Weaning from breastfeeding question!?

Question

I have a 8 month old that I have been breastfeeding exclusively since she was born, I have her a bottle with breastmilk in it a couple times when she was first born, but she hasn't had a bottle since she was 2 months old.
I am trying to start weaning her, at least from breastfeeding during the day. But she will have nothing to do with bottles, she laughs at me when I give one to her. She will drink out of a sippy cup, but only if there is water in it. I even tried giving her water with alittle juice in it, and she wouldn't drink it.
I would like my freedom back!!!!!
Do you have any advice for me???
Please only answer if you HAVE been through the weaning process..... I am not done with breastfeeding, I still love it, I just want her to have alittle indepenence!!!!!!
Specially on long trips or when my husbands friends are over.
My husband has never fed her, well solid food yes.. but from a bottle no. And he is feeling really rejected lately that he cannot help me as much as he wants too!

Oh yeah.... I tried milk in a sippy, and she laughed at me.
And she still breastfeeds every hour to hour and a half..... even if i give her solid food, she will breastfeed like a half hour after that.

Answer 1

You should not be the one to give her the bottle. Next time she is hungry, leave the room and have your husband give her the bottle. That will help with his desire to be more involved. It probably won't work right away, you'll have to try a few times. Perhaps take a nice needed mommy day and leave the house. When she gets hungry, she'll take the bottle.

Answer 2

I went through exactly what your husband went through. My wife works a couple evenings a week, and our daughter just violently refused a bottle at around 2.5-3 months old. This went on for a month.

We started her on solids at 4 months. She took to that like a champ, and since that time she's been more accepting of bottles.

I could give you the standard advice, but none of it worked for us reliably. It was just a phase she had to get through. Anyway, the standard advice - bottle temps (some like cold, some like warm), nipple sizes/flow, nipple temperature, mother present/not present, distractions. Just mix those up a bit. If after 10 minutes (and 10 minutes is a long time) she doesn't take the bottle, stop trying further. But don't immediately breastfeed her at that point.

Console her in some other way. Once she calms down (from exhaustion, or soothing), wait another 10 minutes and then breastfeed her. The idea here is that she knows cause-and-effect. She knows that if she continues to refuse the bottle, she'll get the breast. It's not a willful thing... that is, she's not being "bad" or "tricky." She's just doing what she has learned is the way to get what she wants.

Answer 3

Have you tried a sippy cup with a straw built in it? It's also spill proof? Or simply just a plain cup without a lid for both milk or juice. This will take a little practice and it will make a few messes but she'll have fun! If it still doesn't work, keep up with the water during the day and breastfeed morning and evening and then maybe just increase her solid food intake during the day. Soon enough you will be able to introduce homogonized milk to her diet.

I wish you the best of luck and enjoy your little angel!

Answer 4

Just keep trying thats all I can say. I know exactly how you feel. My first child was no problem to wean. At two months old I started pumping and using bottles and after he had that bottle once he never went back to breast feeding. My daughter totally different story. At two months I tried to introduce the bottle with no sucess so every week I would try and still no sucess it took me until she was 14 months old for her to finally take a bottle. Now she is 2 1/2 and she is giving me trouble to give up the bottle. Try once a week to give her a bottle. But also leave on empty and let her play with it. I know she is only eight months old but let her realize that the bottle is fun to play with and grab a doll when you trying to give her a bottle and show her the doll likes the bottle. You have to make everything a game with kids or they won't go for it. Good luck.

Answer 5

HOnestly at this point i wouldn't intoduce a bottle. Doctors reccomend you get them off bottles at 1 now. I am having the same problem with my ten month old son, he will not take a bottle or milk from a cup. I left him over night at my sister in-laws and it turns out he will take milk in a cup as long i am not near. When i weaned my 2nd child i just occupied her with other stuff at the time the feeding i was stopping. LUckly she took a soother where as my little guy will not take one ither. I recomend you give the baby a cup 1st thing in the morning (do not nurse). They tend to be thirstier when they get up. Hold firm because they will bug for the breast if you are there. I find weaning to be a very hard experience on both the mother and child.

Good Luck

Answer 6

Babies need full-fat milk for at least the first 2 years. 1 year of human milk is the BARE MINIMUM!

She still needs to nurse fairly often during the day. She is only 8 months old, there is no way she can consume enough solids to meet her nutritional needs.

