Weaning from breastfeeding, for those who weaned around 1st birthday, how did you go about dropping feeds? Any advice greatly appreciated!
My son is 10 months, I am wondering how those who weaned at 12 months went about it?
My son is 10 months, I am wondering how those who weaned at 12 months went about it?
Posted in:
Baby & Toddler, Baby Feeding
3 Replies
Stop feeding on demand (if you are) and start having X amount of time between feeds. Increase the amount of time each time your milk supply adjusts until it gets to a point you drop one, then 2 feeds etc.
I recommend dropping the day time feeds first because until your supply drops, you'll need the relief in the morning, and bubs will likely want you more at night to if they use you to settle.
Bottle refusal isn't a big issue at this age because they're transitioning to sippy cups for water etc anyway and are excited to try foods.
Nb... if they start sucking their thumb to self settle, it's easier to give a dummy. You can't take their thumb off them down the track, a thumb still impacts on teeth and it can deform the thumb too. Wish I'd realised that with my first when I weaned him and he started sucking his thumb.
Finally, regardless of your plan, find the speed to wean him that suits your body and your child
Thanks for your reply, is the lunch feed the easier to first drop and do j just express until comfortable or try not to express?
I found by just slightly increasing time between feeds that there was a point where I could naturally drop one. Because the times of feeds changed, it might have been m8d morning, lunch or early afternoon dropped first... I can't remember. Expressing doesn't help though as it doesn't teach your body to make less, so I only did that with my second when I was weaning as I returned work. I applied the same principal but used the pump if bubs wasn't there so I didn't explode