How Do You Stop Breast Feeding?

I think if you aren't ready to stop, you won't stop. Don't feel as though you have to just because he is a year old. If you really want to stop, then, wean off slowly. WTG with breastfeeding!! I tip my hat to you my dear.

I don't have an answer to your question, because my daughter kind of weaned herself, but I wanted to say that her first birthday is Saturday, too! I guess we were both in the same position exactly one year ago! :) Happy Birthday to yours...

All i can say is that you should pump the milk and make him drink the bottle breast milk. Could you imagine feeding him at two the same way, it would seem akward. It sucks but being a mom means we have to break them and not give in to our kids. I know easier said than done. But we make the rules they can't run us. And he's getting to old not to break him now. If he's hungry enough i promise he'll feed from a bottle. Good luck.

I weened my daughter at one year and this is how I did it: I weened one feeding a week until she was completely weened. I started with a feeding that was the least "scheduled" (she was nursing about 5 times a day at that point--first thing in the morning, before nap, after nap, mid-afternoon, and before bedtime) and distracted her with other activities and offered her whole milk in a sippy cup since I didn't want to start giving her a bottle and then have to ween that. The easiest feeding to drop was the mid-afternoon one since it wasn't related to sleeping and she could be easily distracted. Then I dropped the first thing in the morning feeding the same way. When I was ready to drop the naptime feedings, I started on the weekend so my husband could help out with the bedtime routine; it was important for me not to do any of the things that were associated with nursing, so I didn't sit in our "chair" and I read bedtime books in the living room instead of the bedroom, etc. The before bedtime feeding was the hardest to drop, but after about three days of unhappy bedtimes, it was forgotten. Within a month of weening completely, she acted like she'd never done it and even if she saw me without a shirt on, she didn't ask to nurse. Be prepared for resistance and some unhappy days during the weening process, but remember that it's just a short time and your son will get over it quickly!
P.S. I liked that I nursed for a year because then I could go straight to whole milk rather than start with formula and my little girl did not have a problem using the soft-spout sippy cups (though I had started giving water in them to her before starting weening). She also liked the milk warmed up better at the beginning...
GOOD LUCK!

Great advice from everyone, and good for you for Breastfeeding! I remember how I felt when I weaned my little one. I decided on removing one feeding at day,in the middle of the day, making the PM/Feeding one the second and the AM feeding the last. Also, I talked to my little one during the whole process (He was about 1 1/2 yrs at that point) I told him the Milk was going "all gone" and that he would get to use the cup like Mommy and Daddy. I didnt go to the bottle because I didnt want to have the process of eventually taking that too away so I went right to the cup. There were rough bumps and a couple of stressful nights, but within a week or 2 all was well. What I wasnt expecting was how much I too would miss that time we had. Even your homones will go through a shift and Mommy gets less of a release of those "feel good" endorphins.As tedious and hard as nusing for that peroid of time can be, I felt both liberated that my breasts were again "mine" - even tough dramatically different :-):-( and longing again for that special time again with my baby. Good luck with this blossoming it sounds like you are a great Mom during a wonderful job.

when I went to ween my first, another mom told me that she had to put hot sauce on her nipple!!! I thought that was mean, but when my son turned 14 mths I got desperate. I would give him milk in a sippy cup but he wanted to nurse to sleep. It was sooooooo hard!!! I finally put salt on me, I know it sounds bad. He went to nurse and YUCK, then cried, and cried, he just didn't understand. I was young and just wanted my boobs back- but he really wasn't ready to stop.

For the next 3 babies, weening wasn't tragic. What made it hard everytime, was the smell. The baby could smell you, and wanted the comfort of nursing. But the oldest had the hardest time stopping. Just holding him sometimes for the next week after a had weened him was hard for him.

So hang in there, if you decide to keep nursing till he is ready- great. You can even slow down a bit. Or do the cold turkey thing. Either way everything will be all forgotten about a week or 2 later with your son.

Hi L.,

You might check out the forums at mothering.com. It's a very active site, and I'm sure that ideas on how to wean have been discussed there time and again.

My daughter is 9 months and we haven't wanted to wean yet, so unfortunately I don't have any ideas that worked for us (yet). Hope this helps!

My son is almost 18 mos. and I recently weened him. I just cut him off cold turkey. It took about 4 days and he forgot all about it. After about a week and a half my breasts were back to normal. The nights were the hardest part because he usually nursed to sleep, but now he falls asleep with a story. The key was just sticking with it.

This worked for me, but everyone is different. Many people will cut out a feeding at a time. You just need to choose the manner that suits you best.

Will he take a bottle? When I stopped I did it slowly, cutting out the daytime feedings and replacing them with bottles. The first thing in the morning feeding and the last thing in the evening feeding are the hardest and last to go. When your Dr. gives you the OK to give milk (usually at the one year checkup) you might try this. I never warmed milk for him - just gave it cold so that it was nothing like breastmilk...

You could try this with a soft nipple sippy cup too, so you don't have to go through this again breaking him from the bottle.

Hope this helps a little. Good luck.