Weaning Help - Edmond,OK

put some chocolate syrup in that cows milk! It has worked for me on all three of my girls. everyone loves chocolate milk1

I read in "Baby 411" - an excellent resource for the first year of baby's life - that you should wean when one or both of you is/are ready. If you're ready to wean, go ahead. If your child is ready to wean, don't force him to continue nursing. My aunt weaned her youngest at 2.5 years - my cousin would nurse perhaps once a day, for comfort. My oldest weaned himself at 11 months - he wanted to look around while he ate and nursing didn't allow that, so we gave formula along with solid foods until he was a year old. Then we mixed cow milk with formula, gradually increasing the proportion of milk until it was all milk, then we switched him to a regular cup (no sippy lid). The only way he could get liquid was to drink from the cup, and the only liquid we gave him was milk, until he got good with the cup and then we'd give him water between meals. He's been able to drink unassisted from a regular cup since he was 18 months old. Yes, he spills occasionally, but then, even I spill occasionally. :)

One thing that worked for me was to shorten nursing sessions by a few minutes each time until we dropped them completely. Before bed was the last one to go. However the World Health Organization recommends extended breastfeeding for at least two years. I weaned my boys around their 3rd birthday.

This sounds a lot like my girls. I tried everything to get them to drink milk and they refused. Finally I bought some ovaltine (and strawberry Nesquik for the other. Funny how picky they are at such a young age) and put a few teaspoons into the milk. It worked like a charm. Both girls had no problem drinking the milk. I have even asked different pediatricians and they have said it was fine. So I don't feel guilty about it.
As far as weaning, I just slowly took away a feeding a day for a few weeks so that I didn't have an engorgement problem and the kids didn't freak out. I would start with no pre dinner feed for a week. Then the next week try one of the nap times, the week after that the next, and then the morning feed, and then the bedtime. My youngest had a hard time with the bed time one. I think she wasn't ready at 14 months to wean, but I had to since I was pregnant. I nursed my oldest until 15 months and she had no problems, since I think she was ready. If you want to keep nursing go ahead or maybe just cut one or two feedings. But if you are totally done with it, then good luck weaning. Hopefully it will go smoothly for you both!

I guess you know it's a good idea to go slowly, either gradually reducing the length of the nursing sessions, or gradually increasing the time between nursing sessions. Slow is both easier on the child emotionally and easier on the mom physically.

If "don't offer, don't refuse" doesn't work quickly enough for you, you can set limits. When he asks to nurse, tell him, "We'll nurse again ___" (at naptime, after lunch, at bedtime, in the morning...).

If you're weaning because you just feel done, you might reevaluate how you feel when you're down to one or two nursing sessions a day. Some moms find that once they finish night weaning and daytime weaning, they enjoy keeping the one bedtime nursing session, or the bedtime and first thing in the morning nursing sessions, for much longer.

Why are you wanting to wean? Once my daughter weaned I missed the close cuddling we did. Breastfeeding was the only time she would be still enough to cuddle. She would only nurse when it was time to sleep. She was weaned when we went on vacation as a family. She was too interested in what everyone else was doing to nurse and would just fall asleep before she had a chance to nurse. If you change your routine and just don't offer the breast you might be surprised at the feedings you can drop.

On the flip side, I have to confess that I nursed my son for the last time the day before his sister was born and my oldest daughter was past three before she weaned. I will probably let my youngest nurse as long as she is interested because it seems to me that the longer I nursed the child the better their immune systems are now.

I really can't say much to the issue of nursing, it's been nearly 30 years since I did that. But to address the issue of mixing milk and breast milk. I don't know if it matters much in your situation but if you take a baby off formula cold turkey and substitute milk you get the most awful smelling poo and they get cramps so bad sometimes. It is so harsh on their system and they don't like it. It tastes so very different. We always start mixing in 2 oz. of milk at 10 1/2 to 11 months old, a week later go half and half, a week later if all is going well then it's 3/4 milk and 1/4 formula. If all is going okay then go all milk at 12 months. Of course there will be times when they need formula a bit longer because their little tummies just aren't ready. The latest we ever got an infant/toddler on milk all the way was about 16 months.

All four of my kids weaned at different times. It was not something I planned. I let them choose when they wanted to wean, I did not force it. Usually, though, when they begin to eat more and more food, they will become less interested in nursing. I did have one who was like a hummingbird and just came by every once in a while to nurse for a second-that was annoying! I offered her a sippy cup instead and all was well. As for the others, I just nursed when they wanted and they gradually stopped asking somewhere between one and 2 1/2 years of age. Good luck!