Weaning from bf?

Clery · August 2011

Does anyone have any tips? I tried cows milk in a bottle and sippy cup on two different days and she spit it out. I don't pump so I can't mix it. Did your lo resist? Do I just give her the cows milk and not nurse her even if she refuses? On a side note she wakes in the early early morning and signs for more milk, she never used to do that. Any ideas why she all of a sudden wants to nurse so much? Thx

grr_aargh · August 2011

Growth spurt? Comfort nursing? Hard to say.

Personally, I wouldn't push weaning. I don't know what your nursing relationship is like, so I can't advise you - only you can decide if you want to continue. For *me*, my kiddos gradually dropped feedings after 12 months. My son went on a nursing strike at 14 mos which was a perfect time for us to just quit nursing altogether. My DD nursed for a long time. Honestly, there's nothing wrong with continuing past a year.

If you do decide to wean now, I'd offer milk and if she refused, I'd nurse for awhile. . . cutting the session short and reoffering milk. She might just not like the taste of it and that's fine - you can offer water and make up the milk-related nutrients elsewhere.

Addicted2thenot · August 2011

If weaning is important to you then I would just keep offering WCM

I would not feel comfortable dropping feedings before LO was accepting milk

I guess that is why DS is 13 moths & still BFs :O(

Perhaps I am not the one to offer weaning advice LOL

Good Luck

Are you just trying to have her weaned by 12 months?

epona3 · August 2011

I agree with the others - I don't know what your BF relationship is, or if it's important to you to be done soon, but here's how it worked for us.

Around 8 mo. I started giving her water in a sippy at meals (just to see if she could get the hang of it - and I didn't want to waste BM if she didn't drink it) Nursing 3 - 4 times a day

By 10 mo, she was done with bottles and drinking BM out of a sippy at meals, and nursing 3 - 4 times a day

By 12 mo, started giving her WCM in a sippy and nursing 2 - 3 times a day (dropped the morning nursing session and replaced w/ a sippy of milk at breakfast)

By 13 mo, WCM, nursing 1 - 2 times a day (only before nap & bedtime, she was sometimes refusing to nurse before nap) There were times when she would want to nurse 3x a day - I really just kind of "went with the flow" I think she was cutting her molars at this time, so sometimes needed a little extra comfort.

By 14 mo, WCM, nursing 1x a day (only before bed, and really not even nursing for very long. Sometimes she wouldn't latch on at all, and most of the time she would nurse for less than 5 min.)

Then, she just stopped latching at all. I was a little sad, b/c I had been planning on nursing before bed until she was about 18 mo. old or so, so I didn't think I'd have to deal with it until then. I kept offering until one night she was really fussy and tried to latch on, and then immediately pulled off crying. I got her a sippy of milk and she chugged it. I realized she was thirsty and my milk was gone Luckily, it wasn't really traumatic and I didn't have to deal with engorgement or anything.

Sorry about the novel: my advice is to keep offering the WCM at meals and in between and just see what happens. Then, you have to decide if you want to stick to a nursing schedule to wean her, or continue nursing on demand. Every baby is different - some wean themselves and others would nurse until they were 15 given the opportunity. You just have to decide what works for you!

hopingwaiting · August 2011

I don't have advice but please update with your progress since it's helpful to read other people's experiences as we look ahead toward weaning. I'm hoping he takes to WCM when I offer it at a year because I would like to stop pumping at work. We'll see what happens; hopefully we can come up with something that works for both of us.

mandyjn16 · August 2011

I wasn't able to fully wean until DS was 20months old. I didn't mind nursing but by then I was done (a week later I found out I was pg). So by then DS was already on WCM and only nursed before bed and was waking up 1-2x a night to nurse. As far as transitioning to WCM, him being with a sitter while I worked made a huge difference I think. We started offering WCM in a sippy (straw kind) at 1yr and then just switched him over cold turkey at her house. He kept nursing with me. I tried mixing and he HATED it. He took the WCM pretty easy after a day or 2 of being finicky. HTH!

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