Author Topic: WEANING thread...Come and share your experiences and offer support.  (Read 60020 times)

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Offline Samuel's mum

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Re: WEANING thread...Come and share your experiences and offer support.
« Reply #120 on: October 02, 2006, 11:20:12 am »
lissylewis/ Mel - with your history of mastitis - heavens above! That is a record in my book. You need a medal. It is inspiring you have kept going. Really inspiring

I hope someone has talked to you about what can be done in cases of recurrent mastitis (e.g dietary changes, lecithin supplements) as if you were to bf again you need to have some expert advice. I would personally have some question marks about the effectiveness of some of the antibiotics you were prescribed for one. If you get ill again you should ask for a swab and a full work-up to be done so source of infection can be identified and antibiotics pin-pointed precisely. (Of course this might already have happened ages Ok and you could be thinking  ::))
http://www.kellymom.com/bf/concerns/mom/recurrent-mastitis.html

Enough on that - I am not even going to beat about the bush. I think you need some expert advice before you embark on weaning. I think you should contact your local La Leche League and speak to a leader or hire an LC or at least phone a helpline. There are numbers on the FAQ page. I'm a trainee breastfeeding counsellor and I don't feel remotely qualified to advise you other than say slowly slowly slowly. I would think in terms of months not weeks. I think with your history you need advice - sorry. I can completely understand why anyone would feel apprehensive especially in your case.  :-\
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Offline MGardner

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Re: WEANING thread...Come and share your experiences and offer support.
« Reply #121 on: October 02, 2006, 13:12:43 pm »
Samuel's mom - thanks  alot for the advice. I know you are right. I'm feeling so many things, sad that this BF experience is quickly coming to an end, anxious about the trip, but also excited that my little one is growing up. I don't know how to deal with it all. I am going to simply focus on keeping up my supply at night until after I get home from my trip. At that point I will let happen what happens. If even the night feeding becomes hard I will end it. I just can't believe that at that time I will never ever breastfeed him again. I will probably start crying right now... and can't imagine what the last time will feel like for me...but thanks so much for all your help. I'll keep you updated.

Offline smileymama

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Re: WEANING thread...Come and share your experiences and offer support.
« Reply #122 on: October 03, 2006, 00:46:28 am »
Hi All - I am in need of some weaning advice. My ds is 9.5 mo. and I have decided I'd like to wean. He is on 4 hour EASY and has been waking at midnight (which used to be a df but now he wakes up for it) and then again at 4am/5am. I think these have turned into habitual wakings but since he's not gaining enough, I bf him begrudgingly. I have started giving him 2 oz formula at meal times (because of his need to gain weight) which he sometimes chugs all of, and other times won't have a lick of it. I was reading through Solves All of Your Problems last night and today I started dropping the bf at the 8:15am morning feed. I tried giving him formula in the same sippy cup he uses for the formula at his high chair - while sitting with him on my lap on the couch (where I normally bf him). I was planning on dropping this feed for a week and then moving onto the others. He bf fine after his meal at 12pm but wouldn't bf after his 4pm feed.

Here are my questions...
-should I have dh do pu/pd at the nighttime feeds (both or just one?)
-should i take his uninterest in the 4pm bf as a sign of self-weaning and go stop bf all together?
-is there anything else I should/should not be doing?

His schedule:
8am wake
8:15 E
8:45 A
10:00 S
11:30 wake
12:00 E
12:30 A
2:00 S
3:30 wake
4:00 E
4:30 A
8:00 E
8:30 S

thank you, thank you, thank you! I am so grateful for any advice.
xoxo
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Offline mrs_kat

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Re: WEANING thread...Come and share your experiences and offer support.
« Reply #123 on: October 03, 2006, 15:22:24 pm »
If he's still taking the noon and nighttime bf's fine, I wouldn't assume he's self-weaning.  If you'd rather do a slower wean, I think you should go that path instead. 

This was my own preference with my dd, but when she was your lo's age and had a 5:00am feeding, this is the one I dropped first.  She's also on the small side so I did worry about her eating enough but found that she ate better during the day when she wasn't getting a full feed during the night.