She will gain independence only by growing into it, not having her main source of food and comfort taken away.

Feeding her solid food is all your husband should do as far as feeding goes. BUT, he can bathe her, rock her, wear her in a carrier, read her stories, change her diapers and play with her. There are many more ways to bond than food. Really, this is the only thing he CAN'T DO!


PS: your "freedom" is not compromised by sustaining another persson, it is enriched.

Your social life can wait a few more months, or you can creat a new one that centers around family and friends that also have children.

Answer 7

this is what my sister and I did. Her baby was the same way but she started taking the cup for me when she wanst around and eventually started taking it for her. so try letting some one else give her a sippy cup with your breastmilk in it. she knows you got the good stuff. : ) dip the cup in the breastmilk too so she will smell and taste the milk instead of the plastic that she is not used to.
I would keep trying the sippy cup and not the bottle at 10 months b/c thats another thing to try to wean her from in a few months
just keep offering it to her but dont try to force her to the point where everyone is frustrated. she will eventually get it. hopefully sooner than later
good luck

Answer 8

Sweetie I know where you are. My 13 month old nurses constantly, I thought it was just a phase but it has been going on since Christmas.

Your daugher isn't going to take milk from anything but the tap until you aren't around, more than likely anyway. Most breastfed babies are like that. If you are on a long car trip then she also may take it.

So if you want to go out without her and leave pumped milk she will more than likely take it. But not with you around. Also you may find if you go out with her she is distracted and won't want to nurse as much. I can get my son to go 4 or 5 hours if when he gets up from his nap, we have lunch and then go to the park. Unfortunately that was making him spit-up again.

Other than that I don't find much works. I tell him no and he just cries until I give in. And really I don't see the point of listening to crying for half an hour.

Anyway there is some great weaning advice here, maybe something will work for you: http://www.kellymom.com/bf/weaning/index.html

Answer 9

Hi-I have weaned my 12 month old from all but her a.m. and p.m. breastfeeding so I know what you are going through. Here is the advice I can offer-

Stick with the cup. Why bother with the bottle when you'll just have to wean her from that eventually anyway? There is a company called Nuby that makes awesome sippy cups. They have 2 handles so they are easy to pick up (though certainly you'll be doing the tipping back for her until she gets the hang of it) and a really great soft spout-the material of a bottle nipple with the shape of a sippy spout.

At ten months we tried to get her to start taking formula since she was starting daycare and I didn't want to pump (and really, there isn't much left for pumping these days) at my new job. She refused, so formula was out. This has not been a problem We just made up for it with yobaby and cheese and the natural increase in "real" food that her age called for anyway.

So-keep giving her the sippy cup with water (though try the juice as many time as it takes-repitition is the key), bump up her food diet, and cut down your nursings to as many as you like. You are going to love the increase in freedom! I loved nursing too but at times I'd think to myself, "I have got to get ON with my life, baby bean!"

Best of luck--

Answer 10

This will be hard, breast milk is the best, but to be able to have a smooth transition to the bottle you should have contained to put the breast milk into the bottle sometimes feed her and allow your husband to feed her. She do not need a bottle at this stage anyway, what you must work on is getting her to eat cereals, porridge and other foods. If she do not want it in a cup use a saucer, bowl etc .She can take soft heavier foods to keep her satisfied longer.This does not mean you must give up breast feeding totally.
All the best,

Answer 11

my son was a breastbaby and would take nothng but when i started him on juice i barely watered it down the first few times just so he would like it also i found he hated sippy cups bc he had to tip them try buying nuby straw cups they don't leak all over your furniture they have a valve just like a sippy cup but they also don't need to learn to tip them which doesn't come naturally to a breastfed baby these were the only ones that worked for us i found them at about 14 months and he liked them right away i had been through every other kind of cup i am sure if i found them sooner he would have drank from them sooner and it'll be good if you start her on them now then wean in a couple months she'll be happy having juice once in a while and it'll be a whole lots easier to wean her when the time comes

also i wouldn;t try giving her breastmilk in it bc she'll think your trying not to nurse her and will miss the cuddle time when it came time for my son to drink homo milk (i know its a couple months for your daughter) he wouldn't take it bc breastmilk is soo much sweeter i added a tiny bit of the nesquik strawberry mix to it which sweetened it just enough for him to drink it then i cut it bak so it was only a few drops lol worked like a charm