Tips for Weaning off Breastfeeding Quickly

A.
You can try pumping and putting that into a cup the start mixing in whole milk a little at a time and if you can pump enough then you can start to wean. Like 1 oz to the rest breast milk then gradually put more milk in. Good luck and ask for some help if you have anyone around so you can get through this pregnancy.

You can nurse while pregnant without it causing any trouble to either child. Sometimes your milk supply might lessen, but often not for the first few months at least. If you decide to wean, I would keep the organic milk up, but offer it in a Born Free sippy cup. You can get a softer spout, which still feels nice to kids. And slowly, once she's ready, transition her to a harder spout.

The Born Free cup is easy to drink out of, BPA-free, and doesn't spill. The valve is not vacuum-based, so it's much better for kids' ears and feels more soothing to them when drinking. For easy transitions, I highly recommend it! Also, it's apparently very normal for kids to go on a "sippy cup strike" when first transitioning. My friend's baby did this. But after a couple of days, he started drinking again and never had a problem with the cup after that.

My son took to the Born Free very quickly- no strike at all! He won't take any other brands, except the NUBY, which also has a soft spout.

Good luck with your pregnancy!

A.-

I think Amanda P. said everything I was going to say. I so wish the medical establishment would stop frightening women about nursing (and other things) during pregnancy. I especially wish they would stop telling women that nursing takes nutrients away from the fetus. What a bunch of phooey.

You can wean if you'd like, but do it for reasons other than fear of harming your pregnancy. And as others have mentioned, your child may wean on her own. There is no need to rush it however if she does not. Eventually your milk will turn to colostrum and there won't be much there for her anyway.

As for the milk, as others have suggested try goats milk. It is more easily digested. OR, if you prefer or she prefers cows milk, try finding a farm that pastures their cows and buy RAW milk. Raw milk conatins enzymes that aid in digestion and the texture (non homogenized) is closer to your own milk's. Our 15 mo old son gets a raw milk bottle every night before bed and he loves it...won't even drink supermarket milk. He is also still nursing.

We also had to play around with different cups and bottles. He likes glass bottles (for milk only)and a dixie cup for anything else. He decided he didn't like sippy cups becuse they don't look like our glasses...he must mimic.

Good luck!

Nursing while you are pregnant will not hurt your pregnancy. At this point, nursing is something that your body is used to and can accomodate for. I would just keep nursing your little one, it sounds like that is what she needs!

Best Wishes
D.

When my first son was 4 months old I got pregnant and continued to nurse him until he decided to wean himself at almost 11 months of age. When I took him for his 9 month well visit, a pediatrician told me that I was making him malnourished because all of my nutrients were going to the developing fetus and then a nurse in the same office told me that I was starving my unborn child because all of my nutrients were going into my milk. This confused and infuriated me because my midwife group had told me all along that it was completely safe to nurse while pregnant as long as there were no complications with the pregnancy and I kept myself healthy. I have complete faith in them but I went home and read everything I could find online anyway about nursing during pregnancy and there is no evidence to make such a general conclusion that it is not safe. Even on the American Academy of Pediatrics board. Therefore, I promptly changed pediatricians and continued to nurse my child. To back up a few months, at around 8 weeks into my pregnancy I started to bleed, which was quite frightening at first, but I was closely monitored by my midwives and with ultrasounds and was given the same results as you - everything looked perfect but a lot of blood around the sac. I was NOT considered a high risk pregnancy at all, and in fact all subsequent tests put me into a very low risk category. I was advised to continue life as usual but to just rest and drink lots of extra water when I felt the bleeding was more than just spotting. We met with a neonatal radiologist after each ultrasound to review the results and it was explained to me that the blood around the sac could just have been due to the second pregnancy happening so soon after the first baby was born and they described it as similiar to when you dig into the sand at the beach near where the tide comes in and the hole fills up with water again. They said that the fetus had attached to a point on my uterus where there was probably still scar tissue and as it was growing and thus putting pressure on my uterine wall, it caused some bleeding. The bleeding continued until the end of my fourth month and then stopped quite abrubtly, at which point an ultrasound indicated that the blood around the sac was gone. My baby was born 10 days before my due date, at 9 lbs 2 oz, and with no issues at all (we left the hospital after only one night) and my first son remained off the growth charts for his height and weight and has never shown any signs of malnutrition. My second son has also always shown rapid development rates and is big for his age as well. So...I am just sharing my own experience here, as I am not qualified to give out medical advice. I would suggest that you follow whatever medical professional you trust most and if you are unsure then maybe get a second opinion. In my case everything was fine but I am sure that if I were under a different dr's care that I might have been unnecessarily frightened and put on restrictions. Best of luck to you.

