Can't get 14 mo to take any milk/formula/anything other than BF...can't wean

[arabesque]

Hello

I'm in a world of pain with ew, when my DD only wants to BF to settle. Sometimes she falls asleep back on he breast. The morning feed used to be 7, and is now 6 or before...going back to being a nf!

My trouble is She won't take milk or anything else. I have tried cows milk, rice milk, smoothies, formula. Nope. She only wants BF, and I want to fill her up more before bed then be able to send dh in for the morning feed (though he doesn't know that yet!)

Please help. Any suggestions welcome

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

Personally I feel at 14 months it is more about a habit than actual hunger and needing to be filled up. Are you wanting to wean or just stop the morning feed being during what should be sleep time? What about sending DH in to resettle but not feed?

[arabesque]

Thanks for your rely. You're right, I just want to stop feeding so early.

Dh doesn't get up to her. She screams if he does, and that wakes the other children who are hen tired for school. So he doesn't offer and I don't ask. (But then he complains about the early morning...ha at least he lies in bed!)

So yes I just want that feed to go away. I sit in her room with her in the dark until as close to 7 as I can, but it's just not getting better

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

What does her day look like? Is she on one nap or two? Seeing as how she used to sleep I wonder if a routine tweak is in order.

[arabesque]

Thanks
Brace yourself, this may be long.

So her day now looks like:

Wake 5-6am
I hold off her feed as long as I can by trying to keep her in cot
BF 6ish
Sit in quiet room until 6:45
Breakfast 7:30
Snack 9:30/10
Lunch 11:30
Nap 12-1:30ish
Snack 2:30/3
More snacks
Dinner 5/5:30
Bath
BF 6:45
Bed 7

So as you can see there's an ew there.

Prior to this, our routine was:

W 6:30/6:45
BF 7
Breakfast 8
Snack 10
Nap (had to push her to have it as she wasn't keen) 10:15-11
Lunch 12
Nap in car on way to school 2:30 (had to drive around for ages to get her to fall asleep)
Snack 3-4
Dinner 5ish
BF 6:45
Bed 7

She got sick and got very sleepy not long after wed moved to one nap. So she had heaps of daytime sleep, and since then the ew has gotten worse and worse. She doesn't take milk in any form other than me. I'm exhausted and over it. I'm trying to keep her quiet each morning so my boys don't wake too early for school.

I'm open to your suggestions. I feel limited by school pickup and after school activities which mean that she can't sleep/won't sleep when the other kids are in the car. So if I do second nap, it has to be before 3pm. Dh isn't much help- mainly because she screams when he's there at the ew and so to keep her quiet I just go in. In the last three days, she's laid back down for about 15 mins while I'm patting her. But not slept unless she's fallen asleep during the BF, which she did this morning.

Sorry for blathering on! Thanks for your help xx

[arabesque]

Oh and it doesn't seem like she's ever eaten much. She drinks a stack of water, but dinner can be three bites and she's done. Some days she'll have a lot, other days hardly anything.

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

Toddlers are pretty good at self regulation for food and I always find it helpful to remember their stomach is roughly the size of their fist so not tons of room. Serving sizes for toddlers are quite small!

Have you tried ebt since going to one nap?