WEANING thread...Come and share your experiences and offer support.

[deenz]

Sounds fine!

Have a good evening!

[mommy2chase]

Hi Everyone,I would first like to thank everyone for the support on this board. I am thinking of beginning to wean my son who is almost 1.  he's weaned himself down to 2-3 feeds per day. 

My problem is I have mixed feelings.  I want to wean to kind of get my life back a little, but at the same time I'm thinking that I love nursing and I'll never get this time back.  I don't really know what to do.  My dh kind of wants me to stop, just cuz he talks to the girls at work and they were all done well before a year, and initially I told him I wanted to try to make it a year. 

so any words of support in either direction would be of great appreciation.

Thanks ladies and good luck to everyone!

[CaedensMama]

I've been there!
I too told my DH that I wanted to make it to a year and then see where we were. So, he didn't even discuss or bring up weaning before then. But, right around a year he began asking "are you going to wean him?" and such. At that point we were at about 4 feeds a day. I told him we would "start working on it" and see what happened. At first I tried to keep him at just 4 feeds and no more or little snacks thru the day. Then I dropped one of the feeds and we stayed at just that. About that time I found out I was pregnant again. I too had mixed feelings about weaning, I enjoyed the time, it didn't take much and he was still wanting it. And as a SAHM it made life a bit easier not to be having to NOT nurse him when he asked for it after he nap or something. Thru the summer I found we pretty much stopped nursing when we were out. So it varied from one feed to 3 feeds a day depending on our schedule and he was doing fine with that. By mid August we were down to first thing in the morning - which was rarely missed! And sometime after pm nap and before bed depending on what we were doing. I slowly weaned him off that one - kinda just worked because of our schedule and being out alot. My in-laws were here the last couple weeks and I was down to just the am feed and found that I was the reluntant one in giving it up. I wasn't sure I was ready to be completly done. He did fine if we missed, but I wasn't sure I was ready to be done. I had given myself till the end of the year to drop that feed as I did want to wean him before the baby arrives in March. With my in-laws here, it became easier for him to be distracted in the mornings so I went ahead and just stopped offering. He had asked a couple times in the last week to nurse, but I have just told him, "not now" and offered him his milk cup and he has been satisfied with that answer.
I am kinda sad we are done. I realized when DH asked me that he hadn't nursed in a week and I knew we were finished.  But, it is part of growing up and I knew it was going to happen sometime.

All that to say - if YOU want to keep one or 2 feeds and drop the others, that's fine. It is more comfort for him now anyway and maybe you can keep that one feed at a convenient time and drop the ones to give you a bit more freedom to go out in the evenings, etc. There are a number of moms on here nursing well past a year and I am sure they would have some advice too. For me, it worked well for my well-being to take it slow!
Hoep that helps. 

[MGardner]

What do I do if my milk supply isn't keeping up with my weaning schedule. For instance, I wanted to cut down one feed every few weeks..but now that I am only down to 3 feeds (morning, night and middle of the night), I find that I don't have enough milk even for those 3. I want to cut down to 2 feeds and switch out a bottle in the morning but I'm afraid my milk will completely disappear for the night. What do I do in that instance? Will my LO be in complete shock if I go from 3 BF's to 0??? Do I simply BF to start and then supplement when I feel like I am empty? What is the appropriate time to go when dropping feeds???

[CaedensMama]

How old is your LO? If you are under a year, you will need to supplement the 3 feeds for sure. Over a year you should be able to wean to a sippy cup with milk in it.
How are you sure you are running out of milk now? I know that sounds funny but towards the end for me I had no clue if there was anything there. Is the LO getting upset and pulling off or not sucking? Are you pumping and not getting anything - if so, the baby still could be as it is a different suck?
Personally from what you have said so far I would say let the LO keep nursing at all 3 feeds at this point.

[MGardner]

My LO is 6 months I know I have to supplement the feeds with bottle instead of the BF but i'm just don't know how to deal with the fact that I don't have enough milk for those feeds I'm still BFing now. My LO screams after about 5 minutes of sucking and still wants to eat, I switch sides and he sucks for awhile and then isn't satisfied - and I do not get anything when I pump either - used to get 6oz. So i'm pretty sure milk supply is going down due to my weaning - which I am accepting. I just don't know how to deal with it. Do I just speed up the weaning process and just start giving bottles???

[Samuel's mum]

I think the best thing to do would be to offer the breast first for every feed you'd like to keep and if he seems very unsatisfied at the end - offer the bottle. I know we talked before about avoiding the 'triple duty' thing - If you are desperate to retain one particular feed you could try pumping after it but I would have thought that's not certain to work and quite difficult to achieve the correct balance. I think if you offer the breast first and the bottle after your supply will reduce naturally and you'll have much less chance of any blocked ducts etc. I know this is all faster than you'd hoped  but you really should be proud of your six months achievment and focus on the positives if you can.

