Working Moms

Working Moms: Talk to me about weaning at 1 year

Even though Ruby is 9 months, I'm wanting to plan ahead on this.  I am ready to be done with the pump, so at one year I want to stop pumping at least.  I read on Kellymom about weaning from the pump and continuing nursing at night and in the mornings.  Anyone try this?  How did it go?  It sounds like it may drop your supply so the child will eventually wean naturally from the breast as well.  I kind of like keeping the physical connection, because I really don't mind breastfeeding at all, I just hate pumping.  The other method I was looking at was "don't offer, don't refuse" which sounds like it would take an extraordinary amount of time.
University of Kansas alum Geoff Folker applies food coloring to his snow sculpture at his home on Park Street in Olathe, Kan., on Sunday, March 24, 2013.  A storm that dumped up to 15 inches of snow on parts of Colorado and Kansas is making its way east, with winter storm warnings and advisories issued for today and tomorrow as far east as Pennsylvania. (AP Photo/The Kansas City Star, John Sleezer)

January OAD Siggy Challenge: Creative Snow Sculptures

Re: Working Moms: Talk to me about weaning at 1 year

  • I stopped pumping around 10 months and nursed DD morning and evening for another 2.  She weaned herself right around a year.  My supply tanked when I stopped pumping but I didn't care at that point.
    "Hello, babies. Welcome to Earth. It's hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It's round and wet and crowded. At the outside, babies, you've got about a hundred years here. There's only one rule that I know of, babies. God damn it, you've got to be kind." - Kurt Vonnegut
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  • I stopped pumping at a year and DS had cows milk during the day.  He continued to nurse morning, after work, evening (sometimes more on the weekends) until 20 months-ish.  Then he slowly self weaned and had fully weaned at 22 months.  I did not have any supply issues once I stopped pumping.  Good luck. 

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  • I am soooo close to being done with pumping...

    No advice, just in the same boat and can understand!

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  • I am planning to do this too.  DS will be 1 in 9 days and my supply totally tanked around 11 months.  I'm not sure why.  I introduced cow's milk at daycare a week or two ago to supplement the bottles during the day but he's really losing interest in nursing lately. I think I'll totally stop the daytime pumping/feeding during the day as soon as he turns 1 and just try the night and morning nursing for another month after that. 
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  • I stopped pumping a day or two before Liv turned one.  We nursed mornings, evenings and weekends until about 17 months.

    (FWIW, it took another 5 months or so to completely dry up)

    My supply started dropping pretty dramatically towards the end of pumping, so I never felt the need to wean off the pump - I just stopped cold turkey

  • I'm weaning from the pump right now. I have an oversupply so it's been a little difficult for me - I get very engorged. Just this week I went down to 1 pump a day and it's been 4 days (incl. the weekends when we just nursed 3 times total per day) and I'm still not comfortable... hopefully by the end of this week I'll be better. For the past couple weeks I tried to cut myself off pumping at 8oz per time because I figure that's the max my baby probably is drinking. When I am comfortable (not engorged) with pumping 1x I'll start pumping less and less every day. I'm trying to take it slow to avoid clogged ducts and mastitis.
  • I weaned off the lunchtime pumping at 11.5 months. He continued to nurse morning night and occasionally on weekend days at first till 19.5 months.

     

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  • DS is 10 months and we are in the process of getting him used to whole milk. About three weeks ago, my supply tanked. He took 8oz and I was maybe getting 4oz in three sessions. I tried everything to get it back up, but nothing worked. I had maybe 16oz left in my freezer, so something needed to happen! Last Tuesday, I spoke to my pedi and she said to start weaning him to whole milk. (She checked his iron and it was great). I pump twice a day now and he gets 2oz of BM and 3 oz of whole milk in two bottles at daycare (10am and 2pm) and I nurse morning, night, and this past weekend. In a few weeks, we will probably have them drop the afternoon bottle and give him whole milk in a sippy cup and a snack. Then when he transitions to table food, probably in late January, we will see where we are at and possible drop the 10am bottle. I will nurse morning and night as long as I can/he wants to.

    That's the plan. No idea if it's going to work though!! Wink

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  • I was off for the summer and went back to work when DS was one year and one week.  I was NOT going to pump when I went back.  At age one he was down to BFing 4x a day.  The day he turned one I cut one feeding out and gave him whole milk.  The next week I cut the second feeding day feeding out so I wouldn't have to pump during the day when I went back and just did the morning/night feedings.  I was pretty sure that I wanted to drop the other two feedings pretty quickly and over the next 2-3 weeks I dropped them too.  It was totally fine and I randomly got engorged like 2-3 weeks AFTER I stopped nursing but it was only for a few days and it was fine.   
  • I quit the pump at one year. I could not wait.

    We introduced cow's milk at one year and she did great with it.

    DD continued to nurse mornings and evenings for several months. She eventually dropped to mornings and then I finally stopped at around 20 months. I don't really know how much she was getting towards the end and I think it was total comfort for her.

  • For us, it was kind of a natural progression.  DD started to really take to table foods around 9 mos so she was nursing less.  That made AF show up and my supply went down.  I struggled to pump for another 2 mos and gave up at 11 mos, so by that time she was only nursing AM/PM and all weekend long and gettting formula and table food at daycare.  I also wasn't NIP after about 9 mos b/c DD was not discrete about it anymore.  So, she either nursed before or after we went out and if she got hungry while we were out she ate food or drank water or juice.  We had two LO's at that point, so with nap times and all, we were never out for too long. At a year old I dropped the daytime feedings and just gave her milk.  At 13 mos I dropped the AM feeding first by just bringing DD down to the kitchen for breakfast first thing in the morning vs. nursing her in bed.  That same week I just happened to be gone a few evenings so DH had to do the bedtime routine.  Until then she'd been holding out for me to nurse her at night b/c she knew I was home.  So, she dropped her PM feed at the same time.  My supply was so low that I had no problems weaning physically.  It actually worked out great.  DD and I were and still are very close. 
    DS1 age 7, DD age 5 and DS2 born 4/3/12
  • My supply was hardly anything by 12 mo. so it was a relief to stop pumping.  I think we bf for another mo.  No problems.

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