Weaning - Austin,TX

Pump, leave it with your husband (or other willing participant) and leave the house. When your daughter gets hungry enough, she will take it.

I just want to say Good luck to you. My DD never took a bottle at all and only tiny sips from a sippy cup at that age. It was All Mama All the Time around here! Maybe by the time you are going back to school in the fall she will do better with a sippy, or at least eat other foods while away from you. That's several months from now and I'm sure she'll be eating foods for nutrition by then!

many people say "if they get hungry enough they will take a bottle!" Perhaps that is so, but not for my daughter. My oldest son was watched by my mother when I had to work (I'm a SAHM of 3 now), and it took 3 days of him eating absolutely nothing during the day (at 3.5 months old) before he finally was willing to take breastmilk in a bottle. Even then, he only ever ate enough to keep him okay during the day (8 oz tops) and then cluster fed when I got home and for the rest of the evening. So maybe if they get hungry enough they'll take it. But my DD never ever did.

I just wanted to add that she may be too young for a sippy cup with a valve--I have three daughters, one could drink from a sippy at 9 months but the other two didn't get the hang of it until closer to 12 months. They just couldn't suck hard enough to get anything out when they were smaller. My middle daughter NEVER, EVER took a bottle...she frustrated my mother to no end, because when she babysat she would bring a half dozen different bottles and nipples to try, but my daughter would actually gag and throw up when she tried to give them to her. What I found with mine was that they actually started to lose interest at about 11-12 months, when they were crawling really well and about to start walking. I think breastfeeding became less important to them as they started to become toddlers and gain more independence. They all weaned on their own by about 13 months. My one who would never take a bottle took regular milk from a sippy cup at 12 months, no problem. I know it is hard, but if you can hang in there for another couple of months, you may find that you have a much easier time with weaning. Creating lots of stress around the issue now might actually prolong it for you in the end. Best of luck to you!

Congrats for nursing!
LLL recommends not taking away more than one nursing per week. This will help you to not get plugged ducts, redness, swelling, engorged, and possibly mastitis -- and will help your body to more easily adjust to the change(s) you are making.
If you are wanting her to *prefer* a bottle to your breast....then you could pump and give it in a bottle with a faster flow nipple.

LLLI.org and kellymom.org have some great information on weaning. Here's the LLL link for weaning
http://www.llli.org/NB/NBweaning.html

Kellymom.com has a search engine you can use.

HTH and if you have any questions for me just email me

K., mama to
Catherine, 5y
Samuel, 2y
EDD 9/18

Hi L.,
I had success weaning my child to a cup by offering diluted apple juice. Since the cup was the only way to get juice, the baby liked it. I offered it once a day, then twice, then increased variety of drinks. As the baby learns to handle the cup, they tend to want it more. They learn to love the independence. Cup drinking should lessen her need to nurse for nutrition. Lots of hugging and snuggling should satisfy her need for closeness. I suggest not going to a bottle. HTH
Peace,
C.

hi, i have a 2 yr old little girl who i breast feed for 16 months and i was the only thing she would take...what i had to finally do is just start weaning her gradually i started at about 14 months and what i did is about every two weeks is i took a feeding away i started with the late morning and early evening, then nap time, then early morning, then, night time and then fianlly the last one was the middle of the night...yes at 15 months she still woke up to eat...but actually with every feeding i took away it got easier and took less time...because i started to dry up and produce less therefore it wasn't as good...but it wasn't very painful for either of us the only time she cried was when i took away the nap time and night time feedings. Just takes time, consitancy and a whole lot of patience...Good luck and i hope that you find this advice to be helpful.

First try a different sized nipple, the milk may be coming out too slow and then try a different bottle, my son would only take a MAM bottle, try the stage one bottle and see if she likes it. If not try mixing the breastmilk with a little formula, she may be enticed by the smell. Hope this helps and good luck with your school, I wish I could go back to school...I miss being a student.

It is not easy to say the least to wean a breast-fed baby. Your only think will be to wean one feeding at a time. The sooner you can start the better. I try to advise moms that if they are planning to breast-feed their babies, to also introduce the bottle at the same time. Even if it's only for one feeding a day with gradual increase(maybe dad can give that one). This way down the road weaning will be much easier. Weaning is not easy, but hang in there and you'll survive.

I had the same problem, my breast fed boy ONLY wanted me ALL the time! I started to wean around 9 months and gave myself as long as it took. I think crawling and being more mobile helps him forget. My boy's 11 months now and I am down to 2 feedings in a 24hour period (1 in morning, 1 in evening before bed).

He still does not take the bottle, a sippy cup (even with the valve removed for easier flow), and he minimally drinks from a cup. I have been persistent trying all of the techniques mentioned by all of the previous posts, and I am finding that he love to drink from a water bottle! I guess the little opening is fun or easy or something... He also is getting better (slowly) with drinking from a cup.
Right now it's only water. Once he gets better at it, I will try formula, but I don't want to ruin the process of learning to drink well.

I worry that he is not getting enough fluids and he still needs formula and milk, so right now, what I do, (which is really annoying) is I give him finger foods to entertain himself and then I spoon feed him formula! He sips it off the spoon... OR I will water down his baby food, add formula as well, and get fluids in him that way. I find that he like the fruits and refuses anything else, so I often mix fruit in with it.

Be persistent, try lots of options and DO NOT stress about it. My boy is SO connected to me that when I stress, he stresses!

Also, if you try some things and they don't work one week, try again in a week or two.

Good Luck Super Mom!

Let me know if you get any great responses because i am in the same boat.....only my baby girl is 10 months.
She will not take formula at all...no bottles or sippy cups....only mommy.

C.

Both my kids easily took a cup. It started with them wanting what we were drinking. Does she try to take your cups or her older sisters cups? Both my kids were walking at that point so were older. Do you have to wean this early? I would say try getting her sister to help by showing the youger one how good the stuff in the cup is. Make it a game for her. THe method of leaving her with hubby with your milk and waiting until she is hungry works, but I just think she is really young for that. Good luck.

With my Fourth child she would NEVER take a bottle. We tried everything. She actually went straight to a sippy cup at 1 year when I went back to work.