How do I wean my infant from nursing?

Question

My son is 9 1/2 months old and I am planning on weaning him from nursing in a few months. Luckly he takes the bottle really well when being watched by others. So I'm not really concerned with him for this proccess other than him being mad at me when he asks for the boob. My mother said the the weaning proccess was very hard and painful for her! Although that was 20+ years ago. Is there anything the doctor can give you to help out with pain and discomfort? And what is the best way to go about weaning him? Cold turkey? Substitute a bottle for the boob one feeding at a time? And how long will it all take?

Answer 1

Weaning can be a difficult time for both mother and baby, but doing it gradually with lots of love can ease the transition.

Instructions
STEP 1: Proceed slowly. Your baby may find abrupt weaning traumatic, and it can lead to uncomfortable engorgement and mastitis in your breasts. Mastitis is an infection that can cause fever and flulike symptoms, as well as pain, hardness, redness, or heat in your breast - usually just one breast, not both. STEP 2: Eliminate one daily feeding session at a time over a period of weeks or even months, starting with the nursing session that seems the least important to your baby emotionally. STEP 3: Offer your baby a substitute for the breast. If she is less than 1 year old, you may need to substitute formula in a bottle to make sure she gets the nutrition she needs. If she is past her first birthday, eating a variety of foods and drinking from a cup, you may be able to offer her food or distract her with a fun game or activity. STEP 4: Give extra affection. Weaning can make babies feel vulnerable for a while, and your baby may need added reassurance that you still love her. STEP 5: Keep your baby occupied by going to the park, taking a walk or playing in the garden. STEP 6: If your baby clearly wants to nurse, and if your attempts to distract her with other snacks or activities aren't working, it's OK to nurse. This way, you can avoid a battle of wills. STEP 7: Continue to nurse for comfort if necessary. Often, a more or less weaned baby will want to nurse after a fright or a fall. This is OK. It will take her a while to get used to the other forms of comfort you offer. STEP 8: Contact your doctor, a lactation professional or your local La Leche League if you experience pain or engorgement while waiting for your milk to dry up. They can offer some solutions for a safe and pain-free transition. STEP 9: If you wean your baby from breast to bottle, avoid putting her to bed with a bottle. It poses a choking hazard and promotes tooth decay. If she gets thirsty at night, keep a spillproof cup of water nearby and offer it to her when she wakes.

Answer 2

DO NOT wean cold turkey. This is very hard on both mother and baby. Mom can become painfully engorged and it can lead to plugged ducts and mastitis. It's also very hard for baby to take away something that he loves very much and has been a source of comfort all this life so quickly.

Instead, go very slowly. Eliminate one feeding no more frequently than one every 5 days. This should help give both of you time to adjust. If, after 5 days, you still feel full between feedings, then you need to wait a bit longer before cutting another one.

The "don't offer/don't refuse" method of weaning works very well, especially if you aren't working on some kind of deadline.

If you do have engorgement, you can express just enough to get comfortable....but don't express all the milk. Or stand in a hot shower with the water on your breasts and let the milk leak out. You can put cold packs on for the swelling (bags of frozen peas work well) and put cabbage leaves in your bra. (DO NOT boil it like someone else said! It has to be raw!) Ibuprofen is the drug of choice for weaning discomfort.

Remember that breastmilk (or formula) should continue to make up the majority of his diet for the rest of the first year.

Keep in mind that there is no reason for you to wean just because your child reaches a certain age. Continuing to nurse beyond one year is still very normal and healthy. The AAP actually recommends 12 mos as the MINIMUM amount of time to nurse.

Answer 3

It would probably be better for you and your baby to wean him off gradually over a couple weeks. I don't know much about the pain since I have never been pregnant, but I worked with infants for 3 years in a child care setting and assisted many parents with this process. Just find a good formula and start with one or two bottles of that a day for the first two days. If he doesn't take it don't give up, he will eat if he is hungry even if it takes a while to give in to this new drink. Just gradually increase the amount of bottles over the two weeks, then cut him off completely. Once he is around a year old you should be able to start giving him milk.

Answer 4

Substitute a breastfeeding for a bottle every 3 days until you get it down to one breastfeeding a day.

Usually people leave the last feeding as the nighttime one because that is the one that the babies and mom's have the hardest time giving up.

I find it better to end the last one with giving the baby a bottle, then letting him nurse til he falls asleep.

That way, they are nursing less, which causes you to produce less.

When you are weaning, if you get uncomfortable during the day, you can manually express a little to relieve the pressure. Don't express too much because it will make you produce more.

I have used this twice and weaning was a piece of cake.
Best of luck.