L.

I nursed for the first 2-3 months of my pregnancy with baby #2. Some women nurse throughout their pregnancy and then even do tandem nursing with 2 kids. One thing that happens when you're pregnant though is that the taste of your milk will change if it hasn't already - it will start tasting salty, so some kids self-wean at that point. Mine did. You could gradually reduce the number of nursings per day, since you are pregnant you probably won't get the engorgement that women commonly do when they wean. You should take a prenatal vitamin and just try to eat really well.

Some things you could try to get your daughter to drink milk... put some different flavorings in there like Ovaltine, strawberry, chocolate, etc. Those aren't great for her but once she starts drinking the milk, you can gradually dilute the amounts of whatever you add to the milk. Also try vanilla soy milk, my daughter hated cow's milk at first but when we gave her vanilla soy milk out of a cup, she loved it. Then we started mixing soy milk with cow's milk and now she drinks mostly cow's milk. You might have to keep trying many times until she decides she likes something.

Also you could try different sippy cups or straw cups until you find one that she likes. Good luck!

My baby girl didn't like cows milk right away either. We did vanilla soy milk for the longest time. It is sweet so more like the breast. Best wishes with the new baby.

A.,
First congrats on your pregnancy. I am also pregnant and found out when my son was 8 months old. I continued to breast feed until he was 13.5 months old. When I was ready to wean - about a year what I did was nurse in the morning and night and all other feedings mixed breast milk with whole milk at first - say 1oz whole to 3 oz breast for a day and the next day increase to 1/2 whole & 1/2 breast. My son also wasnt great with the bottle or sippy cup. BUT I did find the NUBY sippy cup (with handles) was great b/c it has a soft spout. AND it is so much better than a bottle.

I asked my OB and it is totally safe to nurse while preg you are not taking any nutrients away from the new baby. You just have to make sure you dont feel any contractions when you are nursing. You may also be tired, but who isnt with a one year old.

Sorry if I didnt answer all of your questions, but limited time b/c son is napping. Feel free to send me another message wtih any more questions.

Good luck
S.

Talk to your doctor! I was pregnant and nursing and my doctor told me that I could nurse until I was 6 or 7 months pregnant. With the complications you are having talk to your doctor and get their opinion. Make sure you are taking your vitamins, eating lots of fruits and vegetable, eating healthy and drinking A TON of water. If yoou try to quit nursing "over night" so to speak you are going to hurt and be misserable. I've also heard of women getting mastitis when stopping cold turkey. When I quit nursing both my girls ( 1 at 14 months and 2 at 18 months) I did it gradually. Take out one nursing a day for a few days , then 2 and so on. Both kids were ready and I dried up without the pain. God Bless! A.

Hi A., I nursed through the beginning of my second pregnancy throughout the first trimester. Then, as I had been warned, my milk supply dove, and my son weaned himself because the taste and flow had changed. Just as well since I too had high risk pregnancies (fraught with pneumonia, severe asthma/sinusitis/allergies, insulin dependent gestational diabetes, as a start). My midwife encouraged me to stop nursing sooner, to protect my own immune system and therefore the fetus as well. (My son was 8 months at the end of my first trimester).

We weaned my son to a sippy cup and milk at the same time, the week before his 1st birthday. He was really mad! Here's what we did: first we watered down the milk and tried warming - didn't really help. So we did a gradual changeover: For a week, we got rid of bottles during the day, sippy cups only, with milk in them. He basically didn't drink anything except the water offered between meals, for 4 days. He still had wet diapers though so we stuck with it, and after the 4 days, he started drinking the milk just fine. The next week, we got rid of the morning bottle, and the following week we had planned to get rid of the night time bottle but he had lost interest at that point. It's been sippy cups ever since. We HAD to get rid of the bottle because his sister would be arriving in less than 6 weeks and we didn't want to be dealing with jealousy about bottles for those few times we would have to use them with pumped milk. Since you've barely used the bottle up to this point, I would recommend skipping them altogether. Hopefully my experience helps!

