Weaning Questions--reaching 1 year soon

malt

Hi all,

My goal was to BF until my son reached 1 year, and now that date is approaching! We currently nurse morning and night, and I pump 4-5 times per day while at work. I also exclusively nurse on weekends. So he is only getting breast milk currently.

 I am thinking about dropping my pumping sessions, 1 at a time, until they are gone, and then continuing to nurse morning and night until he wants to stop.  Has anyone done this? Will I still have enough supply to nurse him at those times, or will nursing end altogether if I try this?

Any advice on how to eliminate pumping sessions comfortably? I am not particularly in a rush to stop quickly because my son is allergic to milk and soy, so I will have to suppliment with hypoallergenic formula (yuck!). I am still not sure if I will wean at all but I am so tired of pumping....

TIA!

MrsCAA

i dropped the middle of the day nursings one at a time, and about 1/ wk. So as not to rush anything and give my body time to adjust. At 1 yr i was EBF, but for you're pumpings (i dropped my extra pumpings at 10 months) I just started pumping 1 oz less per boob for a day or two, then dropped another 1oz, and continued until that pumping was gone. Then wait a couple day or next wk and work on dropping the next pumping.

My biggest problem was the side effects: i became nausea for a few days after each dropped sessions (usually at the missed time) while my body adjusted.

I've done just morning and bedtime one nursings for 2 months with no problems and are just now starting to wean the bedtime nursing.

sensoregurl

Congrats on the 1 year mark! And wow - I pumped 3X per day and thought that was a lot - 4-5 times! Good for you!

 Some people find that their supply dries up when they switch to nursing only twice a day, I think a lot of those people had supply issues to begin with though. I am currently nursing morning and night and not pumping during the day. He bf's on demand on the weekends (which is usually only a noontime session). I seem to make milk on demand now.

I cut out one session at a time, and waited a week or two (depending on how I was feeling) to cut the next. My last session I cut was more of pumping less each day until I could comfortable go the whole day. I haven't pumped for 6 weeks, but sometimes I'm still uncomfortably full when I get home.

Is he allergic to nuts? I think we're going to do almond milk because of his severe constipation issues. I'm not sure what's all in almond milk though so you'd have to do some research. I just ran out of the last of my pumped milk yesterday....it's weird not to have any milk in the fridge!

 

crysmike

I'm also planning on dropping one feeding/day once a week, starting with her 1st birthday. I plan on keeping the night and morning sessions.