Weaning at 13 months

[Megewansmum]

Hoping someone can help or at least have gone through similar. My second DD is coming up to 13 months. I have been exclusively breastfeeding her throughout this time. She does take water from a sippy cup with meals. She is BF in the morning around 6.30amish at 1.30pm before her second nap and at 7pm ish before bed. I would like to start weaning her onto cow's milk now. I had planned to replace the 1.30pm first with cow's milk in her sippy but she just looks at me and spits it out. Is it just a matter of being very patient, afterall I guess she's never had milk except from mum? Not quite sure what to do now except for keep offering it. I was hoping to have her completely weaned by 18 months. Any advise would be gratefully received. 

[mycatmonet]

my dd also spat cows milk out when she first had it. Slowly she got used to it, and progressed to drinking small amounts like 1/5 of the sippy etc. Now she'll drink a whole sippy of her 'moo' and loves it. I'd just keep offering, and see how she goes.

[Fiver]

If you LO is getting plenty of dairy in other forms (cheese, yoghurt etc), it's not vital for her to be drinking cow's milk.  We just didn't offer it while DD was still BF and allowed her to decide to stop.  She asked one day to try some of DS's milk and we gave her a little of her own and she's been happy drinking it since.  I believe the taste is quite different to breastmilk, so there could be some element of that.

[Erin M]

If you LO is getting plenty of dairy in other forms (cheese, yoghurt etc), it's not vital for her to be drinking cow's milk.

^^^^this

And if she's not a fan of dairy, you can still work with that as well -- babies with dairy allergies do just fine without it -- you just have to make sure she's getting enough protein, fat, calcium, etc.

[Megewansmum]

Thank you Mycatmonet and Fiver...gives me a little hope 

Unfortunately she seems to hate cheese, unlike my other dd who would live on cheese! She does like yoghurt though.
Fiver, what age was she when she decided to stop? I love BF but I just don't want to be still doing it when she is starting preschool 
Some people have told me just not to offer BF at all and keep giving her the sippy of milk instead. 1) I think that is too harsh. 2) I wouldn't want my milk supply to dwindle in the meantime. 3) her sister had a milk allergy, until she grew out of it finally at 15 months, and so I wanted to take it slowly with her just incase. She showed the same symptoms when she was a newborn so I started eating a dairy free diet. I was told by the allergist to introduce yoghurt first, then cheese and finally milk. Can't quite get the milk though to see.

[Megewansmum]

Thanks Erin

Not sure if it's the taste she doesn't like or whether it's just because it's new. I did think of trying her on soy milk just to try something different. She's only ever had BM from me and never a bottle or sippy, and water. Thankfully DD1 outgrew the milk allergy. Fingers crossed DD2 doesn't have the allergy. I guess there are plenty of alternatives out there.

[Fiver]

My DD stopped at about 25m, so a bit older than yours, but before preschool

[Megewansmum]

Wow...that is really awesome

If you can remember that far back to when your DD was 13 months old how often were you offering her BF's. It's just that I've just stopped BF with the morning and afternoon snacks as she wasn't taking much so now she has a sippy with water. She doesn't take much of that either. Now she's only getting 3 BF's I worry that that isn't enough until she will take cow's milk from her sippy. We've been going through a series of 5.30am wakings and I'm wondering if the two are connected. Thanks.

[Fiver]

I think at 13m she was having a WU feed, something either in the morning or afternoon and then BT feed.  I might be wrong, but I think that was about when the NFs stopped as well, so it was 2-3 BFs per day.

[Megewansmum]

Thanks so much. I think I'm on the right track then.

DD actually tried a few sips of cow's milk after her lunch but then preceded to throw up not long after. Just hoping she's not allergic too like DD1  I'll have another try tomorrow...fingers crossed.

[Fiver]

Good luck

[Megewansmum]

Well, I've been trying for a while now and she still refuses cow's milk. Strange as she has it in her cereal in the morning! Does anyone know how much dairy products a day a 14 month old should be having if she was weaned? She was a brilliant solid food eater when she was little but has turned into the fussiest eater ever now. She won't touch anything with a cheese sauce, no pasta, rice or meat and limited veg's. I'm still BFing 3x a day around 6.30am, 12 noon and 6.30pm before her bath. When do you think I should drop the midday feed?