My son (who is now 22 months) will not drink any yogurt smoothies, flavored milks, even juice for the most part. Some of these things may work for you though. I have a relative that mixed milk and oj and her kids love it. (Yuck, they call it "milky-juicy!") I have heard that we should be starting to introduce whole milk in really small amounts at the 9 month mark, to help with the transition. I may research more abut this and try with my daughter (who's 8.5 months now), but I haven't decided yet.

Congratulations on your pregnancy and good luck!

Try putting pumped breastmilk into the cup and then mixing it with cow's milk over the course of a few days-- 1 part cow's milk & 3 parts breastmilk, then 50-50 of each, then 3 parts cow milk & 1 part breastmilk. This will help the transition. Also, gradually stop warming both milks so she gets used to drinking milk cold.

Also, while my daughter liked whole milk, we found that it did upset her stomach (diarreah) intially so we switched her to Lactaid whole milk for about 2 mos and then went back to regular whole milk without problem.

Good luck!

baby got the most out of nursing just before the milk came in through the 1st year.
good to go.
start introducing goat's milk, closest to breat milk.

I would first like to tell you to take relax. Weaning your baby is not an emergency. She is not hurting your unborn baby. At this point in nursing, her nursing is not interfering with your new pregnancy. However, she may wean herself as your milk changes. Also, your pregnancy is going to go on or not, no matter what you do. There is no evidence that taking it easy or bedrest will affect the outcome of a threatened miscarriage. As far as nutrition, all your 7 week needs is for you to eat a balanced diet, and if you can take a multivitamin or at least folic acid. Good luck and congratulations! you are doing the best that you can for your growing family.
L.

I say wean now - your toddler is going to be right pissed when you give the new baby the breast and not her - better to get her weaned off it now.

Also, you mentioned the sippy cup isn't soothing to you. Newsflash - the sippy cup isn't for you, it's for your daughter. Eating and drinking isn't supposed to be soothing, it's for nourishment. Try the sippy cup -she'll take to it. You may have to try a few before you find the right one, but she'll drink from it, and she'll drink milk from it.

Congrats on the pregnancy. My daughter just turned 14 months and I weaned her right after she turned 1. I did it very slowly because I wasn in no rush. What I found easy for her to transition is I would mix the cow's milk with pumped breastmilk in a bottle. My daughter took a bottle twice a day with the nanny. So it was not strange for her to have the bottle. Eventually when I stopped pumping at work she used up the stored milk by mixing it. Each week we would put more milk to bm. Than I started to do all cow's milk in the bottle and only breat fed her in the am and pm. Eventually I took away the am feeding and last the pm. It has been about 5 weeks and she never goes for the breast even if she see me getting undress.
Hope all goes well with your prenancy.

I think most children do not take to whole milk right away whether they were breastfed or formula fed. Trying the bottle now may backfire on you in the future, particularly if you have not given her many bottles during the first year. Try flavoring her milk in the sippy cup just a little bit. Get one of the organic yogurt drinks (eg. stonyfield makes some)and pour a little in her milk cup. It will sweeten it a little and she may be more apt to drink the milk. You can give children yogurt from nine months on so you may have already exposed her to it. Additionally, don't sweat it if she doesn't want to drink the milk for a while. Use substitutes - cheese, yogurt and other dairy products. You can make up for the milk in other ways and I bet eventually she will start to come around. Good Luck!

A.,
Tandem nursing is possible, and not likely to deplete you unless you are not eating right to begin with.

However, if your Doctor has told you to wean, then by all means wean.

