Please share your boob-weaning experiences...

lovemymonkey · June 2011

hi ladies!

I'd like to have Abbie fully off the breast by mid-July. Anyone care to share how their weaning experiences went and what sort of transition schedule they used?

Right now, she nurses first thing when she wakes up, 1-2 nursing sessions during the day when I work from home, 2-3 nursing sessions during the day on weekends, and then at bedtime. Lately, because she's teething, she gets up in the middle of the night a couple of times and I nurse her at least once.

So should I just cut out all the daytime sessions for a couple of weeks, then slowly transition out the morning session and then finally the bedtime session?

How many days/weeks did you cut out one session before cutting out another?

thanks!!

ladychicago · June 2011

We weaned at 8 months.... She was nursing 5 times per day at that point. I dropped one feeding per week, starting with the middle of the day session. When I got down to just the morning and nighttime feeds, those took a bit longer (for me as well as for her) so I took an extra week before I dropped those. So it was about a 7 week process from start to finish.

stepgirl21 · June 2011

We did the bedtime session last but I weaned pretty slowly which i was glad I did because I was a milk machine. I took one feeding away per week. So I started with the mid morning session and switched him to a bottle for that one for a week then I took out the mid day session and so on. The first 3 days with each session that I took away, I leaked like crazy and got super full but eventually my body adjusted. GL to you!

lovemymonkey · June 2011

ladychicago:
We weaned at 8 months.... She was nursing 5 times per day at that point. I dropped one feeding per week, starting with the middle of the day session. When I got down to just the morning and nighttime feeds, those took a bit longer (for me as well as for her) so I took an extra week before I dropped those. So it was about a 7 week process from start to finish.

thanks! I go into the office twice a week so she's already used to not having all her daytime sessions on the breast, so hopefully this will go smoothly...

dropping the night session is the one that worries me the most!

ladychicago · June 2011

Oh, and we dropped the morning session last. Because she would often snuggle or fall asleep after, and we liked the extra snooze.

and she never drank a ton before bed.

LVBlvd · June 2011

I am dreading weaning.

I have no clue how to go about doing it (I'm not ready right now, but I will be this fall, I think).

I'm hoping lots of people answer this post!!

laura1 · June 2011

With my DS, I didn't have a fabulous supply, and I had an end date in sight. So I cut out a middle of the day session first (say at 11am), for 2-3 days, then I dropped not the next session but the following one (so I kept the one at 2pm but dropped the one at 5pm) for 2-3 days. My supply really tanked when I was weaning, so I ended up weaning faster than I thought I would.

With DD, I didn't have any date that I wanted to have weaned by, so I did a similar strategy (weaned middle of the day sessions first), but waited longer before dropping another session (closer to a week).

With both of them, I actually dropped the bed time session pretty early - DS was a terrible sleeper and I wanted to make sure that when he was waking overnight it wasn't because he was hungry (since he wasn't getting enough milk during the weaning). So I started giving him formula at bed and during overnight feedings.

Good luck! You can totally do what you want - I just would drop a session, see how it went, then drop another one until I was done!

lovemymonkey · June 2011

stepgirl21:
We did the bedtime session last but I weaned pretty slowly which i was glad I did because I was a milk machine. I took one feeding away per week. So I started with the mid morning session and switched him to a bottle for that one for a week then I took out the mid day session and so on. The first 3 days with each session that I took away, I leaked like crazy and got super full but eventually my body adjusted. GL to you!

thanks! I can tell my milk production has gone down since I went back to work b/c I've been skipping pumping sessions here and there b/c my work schedule can be hectic. I've only been really engorged a few times (which was awful!) so I'm hoping this process isn't too painful (for her and for me!)!

I don't have a hard end date, I just wanted to nurse her for at least 6 months, so I'll do the transition as gradually as possible. :-)

lovemymonkey · June 2011

ladychicago:
Oh, and we dropped the morning session last. Because she would often snuggle or fall asleep after, and we liked the extra snooze. and she never drank a ton before bed.

hmmmm, good point! It's easier to make a bottle right before bedtime than at 6:00 in the morning! Abbie falls back asleep after the morning session too so maybe I should consider dropping this one last too.

I'm not looking forward to making bottles all the time. It's so much easier to whip out a boob.

lovemymonkey · June 2011

LVBlvd:

I am dreading weaning.

I have no clue how to go about doing it (I'm not ready right now, but I will be this fall, I think).

I'm hoping lots of people answer this post!!

I've been dreading it too. Sad I love nursing, but I would love love love to have another baby and I'm old so if we're going to try again, we have to do it soon. ::::sigh::::

LVBlvd · June 2011

lovemymonkey:
LVBlvd:

I am dreading weaning.
I have no clue how to go about doing it (I'm not ready right now, but I will be this fall, I think).
I'm hoping lots of people answer this post!!
I've been dreading it too. I love nursing, but I would love love love to have another baby and I'm old so if we're going to try again, we have to do it soon. ::::sigh::::

I totally understand. I really hope you have success again. I'll be praying for smooth weaning and hopefully a BFP!!

lovemymonkey · June 2011

laura1:

With my DS, I didn't have a fabulous supply, and I had an end date in sight. So I cut out a middle of the day session first (say at 11am), for 2-3 days, then I dropped not the next session but the following one (so I kept the one at 2pm but dropped the one at 5pm) for 2-3 days. My supply really tanked when I was weaning, so I ended up weaning faster than I thought I would.

With DD, I didn't have any date that I wanted to have weaned by, so I did a similar strategy (weaned middle of the day sessions first), but waited longer before dropping another session (closer to a week).

With both of them, I actually dropped the bed time session pretty early - DS was a terrible sleeper and I wanted to make sure that when he was waking overnight it wasn't because he was hungry (since he wasn't getting enough milk during the weaning). So I started giving him formula at bed and during overnight feedings.

Good luck! You can totally do what you want - I just would drop a session, see how it went, then drop another one until I was done!

hmmmm, another good reason to wean the night session before the morning one! Abbie's a good sleeper, but once my supply really starts to tank, I do want to be sure she's fully fed before she goes down for the night. good point, thanks!

cjsbdl · June 2011

I also recommend dropping the bedtime session first, mainly because it tends to be the hardest, emotionally, for the baby, and I think the younger you do it the easier it is. I stopped nursing Henry to bed when he was exactly five months old (I still pumped that session for a while). When he was six months old I started dropping a session per week, keeping that morning wake-up session until he wsa about eight months old. The only reason we finally gave that one up was because he just started refusing it. I think at that point he preferred his bottles.

Good luck! Weaning can be tough and super-emotional...I hope it's an easy transition for you both!

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