I actually weaned it - limited it to five minutes for a week, then to two minutes, and she did cry when I took her off the boob before she wanted, but we just cuddled for a few minutes until she was calm and thankfully she did go right back to sleep when I laid her back in bed.  The next step we planned was just to give her the paci when she woke, but she ended up getting an ear infection and that actually worked in our favor - for two nights she woke at different times but just needed eardrops to get back to sleep and didn't demand a feed.  By the third night, when she wasn't in pain anymore, she slept on through till 7:00.  All that to say, you could do pu/pd during the wakeups or you could drop the amount of time that you bf if you prefer a slower approach.  Whichever you think he would handle better.  Best of luck!
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Offline momof3girls

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Re: WEANING thread...Come and share your experiences and offer support.
« Reply #124 on: October 03, 2006, 16:47:49 pm »
I've been reading a few of these posts (not all - good grief, I'd be here all day! ;)), and you're all so encouraging!  I'm in the process of slowly weaning dd and feeling :-\ which I never thought would happen.  I hated bfing my older two and couldn't wait to stop!  I started weaning both of them at 6 mos. and they were completely weaned by 9-10 mos., but I kept going with this one originally because we didn't want to pay for formula.  Now that she's old enough for cow's milk, I thought I'd be so eager to quit bfing, but my heart just isn't in it.  We're down to 3 times during the day (although her afternoon feed is more like a 3-minute snack ::)), and a feed at around 1am because I've been putting off doing pu/pd to help her go back to sleep :-[.  Part of me really wants to wean her, and part of me says keep going!  I know I'm not asking any questions or offering any advice, but since this is a support thread, I just thought I'd speak up...
Allison



Offline smileymama

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Re: WEANING thread...Come and share your experiences and offer support.
« Reply #125 on: October 03, 2006, 16:54:17 pm »
mrs kat - Thank you so much for your insight! I am so happy to hear what has worked for you.

So, do you think that I should just slowly take away the minutes i feed my lo during the daytime (one feeding at a time) just like I am doing at the 4am/5am feed? Or, do you think i should just drop a feed during the daytime and hope that ds will drink enough formula? I could also try giving him ebm in a sippy cup when i would normally bf him. Any thoughts? 

Thanks.
xoxo
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Offline Lovejoy

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Re: WEANING thread...Come and share your experiences and offer support.
« Reply #126 on: October 03, 2006, 17:21:18 pm »
sad to be even posting on here - but i feel the time has come for dd to be weaned off the breast.  At the moment 2 feeds: a wake up morning feed and then her bedtime feed (once a week OH gives her a bottle of formula for bed routine)
How do i go about weaning her off - I'm thinking of replacing bedtime feeds with bottle
(or should i give her a beaker - can babies actually drink their milk from beakers????? she drinks water from them, but i don't mind that dribbled/spilt and wasted!!) 
And then slowly weaning off morning feed...gosh i feel sad typing this (we love the morning feed)  but i do want to bf upto 1 year max (she's 11 months old)

just bumping up my own pos t so that i can be advised how to wean off bf - sorry indulgent i know!

Offline mrs_kat

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Re: WEANING thread...Come and share your experiences and offer support.
« Reply #127 on: October 03, 2006, 18:50:13 pm »
Lovejoy, not indulgent at all!  I'm sorry I didn't notice yours earlier.  Since she's already 11 months, are you planning to replace those bf's with milk or are you going to do formula first, then milk?  My dd rarely got bottles so when we weaned we went straight to giving her milk in a spillproof sippy (I assume that's the same as a beaker?), which she'd already been using for water and juice.  The downside with this as opposed to a bottle is that she wouldn't just sit and drink all at once.  The plus side is that there was no need to wean from a bottle.  So whichever seems better to you - bottle or sippy.

What ended up happening when we dropped the bedtime feed was that we replaced it with a sippy of milk and a snack, usually graham crackers.  We're a family that snacks in the living room so we allowed her to do the same, and she'd usually eat the crackers right away and over the course of 20 minutes or so, as we played and read books, she'd drink the milk.  I know some families prefer to limit food and drink to the high chair or table, so that would affect whether you would be ok with doing what we did.  I kept the morning feed for about two weeks after dropping the bedtime one (I loved starting the day off that way!), and we dropped the morning one by having dh get dd up from her crib and right away hand her a cup of milk, which she chugged just as enthusiastically as she nursed.  I admit to sitting in the bedroom feeling very blue during this time, but I knew that if I got her out of bed she'd be less likely to accept the milk.  After a few days, she was used to having a sippy first thing and I was able to start getting her up without any fuss.  I hope some of this is helpful; even if you wean differently than I did I think it's always good to hear what other people have done as you decide what works best for your family.

Dannymomma, when we went from four daytime feeds to three, I got rid of the lunch and dinner time feeds and gave an afternoon snack bf right before the second nap.  Then we were able to replace that afternoon bf with a sippy of milk and a snack, but dd was 11 months at this point and we were willing to give cow's milk.  So if you wanted to drop your feeds in the same order, you could bf or give a sippy of ebm before the 2:00 nap, and then have that be the next feed to go whenever you're ready.
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Offline lissylewis

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Re: WEANING thread...Come and share your experiences and offer support.
« Reply #128 on: October 03, 2006, 23:37:28 pm »
Thanks heaps for all the great advice.  I know I am going to have to do it slowly and you are right I am going to speak to a lactation consultant I have a great one who I wouldn't be breastfeeding today if it wasn't for her, she got me thru the nightmare few weeks when my nipples were falling off!!!