I don't know how much maneuvering you have to do to nurse your older baby - if you can get her used to a pillow and have her nurse on your side instead of your lap, you might get her to nurse a little longer without causing undue stress.

http://breastfeedingonline.com/newman.shtml

Another source you can search for tandem nursing is Kellymom.com

Good luck!
M.

my cousin nursed throughout her entire pregnancy with no problems but sheer exhaustion. but her pregnancy wasn't high risk.
as far as weaning - breastmilk is sweet. my son wouldn't take whole milk to start either...(i nursed for 13 months) so, to make it sweeter so he'd like it, i mixed the whole milk with yobaby drinkable yogurt(peach flavored), and SLOWLY, after several weeks, reduced the amount of yobaby in the sippy cup until he became used to the whole milk taste.
no problems at all with that process and he loves whole milk to this day! try to stay away from a bottle, it'll only be another transition you'll have to go through in the future. i went right from breast to sippy cup. i just held him in the nursing position that he was used to & gave him the sippy cup..it went really well. good luck.

Nursing will not cause harm to *most* pregnancies. High-risk might be another story. However... you are only 7 weeks pregnant, and statistically-speaking (and blunt too--sorry!) you could lose this pregnancy ANYWAY b/c of your subchorionic bleed. If that were to happen, I would hope you would not blame yourself for continuing to nurse!

All bleeds are different, and many will resolve themselves by the middle of the pregnancy. If you were put on bedrest or told to abstain from sexual activity, then I would be concerned about nursing. Otherwise, I would not rush to wean.

As far as the cup of milk goes, my second child wouldn't touch it at 12 months. After worrying that he would never drink milk, we ended up switching to vanilla soy milk. And he kept nursing 2x a day for 4 more months. And yes, like you I was newly pregnant, but everything was just fine. He weaned easily at 16.5 months (though not every toddler is that easy!). Eventually, I started mixing the vanilla soy milk with whole milk, and gradually used less and less until he was on whole milk. It went fairly smoothly!

Good luck going forward, A.. I hope everything works itself out for you! Try not to stress.

Hi A.. When I found out I was pregnant on my daughters birthday I was still breastfeeding but I too thought I should stop. I talk to her and told her no more mommy milk she was a big girl and to this day I am amazed that she was okay with that conversation. I had already started her on milk slowly for about 3 weeks and it worked out fine. With my son I nursed into my 4th months and have not had any issues. I did want to get him on milk so we had 3 bad nights of crying for a very long period of time but after that he was wonderful. If you really feel like you want to wean her you might have to go through that rough period but remember this too will pass. My son went right to a straw and cup........ no sippy cup and it has worked out great!!! You will find what works for you. I know it is stressful with the pregnancy and weaning but give yourself a break ........ you will come up with something that works for both of you but it may take a few day!!! Happy Halloween!!!!

Just about the weaing: My little girl didn't like whole milk either. I mixed in vanilla yogurt and that worked. We had to switch her to 2% instead of whole when I try cutting back on the yogurt. She now happily drinks aboutoer 20 oz milk (at 19 months). We also tried giving her chocolate milk and strawberry milk, chocolate worked also, if you are okay with the sugar. :)

The way we weaned from nursing was to replace one nursing each week with milk, or her favorite snack at the time, bananas.

I hope that weaning is successful and you all stay healthy during the pregnancy. Sorry to hear it is off to a tough start.

Try pumping your milk and putting that in the sippi cup for now. slowly overtime mix in milk. My kids never took to a bottle. When I went back to work partime when they were 4 months old I pumped and they originally drank from a bottle. About three months later we went on vacation and were not using a bottle at all. When we returned and I went back to work they (my twins) refused to drink from a bottle. They drank from a cup (with milk I pumped) whenever I worked from that time forward without a problem.
Also I know whole milk is better because of the fat content but the taste in nothing like breast milk. Try either Soy or start with low fat/ skim and gradually mix the two.
I don't know about nursing during pregnancy though..I would get several doctors opinions

I also found out I was pregnant when my son was one and I was in the process of weaning. The baby needs nutrients from you a lot more than your daughter who can eat and drink on her own. Also breastfeeding releases hormones that cause the uterus to contract, so if you're high risk it's probably not a good idea to continue. You could try mixing expressed breast milk with cow's milk, a little at a time, until eventually she's drinking all cow's milk. Or they also sell toddler formula now, she might like that better.