[*Ali*]

It's only about 10oz a day and that includes all yoghurt, cheese and milk whether as a drink or in cereal or whatever. Not a lot really.

[Megewansmum]

Thanks Ali. I guess it's going to have to be the yoghurt route as she won't drink milk and hates cheese 
When you stopped BFing your first was it through self weaning? I really don't know what route to take.

[*Ali*]

You said she has milk on her cereal so that counts too

With DS1 we were down to morning and BT feeds and he wasn't interested a couple mornings and then I just distracted him with a hot choc or DH got him up. Then a few weeks later for the BT feed I moved the BF to down stairs on the sofa rather than upstairs immediately before teeth and bed. Otherwise he never wanted to skip or finish it as it meant straight to bed. After I moved it he was happy to finish and sometimes skip it completely and go upstairs with daddy for stories etc. After he skipped it a few days I just distracted and then if he asked in the weeks afterwards I just told him he was a big boy now and didn't need boobies. We have few if any tears. That's the summary, if you are interested in reading my desperate posts about it at the time they are on the old weaning support thread here WEANING thread #2... Come share experiences and offer support

[scruffymax]

My 14.5 MO DD will drink cows milk from a bottle but not a cup - she was weaned to formula at 7.5 months and then cows milk in her bottles by 13 months.  She's currently just having one bottle per day, before bed.  I've tried giving it warm, cold, different cups, but she never drinks more than a sip or 2 (but guzzles it from a bottle).  At the moment I'm trying to gradually get her used to the taste of it coming from a cup by mixing it with her water - started off with just a splash of milk in her sippy cup of water, and today I got up to about 1/4 milk.  Can't say as yet that it will definitely be successful but it's the most success we've had so far!

[Megewansmum]

Thanks so much Ali...I will definitely take a look at your thread.

I love BFing as with DD1 we had problems with her weight gain and were told by the pediatrician to supplement her. I did manage to pump and still offer a decent amount of milk until she was 15 months and was able to tolerate milk but I'm not a fan of pumping at all. With DD2 I recognised the symptoms of the milk allergy and have never had to supplement. It has truly been a joy and completely different experience. I never realised though that it would be so difficult to stop  What age did you just do morning and evening feeds?

[Megewansmum]

Ali...I've just read your thread. Wow, you did great with Cadan! I hope it is like that for Abi. I don't want any tears either. I've given myself to 18 months to see if she does it herself but we shall see. It's been such a beautiful experience I don't want to end it just because I think it's time. Like you I have such mixed feelings about it coming to an end anyway.

[*Ali*]

We dropped to 2 feeds quite a while before we weaned. I think it was about 14 or 15mo and he was 26mo when we did our last ever feed. I always had it in my head that I wanted to BF for the 2yrs that the WHO recommends so I wasn't thinking of weaning completely when I reduced the feeds. It is emotional and I had fed him through my DS2's pregnancy and then in tandem so I was getting quite tired of it tbh. I think I probably would have been more upset if I didn't have a 6mo to carry on feeding so goodness knows how I will be when my BF relationship with DS2 comes to an end. Hopefully he won't be my last though

[Megewansmum]

Scruffymax...Thanks for that I might try that too. I have a friend  whose DD2 also guzzles milk from a bottle but not from a sippy cup. She is 16 months now so her mum took away the bottle and is going with no milk but lots of yoghurt and cheese. I've even tried DD2 on chocolate milk today but she refused that aswell 

Ali...DD2 has a 15 month check up at the doctors next month so if he says that her weigh and stuff is ok then I think I'll try to cut out the midday feed as you did. She has a huge lunch (normally her best meal of the day) so I'm pretty sure she doesn't really need it. My hat off to you. You have done absolutely awesome with your two boys and given them such a great start in life Thanks for your help.

[*Ali*]

Ah thank you. You are doing a fab job too