[LovingJesusinAZ]

File this under . . . questions I never thought I'd ask.

My DD is 11mo today and is still bfing 5-6x/day + eating 38oz of baby food/day. She's a peanut (at her last appt @ 8.5mo she was 15lbs, 5oz and 26") so I just keep feeding her as much as she wants Nursing is on demand, but her solids are breakfast (about 10oz), lunch (about 14oz), and dinner (about 14oz). She has never had a drop of formula.

I ended up having supply issues with my son and bfing stopped at 9mo. (He gained 1lb from 4mo-9mo. Once I started supplementing with formula at 9mo he decided he wanted nothing to do with me and it was all formula all the time).

I said I was going to stop with my DD when she's one. Part of me is definitely ready, but part of me is sad since my husband just had a vasectomy and I know this is our last baby.

My question is . . . as her birthday approaches how do I go about it? How did you? How long did it take you to wean? I'm really thinking of not starting weaning until her b'day.

Do I just replace her nursing sessions with milk in a bottle or cup? (We've tried a cup a few times, but she's not interested)

[ruthann8]

There are probably many ways to wean but you will need to find something that works for your baby. Before you try to wean her you may want her using a sippy. First try to find a sippy cup she likes. Try breast milk in the sippy if she won’t take milk or formula. Mine liked water and only water. She has just started to like milk in her sippy at 18 months. How long does her doctor recommend she stay on breast milk or formula?


Does she have her own regular schedule? One way I have heard is to eliminate one session by offering something else instead, basically keep her distracted from nursing. Once she gets used to that then eliminate another session. Keep doing this until all her sessions have been eliminated and she is no longer nursing.


I tried night weaning Ellamae by doing this and it did NOT work. I finally gave up and when she was older I just told no nursing until the sun comes up. That worked great for her. I am still nursing her about once a day. But I think she is going to self wean soon.


I changed my mind many times on how long I wanted to nurse her! You never know how you feel when she turns one. If you want to continue to nurse her then go for it! What does your dh think about extended nursing? Mine doesn’t like the idea but he seems to be ok with it.

[LovingJesusinAZ]

Hmm . . . I replied the other day, but apparently it got lost in cyber space.To answer your questions--in theory I'm ok with extended breastfeeding and while I'm experiencing mixed emotions knowing that the end of my journey is near I'm thinking extended breastfeeding is not for me. I'm looking forward to being able to go out to dinner with my husband, have my mom watch the kids for the night, leave my daughter at the church nursery or even go to the grocery store by myself without having to worry about pumping/getting bottles ready, etc. I have had CONSTANT supply issues and if I don't take 6-9 fenugreek pills/day my daughter acts hungry ALL THE TIME. I miss little things like wearing "regular" bras, etc.My husband isn't as open to extended breastfeeding. Whenever someone asks me how long I'm going to nurse, if he's around he answers "We're not part of the La Leche League". (He definitely has bought into the "bad rap" of the LLL and automatically thinks of bfing 5yo's) He has been INCREDIBLY supportive of breastfeeding from day 1 with our son and has been right there with me, encouraging me, supporting me, etc through supply issues, a vampire baby, "injuries", etc., but I don't think he'd be supportive if I decided to continue breastfeeding long after her birthday (without working towards weaning). After re-reading your post I'd say my DH is about where yours is.My daughter has put herself on a fairly regular schedule (nurse when she wakes up, mid-morning, before nap-time, after nap-time, maybe one mid-after noon, and then bed-time. She wakes up in the night a few times/wk and I nurse her then, too)

[ruthann8]

When mine was close to a year she stopped taking bottles. So I stopped pumping and trying to get her to take bottles. Bottles were always a struggle with her. I thought since she was a year and didn't need breast milk that she could go without if I wasn't there. And she was fine with taking a sippy of water when I wasn't available. Of course she did continue to nurse frequently when I was home, and that irritated my dh. He thought she was nursing too often for a one year old. And we were having issues with way to much night time nursing. But she did start to slow down and now at 19 months she nurses once a day at the most. Lately it has been every other day, if that. She still brings me the boppy and acts like she wants to nurse, sometimes she gets distracted and forgets, other times we get in the position and she just lays there and looks at me. She doesn't seem to like to nurse but still likes to cuddle. She may latch on for a few minutes but mostly she just pats my boob and says "mama...mama...mama"

So when she is a year or whenever you ready to wean her, try to get her used to a sippy and just ditch the pump and the Fenugreek. Don't worry about a trip to the store or out to dinner, she is old enough to go without. But don't be surprised if the first thing she wants when you get home is you! For my DD 'out of sight out of mind' works for her. When I wasn't home she never really wanted breast milk. Hiding the boppy pillow worked as a distraction for her and when she really wants to nurse she goes to hunt it down!

Good Luck!

[poliscmjr]

I have no experience in bf as ds was ff fed the entire time. But when ds was around 11 months the doctors wanted us to try to give him whole milk to see if his body could tolerate it because they thought he might have had an allergy. Well we gave it to him in a cup, and there was no looking back. I tried to give him bottles with his formula and he wanted no parts of it.

I guess what I'm trying to suggest, is to try giving her whole milk in a cup when she would normallay want the breast. I wouldn't put breast milk in the cup because she will continue to want breast milk.

These are just my thoughts, which don't count for much since I didn't bf

[LovingJesusinAZ]

Thanks, ladies!

Lindsay--eventhough you didn't bf your advice was good

I think I'm going to wait to start weaning until at least she's drinking well out of a sippy cup and then we'll go from there. I'll probably bring it up to her Dr. when we go for her 1yr checkup at the end of Sept. The kids' Dr. is very pro-breastfeeding and for about 6mo after I had to stop with my son he kept asking how I was doing with it. I'll be able to talk to him honestly about all my feelings and see how he suggests approaching the next step!