[waffler]

Sigh... I wanted to b/f my DD for as long as she'd have me. She is now 7months, and I have started to supplement all the b/fs with a bottle of formula. She wasn't gaining weight, and started to lose weight. I pumped, but all i got was 30mls or so (1oz). Then because i was so stresssed, i'd hardly have a let down.

So, on formula, she now takes (after a b/f) about 120-150mls. So she was clearly not getting enough. I still express at least twice a day, and still offer both breasts first. I was so upset initially, as I really wanted to b/f 100%. But her health obviously comes first, and if it means she needs formula - then of course that's what we'll do.

But I'm hoping that she'll still want to b/f for as long as she wants, and I hope that I'll still have milk! She gets SO excited when she sees the bottle now - makes me very jealous!

[Nee]

I have begun weaning from breast to bottle and I'm finding  it emotional    I want to wean but part of me is finding it hard to let go.  We are at 3 bottles a day with top off bottles for 2 remaining BF and she would prefere the bottle.  I am finding that I am very sad today for no reason!!!  I hate hormones

Nee

[BabyBsMommy]

I feel a lot like many of you are.  I was always going to start weaning ds at 6 months but was enjoying it so much that I kept it up much longer.  At 9 months I started to wean slowly, mainly because we are starting to try for our second lo and although I know it can happen without the visual return of your monthly visitor (sorry if TMI, lol) but it does make it easier so the thought is that perhaps with weaning this will return.  Anyways, at the beginning of October, I replaced the PM bf with a bottle and in the middle of the month did the same with the AM bf.  Now he still gets a bf at 7am and 7pm but I can tell my supply is getting lower by the fact (and tell me if I'm wrong on this) that his diaper isn't very heavy in the morning after his full night of sleep or when I change it a while after his morning bf.  I'm thinking that I should start to supplement those feeds with a bottle as well.  He often takes the full 8oz bottle at 1130am and 330pm and I've noticed he isn't as hungry for his solids now despite how active he is (he doesn't stop all day, my spirited little monkey, lol!) and I'm wondering if he is making up for getting less at the morning and bedtime bfs with those big bottles thus filling him up too much before lunch and dinner.  Interestingly, he eats tons at breakfast, the only time he hasn't had a bottle an hour beforehand.  For those of you supplementing your two remaining bfs, how much do you offer?  I am hoping if I do this, he will spread his milk oz out more through the day so he will be hungrier at mealtimes.  Do you think that this is what will happen?

[CaedensMama]

I just offered his milk cup thru-out the day and at meals. We cut back the juice/water quite a bit so he was drinking milk when he was thristy. As I nursed less he did start drinking more but it would take a few days before I noticed it increased. When I weaned completely it took about week and I think his milk intake about doubled. He has stayed good at drinking enough and some days are more and other days less but I don't really worry about it cause I am realizing he is drinking it when he needs it. Hope that helps!

[sofiasmommy]

Hi All!

Does anyone know where I can find the info on how to wean my little one from bfing to whole milk? She will be one next Wednesday and we wanted to start her on whole milk then....She only nurses 3 times a day right now, and honestly, the only one she REALLY WANTS is in the morning. The other ones she just tolerates. So, I believe she will make an easy transition. Just not sure how to start.

TIA!!!
KATI

[deenz]

We just started introducing some whole milk in a straw cup after her lunch meal (instead of her bf).  Dd2 was already used to drinking water from a straw cup.  She didn't drink much to begin with, but I just made sure she had other fluids/dairy in her diet.  Now she'll drink the 100ml I give her over one or two meals.  I still bf her morning and night, but I would just do the same for the other feeds if I was wanting to wean her completely.

HTH!

[Beata]

Kati - Congrats on making it to  year 

There is a lot of info from some moms on this thread and on these boards so look around if you have not already done so.

In a nut shell, our experience consisted of dropping one feed a week (although I started at 11 months, so you might be able to go faster if you want to) and replacing with milk. At fist dd did not drink much, but I offered her breakfast, lunch dinner and 2 snacks. Now she is 18 mo and I give her both water and milk (she was drinking water before I weaned her) and we have not problems. If you want more detail let me know

 

[momof3girls]

Kati, one other thing about the whole milk - none of my girls really liked it at all to begin with, and I stupidly gave up with my older two.  They only drink chocolate milk now.  I decided not to make that same mistake with #3, so I just kept giving it to her.  Persistence pays off, because that girl can't get enough milk these days!