if that is what they chose as their drink on that occasion. The daytime feeds went to snacks like fruit or yogurt. When we dropped the morning feed we just went straight to breakfast with the rest of the family. The bedtime feed was the only one we offered an ounce or two of warm milk for but it wasn't aways accepted and after a few weeks that became a drink with dinner too. Mine were a lot older when we dropped the morning and BT feeds though.

[Bella89]

I did the same, as Ali said. With the difference that when I gave cows milk in a straw cup as a drink DS always drank 9oz and ate little solids. He is 16mo and it's still the same. He just loves his milk:) So I learnt to make breakfast and dinner a little portion, so none of the food lands in the trash.

[*Ali*]

Just remember that cows milk has none of the benefits of breast milk or even formula so you don't want LO drinking large quantities of it. It isn't a complete food like breast or formula milk and doesn't have any immunological benefits either. Drinking too much cows milk is actually detrimental as it has too much of certain nutrients and is lacking in others and it can stop LO wanting to eat proper food which does have the nutrients they need.

[JennVanessa1083]

Wow thanks ladies! Loads of great advice. I didn't know about that Ali. Just like all things, a delicate balance is needed. So I have been reading a lot on weanjng. Not sure if that's a good thing or not since there's SO much information out there. DS LOVES cheese and Greek yogurt which he pretty much eats one or the other or both every day. So would that count as say two servings out of the 3 that is advised for cows milk? So I don't have to give cows milk during each solids meal right?

Last night DS only fed once which is astonishing. I resettled in other ways and there were no tears. I'm going to try to repeat it tonight.

I'm sorry if I'm asking too much should I start a personal thread on this?