I have a 1,5 yr old girl still sucking her mother but she eats too little.What can we do to make her eat well?

Question

Actually we are afraid to stop milking because we are not sure whether she will eat well after then. Her mother's milk is the only thing our baby desires to drink. She might lose the desire for both sucking & eating if we force her just to eat..

Just to clarify : Our little angle is 18 month old..
I would like to thank to all the ladies writing comments ...

Answer 1

Let her keep nursing. It's very normal and healthy for her. And offer her at least 3 meals and 2 snacks of healthy food per day. Make sure you are offering small, child sized portions. If you offer too much at once it can be overwhelming so they don't eat. She will gradually begin to take more solid foods and nurse less. Trust her to take what she needs as long as you are giving her healthy options and not junk. It's your job as the parents to offer her a variety of healthy foods. It's her job to decide what to eat and how much to eat. Don't allow yourself to get locked into a power struggle over eating as you will lose.

From the first link below:
Some toddlers are eating very few solids, or even no solids, at 12 months. This is not unusual and really depends on your child - there is quite a big variation. We like to see breastmilk making up the majority (around 75%) of baby's diet at 12 months. Some babies will be taking more solids by 12 months, but others will still be exclusively or almost-exclusively breastfed at this point. It is normal for baby to keep breastmilk as the primary part of his diet up until 18 months or even longer. An example of a nice gradual increase in solids would be 25% solids at 12 months, 50% solids at 18 months, and 80% solids at 24 months.

EDITED TO ADD -

PEOPLE - READ THE ORIGINAL MESSAGE A LITTLE MORE CLOSELY!

"I have A 1,5 yr old GIRL (NOT GIRLS!!!!!) still sucking HER mother but SHE eats too little.What can we do to make HER eat well?
Actually we are afraid to stop milking because we are not sure whether SHE will eat well after then. HER mother's milk is the only thing our BABY (NOT BABIES OR GIRLS) DESIRES (NOT DESIRE) to drink. SHE might lose the desire for both sucking & eating if we force HER just to eat."

DO ANY OF YOU SPEAK THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE? HE IS USING SINGULAR PRONOUNS THROUGH THE ENTIRE MESSAGE. THE POSTER IS TALKING ABOUT *1* CHILD WHO IS 1.5 YEARS OLD - NOT A 1 YEAR OLD AND A 5 YEAR OLD.

And...even if he did have a 5 year old who still breastfed, there really isn't anything wrong with that. It's biologically normal for humans to breastfeed until they are anywhere from 2.5 to 7 years of age.

Answer 2

Mother milk is mostly water so don't worry if she doen's drink anything else. Do you want her to drink juice, with all the sugar in it? Better if she just drinks breast milk and offer her water or tea once in a while. She will continue to reject it until she is ready to drink it and that is fine. I breastfed my son as long as I could but hten had to stop because I got sick and the doctor pressured me to (baby was almost 2 yrs old) After Istopped and when I put him on cow milk it turned out he was very allergic to it and was quite sick until we figured out what was wrong.So son't let people pressure you into weaning him. Keep a week's log of how much your daughter is eating (weight things) and take it to the pediatrician. She is in the best position to say if your daughter is not eating enough. Try offering smaller meals more often and milk only after she eats something solid. Do it in a loving supportive way ( you don't want meal times to become a ground battle between you two) and eventually she will eat more.

Answer 3

Don't let her nurse before a meal. Let her know that she can have some milk after she eats. I still occasionally have that problem with my son. He'll want to nurse before a meal and then he won't eat. Children that age don't eat much anyway and they will go for what is easiest - the breast or the bottle are definitely easier than chewing a piece of chicken.
And don't worry - she's still getting lots of nutrition from Mom. She's fine.

Edited to add responses to some of these other answers:
I don't see anywhere in gangway's question that says they WANT to wean.
shosho2ty - proper time for weaning? According to whom?
RM - breastfeeding a child past 12 months DOES NOT cause psychological trauma. Yes, it is harder to wean - for both mother and child but psychological damage - get real.

Answer 4

Come on people! Give the guy a break....we all know that the comma is right next to the period on the keyboard...it could just be a typo. You people are being way too harsh! The guy came here honestly for some help and you're all putting down his and his wife/girlfriend's parenting skills....I think that's just plain wrong! If there were two girls, don't you think he would have said "they might lose the desire" instead of "she might lose the desire"? This is not the way to conduct yourselves on yahoo answers! Anyone that took stabs at him should apologize!

I don't have any advice for you as I was never able to nurse my son....but I did feel that I needed to step in and come to your defense because I saw you being wronged.

Good luck though!!

Answer 5

I've got a year 1/2 old and he does not nurse anymore. i weaned him because i could not get him to stop biting. if mother and baby are both still fine nursing then they should still nurse. moving on, his appetite lately has not been as big as it was say 6 months ago. i offer the same types and amounts of food, he just wants less. kids go through growth spurts during which they will want more food then go back to wanting less. kids know what their stomaches need as far as amounts of food go and from what i have read it is best to let them determine how much to eat and the parents determine what to eat. make sure with your Dr. that your child's weight is normal and if it is, then keep doing what you're doing now. if now, your Dr will have good advice on what your child needs to eat different. i would start giving juice, water, and cows milk (whole, not skim) in a sippy cup to start letting your child get liquids other than from mommy if you are not doing that already. good luck!

Answer 6

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Answer 7

She should try offering her something else to eat before nursing her. Also, try introducing new foods.

I'm still nursing my 20 month old and for quite a while she refused to drink anything else. But I started to steadly offer her water or juice in a cup when she wanted to feed at a certain time because I thought she was just thirsty. We've dropped that feeding and I make sure there is water available if she's thirsty.

Answer 8

I hope I am reading this wrong but it is my understanding you have a 1 and a 5 year old child sucking their mother? If I am wrong fine ignore this response.If I am reading this right then first off you need to get real and take both children off the breast.This mother is not a cow and she definitely needs a break. These children are old enough to be winged and you know this. It is folks like you who carry this old tradition into extreme ridiculousness that makes our younger generation not want to even breast feed their young.You need to seek help immediately from your children's doctor.One year olds I can understand but 5 year olds come on lets be real here. What are you going to say to the authorities when the come up in your house and see this happening? I was just feeding my child trust me they will lock you up for child abuse and frankly can't say I would blame them either how do you explain all this to your relatives??You need some real help here I will give you you a hand in the right direction with reporting you to answers thanks you have a great day!

Answer 9

Are you sure shes not eating well, or is it just your assumption? Check with your doctor, a lot of new parents often think their toddlers are not eating enough, when they actually are okay.

If your wife is wanting to stop breast feeding you can always switch to formula or whole milk.

I know it seems otherwise, but children really will not starve themselves to death over not wanting to eat something.

Check with your doctor and make sure her digestive system is functioning well, and ask him for some advise to get her to eat well. Otherwise, just provide her with enough finger food to keep her options open, and dont worry too much about it.

Iam sure she'll be fine, all stages pass and kids do survive :)

Answer 10

not a case of forcing her to eat - just encouraging

still provide breast milk - but limit to maybe 2 0r 3 times a day - and she will get hungry in the meantime.

offer alternative drinks - water, juice, cows milk (as she is over 1)

just be patient - may take a while to 'wean' her off the breast - you still have plenty of time

shes getting full on her mother and refusing food - take mummys milk away slightly and she should eat.