About the mastitis I know, everyone else thinks I need a medal, but I absolutley love breastfeeding my little boy and that is what has got me thru, it is a truly wonderful thing. 

I will keep in touch and let you know how things go....

Mel

Offline deenz

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Re: WEANING thread...Come and share your experiences and offer support.
« Reply #129 on: October 04, 2006, 06:52:44 am »
Lovejoy - in addition to what mrs_kat said, I just wanted to add how we weaned dd1.  We also never used bottles/formula, and at the age your lo is at, you wouldn't need to either, if you didn't want to.  Before dd1 was taking much cow's milk (it took her a while to like it) we would just make sure she was getting plenty of other dairy (yogurt, cheese etc) and fluid (water).  For the bedtime feed, I gradually brought it earlier and earlier so that it wasn't associated with going to bed.  So eventually it was after her dinner (and before bath etc).  We didn't add any snacks or anything, just kept encouraging her to drink more cow's milk at dinner time.  Then we dropped it one day (although dd1 was older than your lo at that time).  We did the same as mrs_kat for the morning feed.  Granted our process was much longer (only fully weaned at 25m! But at 1yo we were at 2 feeds).

Offline clh

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Re: WEANING thread...Come and share your experiences and offer support.
« Reply #130 on: October 04, 2006, 19:09:47 pm »
Would someone remind me that weaning, by definition, requires a drop in production?  I know that's silly, but I'm having mental/emotional issues about it at the moment.  I'm down to one pump/day at work, and I nurse ds morning & night.  I'm planning to continue morning & night as long as I can.  I just pumped substantially less than usual & am feeling bummed.  Tell me I'm silly, please.  Thanks!  ;)  (Ds is *fine* with cow's milk & sippys, BTW)
Candice



Offline Samuel's mum

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Re: WEANING thread...Come and share your experiences and offer support.
« Reply #131 on: October 04, 2006, 19:30:25 pm »
Candice

You're silly!
 ;D

Although I can completely appreciate how weird it must be to have to change your thinking on supply 180 degrees!!
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Offline BabyBsMommy

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Re: WEANING thread...Come and share your experiences and offer support.
« Reply #132 on: October 05, 2006, 02:57:17 am »
Hope I'm posting in the right place.  Starting to wean my 9 month old today...we are going to try to start ttc in 2 months and my monthly friend has yet to make an appearance (I know that may not matter for ttc but it would be nice to have a clue on timing, lol!)  Anyways, he is on a 4.5 EASY that looks like this:
7am bf
8am solids
930am nap (1 hour)
1130am bf
1230pm solids
200-230ish bap (1.5 hours)
400pm bf
500pm solids
700pm bf and then to bed

I am planning on weaning the 4pm feed first, then the 1130am one, about 2 weeks apart but keep the am and pm one a bit longer.  So today I gave a bottle of formula at 415 after his nap and he took 6 oz so I was worried about getting dinner in him and ANOTHER bf at 700.  So I'm wondering, should I only offer 3 oz or so and a little snack after his nap (say a few bits of fruit, gerber puffs, etc.) to hold him through to dinner....is he ready to move to 3 feeds?
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Offline deenz

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Re: WEANING thread...Come and share your experiences and offer support.
« Reply #133 on: October 05, 2006, 09:03:43 am »
BabyBsmommy - yes, I think that would be fine.  You could perhaps even bypass the formula altogether after his nap if he's getting other sources of calcium/dairy  (and then add some snack and water at that time).  I am sure ff babies at this age would only be having 3 bottles??  Maybe check the ff board.  My dd2 was on only 3 bf at that age (and no formula, but including cheese and yogurt).  When you get to dropping the 11.30am feed I think you will need to add the formula in.  Probably after lunch though.  HTH, and good luck with TTC!

Offline BabyBsMommy

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Re: WEANING thread...Come and share your experiences and offer support.
« Reply #134 on: October 05, 2006, 14:58:09 pm »
Thanks!  He is getting some extra calcium in his diet - he has about 1/3 of a carton of dairyland baby yogurt at breakfast, a quarter of a grilled cheese sandwich at lunch and either some whole wheat pasta with a bit of melted cheese on it at dinner or a bit of shredded cheese mixed in with a veggie.  Will this suffice?  I am going to bf today as we are out for the evening so he'll be getting a bottle of formula before bed but tomorrow I'll go back to trying out either the 3 oz of formula or just some water in a sippy.  Thanks!
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