11 Month Old Won't Nurse Anymore

If he is 11 mos., he no longer NEEDS breastmilk or formula. keep trying milk, but if he doesn't like it, just make sure you give him other dairy choices, cheese, cottage cheese, yogurt, yogurt smoothies, etc. water is the best thing to get him in the habit of drinking anyway. give him vitamins, and check with your dr. to be sure. seems like little one is not sensitive to the fact that you're not ready to be done nursing, but he is. just keep giving him healthy foods.

He doesn't really need any other kind of milk either since he's getting his nutrients from food. Sounds like he has a pretty good diet, don't stress yourself out too much.

Kellymom.com has some tips.

I would try to get him back to nursing, but if he's done (sorry, Momma!) then ease him into whole milk and solid food. My DD won't take cow milk without flavoring, so I give her a LITTLE bit of Quik in her drink.

I also agree to nurse or offer milk first and then solids. And maybe see if he'll nurse when he's tired (first thing in the morning, just before bed or nap).

Pumping will definitely get less, which is a bummer. A better, stronger pump can get more, though. That being said, if you are interested in trying to increase your supply, you could supplement. I take GoLacta, the highest dose. It definitely helped when my oversupply took a nosedive around 6 months when my son got sick and I didn't pump to compensate when he wasn't eating as much. It just never recovered on its own. He is now 11 months and i am still using it and plan to use it at least 1 more month. He won't take any formula either--well rarely. I would try different formulas because they all taste different. I know that is expensive, but if you're concerned about the nutrition, then it might be worth a few more. Try dairy and soy versions.

When I weaned my daughter, my lactation consultant recommended oat milk...it's very sweet and tastes like the milk after a bowl of cheerios. As mentioned by others, breast milk is super sweet, so it might be an option. You can find it in the boxed milk section at health food stores.

My daughter didn't care at all when I finally gave up pumping 4x/day to keep my supply up at 14 months. She just moved on. I'm not sure how my son will do. He seems to be telling me that he's not interested in stopping. At least he has outgrown his dairy and soy sensitivity. I was about to go crazy!! Good luck. Oh, my pediatrician said that babies this age should be getting a minimum of 16oz of formula or breastmilk a day. So I would at least keep him hydrated with water if you're not getting that much. Baby's Only organic dairy formula has a vanilla-y taste and is very sweet. You can order it online or get it at whole foods/health food store. The soy one is kind of weird, but I have read that breastfeeding babies like it. (I supplemented my daughter with it at 11 months, but my son doesn't care for it.)

Hope things get better!

My ped said that as long as my kids (1 DD stopped nursing at 10 months and the other at 13 months) ate at least 3 servings of dairy (cheese, yogurt, etc) per day, they would be fine...sure enough, they are both healthy, growing toddlers (5 and 2). Neither of my DDs would drink whole mik - they just didn't like it. I finally got them both to drink it regularly by using a little Nesquik. Works like a charm and they both will drink white or choc milk now. Don't stress about it - 3 servings of any kind of dairy and he will be fine! :)

Many infants this age and throughout the nursing relationship will have something called a nursing strike. They can last for a few days to over a month. It is a time where nursing is self limited by the infant or completely rejected. This can occur for a few reasons...

1) learning so many new things that they are concentrating on that... food is a secondary or tertiary thought.

2) They are learning to walk/cruise/crawl/etc and want to go go go.

3) The baby is realizing there is so much more around them and are extremely easily distracted.

4) Mom's body hormonal cycle may have suddenly changed and the milk tastes differently.

No matter what the issue is, if you continue to offer the breast often, especially before solids and if baby DOES come back after awhile and is not refused - nursing will resume eventually. The Mother's body can easily up the production or decrease it at anytime to custom fit the baby's needs.

Have you tried coconut milk? I hear that it's sweet like breastmilk.

If he's eating the right foods - I don't think milk is necessary. Why do we drink cow's milk? I think b/c we know we need calcium. There are foods that contain calcium. Make sure he's getting those and don't worry about pushing cow's milk.

Talk to your doctor, but it seems like you are pretty close to the "give em milk at 12 months" finish line. I say pump as long as you want, and then stop. My doctor said as long as they eat dairy (like yogurt) it doesn't matter if they drink too much milk.

And as the mother of a nursing 3 year old, I say take it and run. Mine WON'T stop.

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I recommend you sweeten the whole milk with whatever you are comfortable with. I know they don't recommend honey, but that's what I used. I just boiled it with a little water, then added to the milk.

Breast milk is so sweet, so I'm thinking he's not liking your other offerings as they don't compare to the taste he is familiar with. Whole milk is a completely new taste for him.

And, unfortunately, it sounds like your little guys interest in nursing has weaned. That was a hard one with me with my first who quit nursing at 4 months. I cried and felt rejected. Now I know it's part of her personality..she makes a decision and moves on. I had to mourn that one, be careful not to feel rejected, accept and move on.

You've nursed during the most important time frame. It's normal to stop around this age.

GL!

Your son is still 11 months , so I am not sure if this would be valid for him or not but when my son was initially refusing whole milk ( he was a year old) , his pediatrician told M. that as long as he eats enough dairy products (cheese, yogurt, etc) there is no need to worry about milk. He needs to get calcium from milk and as long as he is still getting it from other sources he should be fine. Have him drink lot of water.
My son would never drink any water in sippy.He would refuse anything I gave in the sippy cup. Then came summer, and he got thirsty , so he started drinking and had no problems once he decided he wanted to drink from the sippy. Also, I weaned him off during the day around the same time , so he drank whole milk well once I weaned him off.

Sigh. My son quit nursing at 11 months. He just didn't want to nurse anymore, he preferred solids. I had hoped to nurse till 15 months!

He also had a terrible milk allergy, so I couldn't give him milk. Remember, as with solids, introducing milk can take up to 12-15 tries before they like it.

My son loved Rice Dream. It's light like human milk and a little sweet. I think it's disgusting, but you could try that.