Answer 5

I would like to start by congratulating you on breastfeeding your baby - good job! Weaning the baby should not be painful - do it slowly just as you say you plan on doing and your breasts will adjust naturally - if you slowly decrease the number of feedings throughout the day the less milk your breasts will produce so that by the time you totally wean him your breasts will not get engorged. Just in case - if you do experience any discomfort - try boiling cabbage leaves, stick them in the freezer for about 15 to 20 minutes and then put them on your breasts. You can do this as many times a day as you wish. In between, bind your breasts - put on a sports bra that is 1-2 times smaller than you normally wear or get an ankle sports wrap and wrap it around your chest as tight as is comfortable and in 24-36 hours you will feel better. AGAIN, GREAT JOB breastfeeding your baby!!!!!!

Answer 6

Approaches to Weaning
In order to allow both mom and baby to adjust physically and emotionally to the change, weaning should be a gradual process.

One approach to weaning is to drop one feeding session a week until the child is eating all solid foods or formula. In this case, you may need to express milk to avoid engorgement. If you try this approach, you might want to start with eliminating the midday feeding because it's usually the smallest and most inconvenient - especially for working mothers. Many mothers let go of the bedtime feeding last because it remains a special part of the bonding experience. It may also be the one to which your child is most emotionally attached.

Another approach is to leave the decision of when to wean completely up to your child. Once he or she is eating three meals of solid food a day (plus snacks in between), let your child breastfeed only when he or she asks. In this situation, you may find that your milk will dry up due to lack of demand. Pumping may be necessary to keep the milk flowing.

Making the Transition Easier
Many mothers make the decision to wean with mixed emotions. On the one hand, weaning brings with it more freedom and flexibility for a mother, as well as the proud realization that her child is reaching a major milestone.

On the other hand, nursing is an intimate activity that fosters a strong bond between mother and child - and some women find it difficult to let that go. For many mothers, weaning is the first realization that their child may never again depend on them as much as they did in those earliest months.

Expect that you're going to experience a wide range of emotions, and understand that your child may be ambivalent about weaning, too. But also remember that there will be countless other ways to nurture your relationship with your child in the days, months, and years ahead.

Here are some suggestions for making the transition easier for both of you:

Engage your child in a fun play activity or an outing during the time when you would usually nurse.
Avoid sitting in your usual nursing spots or wearing your usual nursing clothes.
Delay weaning if your child is trying to adapt to some other change in his life. Trying to wean your child when he or she is just beginning child care or when teething is probably not a good idea.
If your baby is younger than a year, it's a good idea to introduce a bottle or cup when you would typically be nursing. If he or she is older than a year, try a healthy snack or maybe even just a cuddle.
Try changing your daily routine so that you are otherwise engaged when you would typically be breastfeeding.
Enlist your partner's help to provide a distraction at a typical nursing time.
If your child begins to pick up a comforting habit such as thumb sucking or becomes attached to a security blanket, don't discourage it. Your child may be trying to adjust to the emotional changes of weaning.

Answer 7

My mom was lied to and told she could not nurse. She had breast cancer and was told that her milk would not be good ever again. So she didn't think it was an option to breastfeed any of her children. Growing up, I thought the only way to feed a baby was a bottle. It's all I ever saw. I had absolutely no idea boobs were meant for food. My hubby's mom didn't breastfeed b/c she went right back to work and also thought it wouldn't be an option. So I didn't have my family or my hubby's family as support. When I got pregnant, I took a natural birthing course and got some guidance on breastfeeding and went to a few LLL meetings. Thank God I did, b/c I think without their help I wouldn't have succeeded.

Answer 8

If you're intending to wean to feed formula, this is a bad idea. Don't wean until he is no longer in need of baby milk at all. Babies need breastmilk at least through one year, and longer if possible. When you get ready to wean, discontinue one feed every week or so - substitute it with learning to drink from a cup. However, if your son asks for the boob, you should give it to him while he's weaning.

Answer 9

I started weaning my daughter at about 9 months. I started with night time feedings and didn't replace them with any formula, I wanted her to sleep longer and knew she was old enough to do so. Once I took away all night feedings I took away one day feeding at a time, replacing it with a sippy of formula (she didn't like bottles) or baby food. By doing one feeding at a time my engorgement wasn't really bad. If I became too engorged I would pump just a tiny bit to ease the discomfort, but not enough to make my body think the baby still needed that particular feeding. The last feeding we took away was the bedtime feeding, and it was the easiest. One night she just didn't want it anymore and that was the end of that. Good luck and don't get discouraged. You can use bags of frozen peas to ease your discomfort during engorgement without stimulating more milk production.

Answer 10

The slower you go the easier it will be for your boobs and for baby and it will take as long as you want depending on how many times a day you nurse I would sub one bottle for the boob for three days then 2 bottles for the boob for 3 days and take one in the morning then one at night your breast will adjust pretty quickly good luck