BF Mamas

freeatlast2014

2 topics:

Water - my dr. said water isn't necessary. Thoughts? He enjoys it so I'll keep giving it to him but he doesn't get all that much. Maybe 4 oz in a day.

Weaning - my dr. also said that at 10 months I can start giving whole cow's milk (no more than 18 oz in a day) and each week I can cut out 1 nursing session. My plan is to nurse until 1 year. I can also mix BM with cow's milk. 10 months seems so young, I'm just torn about what to do here. I know I can wait longer, I think I might try...but what is your weaning plan? Have you thought about this? 

RouensDream

I plan on nursing for at least a year. I had so much trouble in the beginning, that I want to keep going with it now that we finally have it down. But I will probably give whole milk in addition to BM when he is a year old or so. ( Like in his sippy cup.)

AppleMomma

DD gets maybe 4oz of water after a snack. No cow's milk until 1 year over here though.

As for official weaning that will begin at 1 year if DD is ready. DS still has a nursing session before naptime and he's 25 months, so DD may be the same way.

For weaning I just implement 1 bottle/sippy of milk a day for about 4-7 days then I just bump it to 2 and so forth. 

broccolitree

Miss Diva gets no water because she will not deign to drink from a sippy.  My H likes to say that she's going to be a beer drinker because she likes it straight off the tap.  whomp whomp.

In terms of weaning, we've been trying to introduce the cup and more solids, so it depends on when she stops being a little snotrag about it, really.  The pedi said that she could be EBFed til a year so we'll just keep at it and worry about it at her year checkup.

Valleybugt

Eh Sawyer gets water sometimes but I don't make it a habit to give it to her.  Usually it is just when we are out and she wants my water.  She drinks it herself and holds the regular cup pretty well,  I just steady the bottom of the cup to prevent us both taking an ice water bath. lol!

As for weaning I hope to nurse for a good long while.  The World Health Organization recommends nursing until at least 2 years of age and beyond as long as mama and baby are still happy with it.  My plan is to let her self wean when she feels ready.  I don't know what that is going to look like,  I guess it will just evolve as things go along.  Our human immune system isn't fully developed until around 6 years old so it feels right to nurse for more than just a year.  I really don't plan to have a 6 year old nursling because it feels a little weird but biologically speaking it really isn't. 

As for cows milk that really seems like a lot of cows milk to give.  I think BFed babies only take in about 26oz total of BM a day so it would nearly replace all of it.  If it were me I wouldn't want to be replacing human milk with another species milk that is less healthy and not designed especially for my baby like my milk is.

 Sorry I think that got a little lactivist, which I really didn't intend but I guess I feel kind of strongly about it.

freeatlast2014

Valleybugt:

Eh Sawyer gets water sometimes but I don't make it a habit to give it to her.  Usually it is just when we are out and she wants my water.  She drinks it herself and holds the regular cup pretty well,  I just steady the bottom of the cup to prevent us both taking an ice water bath. lol!

As for weaning I hope to nurse for a good long while.  The World Health Organization recommends nursing until at least 2 years of age and beyond as long as mama and baby are still happy with it.  My plan is to let her self wean when she feels ready.  I don't know what that is going to look like,  I guess it will just evolve as things go along.  Our human immune system isn't fully developed until around 6 years old so it feels right to nurse for more than just a year.  I really don't plan to have a 6 year old nursling because it feels a little weird but biologically speaking it really isn't. 

As for cows milk that really seems like a lot of cows milk to give.  I think BFed babies only take in about 26oz total of BM a day so it would nearly replace all of it.  If it were me I wouldn't want to be replacing human milk with another species milk that is less healthy and not designed especially for my baby like my milk is.

 Sorry I think that got a little lactivist, which I really didn't intend but I guess I feel kind of strongly about it.

No, not at all. I appreciate all of the opinions on here...and from the responses here and what I've talked about with my family, I think I'm going to hold off on the cow's milk for now. I do look forward to no longer nursing but if I'm ready and he's not then I'll do what I have to do for him.

RedZee

MrsLynnyD:

2 topics:

Water - my dr. said water isn't necessary. Thoughts? He enjoys it so I'll keep giving it to him but he doesn't get all that much. Maybe 4 oz in a day.

Weaning - my dr. also said that at 10 months I can start giving whole cow's milk (no more than 18 oz in a day) and each week I can cut out 1 nursing session. My plan is to nurse until 1 year. I can also mix BM with cow's milk. 10 months seems so young, I'm just torn about what to do here. I know I can wait longer, I think I might try...but what is your weaning plan? Have you thought about this? 

Water: From everything I've read, a BF infant gets the necessary hydration from milk. But it's not a bad idea to give water to teach them to drink from a cup or that other things can come in bottles (to help with weaning later). DD practices drinking from a cup with water. (My dr also said you can sometimes give BM in a cup because that can help with weaning 'cause they learn they don't only suck for that kind of fluid.)

Weaning:  In terms of what babies can handle, they can have cow's milk at this age. Formula comes from cow's milk so it can be processed by their systems. Personally, I feel like I might not be ready to wean at 1 year. Also, I'm not a huge fan of any human drinking cow's milk (even though I have a little in coffee every day because I just like it too much) so I'm trying to delay introducing cow's milk.

mommabear530

RedZee:

MrsLynnyD:

2 topics:

Water - my dr. said water isn't necessary. Thoughts? He enjoys it so I'll keep giving it to him but he doesn't get all that much. Maybe 4 oz in a day.

Weaning - my dr. also said that at 10 months I can start giving whole cow's milk (no more than 18 oz in a day) and each week I can cut out 1 nursing session. My plan is to nurse until 1 year. I can also mix BM with cow's milk. 10 months seems so young, I'm just torn about what to do here. I know I can wait longer, I think I might try...but what is your weaning plan? Have you thought about this? 

Sorry- formula feeder jumping in here. I'm more than excited to ween off of formula because it's so crazy expensive., but  I agree that a cow isn't my first choice of animal to be lactating for my baby. Are there any alternatives? For a long long time we had Joshua only drink almond milk because he's really sensitive to sugar (gets crazy hyper) so that was one of the places we were able to cut down sugars, but it definitely doesn't have enough calories to be such a big part of a toddler's diet. Any advice?

Water: From everything I've read, a BF infant gets the necessary hydration from milk. But it's not a bad idea to give water to teach them to drink from a cup or that other things can come in bottles (to help with weaning later). DD practices drinking from a cup with water. (My dr also said you can sometimes give BM in a cup because that can help with weaning 'cause they learn they don't only suck for that kind of fluid.)

Weaning:  In terms of what babies can handle, they can have cow's milk at this age. Formula comes from cow's milk so it can be processed by their systems. Personally, I feel like I might not be ready to wean at 1 year. Also, I'm not a huge fan of any human drinking cow's milk (even though I have a little in coffee every day because I just like it too much) so I'm trying to delay introducing cow's milk.