the best way to wean a baby from the breast?

Question

i want to start weaning my baby who is 16 months old from the breast... gradually...and maybe keep 1 or 2 feedings a day...
right now it seems that he is BFing ALL DAY everyDAY!!! and thus doesn't eat much solid food.. he drinks al during the night.. and i feel like i am missing out on some sleep.. which makes me a little cranky and adgitated...
any suggestions would be wonderful.. this baby LOVES the "teta" more than life!!! so i think it will be quite difficult to do... thanks

Answer 1

I substituted one HALF of a feeding every 3 days with a cup. At this age, just give him meals at regular times. Since you are still nursing most of the time, you don't want to quit cold turkey. For your sake more than his. You don't want horrible engorgement and clogged ducts. One half of a feeding means while you would normally nurse both sides, only nurse one side, and the other give a drink.

Answer 2

maybe he'd be willing to take a sippy cup for a few feedings. Keeping him on a bottle may mimic the breast too much, and and just increase his desire to nurse. Let him pick it out, so its a special thing! I know how you feel about the nighttime feeds!! Those will be the hardest to eliminate. The only way I finally weaned my son was to go away for a weekend with Daddy and then not nurse once I got home. He was crabby for a few days, but it worked out well. He was 22 months by the time I fully weaned, it felt like the right time

Answer 3

it is very hard to wean them!! my 17 1/2 m old just finally weaned herself!!! Try to ONLY nurse at nap-time and bedtime. If its REALLY, REALLY necessary when he's fussy. Otherwise, try giving him juice or milk or chocolate milk(I know some people will freak about that) but let's face it.... breast milk is way sweeter then formula or even normal milk. But put his drink either in a bottle or a sippy cup--there are sippy cups with soft tips, this makes the transaction WAY smoother for baby. After he gets used to only nursing a couple times during the day, he will get used to it. Nighttime is a bit harder. But "try" to stay awake, rock, and nurse him then place him back in his bed to sleep.
*****also!! if you cut the nursing time down, this will help. don't let him nurse as long as he wants.
I promise this will work. it just takes a little bit of time!!
Best of luck!!

Answer 4

I started by stopping all day feedings for a few months. That way I could still nurse my baby at night to make him sleep. Then I gradually stopped nursing him at night as well. Maybe you can combine different tips from different answers and come up with what will work best for you and your baby.

Answer 5

One thing I would say is definitely not to start him on bottles, they are very hard to get rid of!

Second, he is old enough now to be feeding himself a little with his fingers. Put him in a high chair at meal times and give him pieces of banana, Cheerios, toddler veggies from a jar, and so on, and breast milk in a sippy cup. You can also supplement that by feeding him baby foods with a spoon. He may also want his own spoon, my son wouldn't let me feed him unless he had his own spoon too. Your son may want to try to spoon feed himself, he's old enough to try but it will be messy at first.

Once he gets the hang of all that, he won't need the calories from breastfeeding as much, and you can start to wean him off the daytime feeds, and start him on a little cow's milk.

This will all take patience and time, but eventually you should be able to get him on a schedule of breastfeeding first thing in the am. and also at bedtime. Those were our favorites with both my boys.

Best wishes to you.

Answer 6

I was just reading recently in some magazine to do it slowly...they said you can't be too slow. Knock out one breast feeding about every 3-4 days, and replace it witha bottle. Try having someone else do that bottle feeding...and knock out the most annoying feeding first. Than in 3-4more days take out another one. Said it should take a couple of weeks for the whole process. Good luck!!

Answer 7

Well you have already taken breast feeding farther than most mothers do, but that is your choice. A sippy cup should be a part of your child's life by now. Gradually decrease breast feedings (especially at night!) and move to a cup. If baby is really needing the nourishment he/she won't put up much of a fight.

Answer 8

Give him a bottle here and there 1 a day for the first 3 days then 2 bottles a day for the next 3 days and so on

Answer 9

Start off feeling strong and in-charge. The best way to do this is to have the idea that YOU are the grown-up who's going to sneak this transition onto the boy and he's going to barely know what happened. Ah, the magic of being the adult. Good for you for having the idea that you can do it gently and *gradually*.

I feel good about how my weaning technique worked for me and then my friends who needed help. So I'll share...

First: Eliminate the word "teta" from your vocabulary. Keep nursing, but keep it matter-of-fact and don't dwell on it or talk about it too much. Kids get used to the "idea" of nursing as much as the nursing. Just stick him on when he needs it. For awhile don't ever discourage him or say no... So he doesn't feel like it's something he has to fight for.

Then: Do you have an idea of when he's going to want to nurse? Try to beat him to the punch and feed him snacks around those meal times, then fill up the would-be-nursing time with some cuddling or playtime that he really likes. Get him laughing. If he wants to nurse, let him, but kind of distract him with some surprise toys or fun that makes him pull away from the breast. See, you have to get used to the idea that he's not going to need this anymore too!! It's becoming *his* idea to stop nursing.

After awhile, as he gets used to enjoying yummy solid food, you'll be down to naptime and bedtime.

Make sure he has lots of close cuddling sweet time with you without nursing. The nighttime is hard. Do you have someone else (husband) who can take over a few crying shifts at night? This is important. Baby needs lots of ways of being soothed.

I did a lot of picking up my son and rocking him at night, it wouldn't stop him from crying (because he was accustomed to nursing) so I'd put him back down and leave him for a LITTLE while, he'd really get mad for, then I'd pick him up and soothe him, eventually he was getting the relief just from me rocking him. Offer water or milk. My boy really liked plain yogurt so he'd drink that at night too.

After a few months of this slow transition I got to where I just breast fed before bed. Then I got sneaky with a change for him...

We had a very regular bed routine: bath, read books, breast feed, then sleep. I started keeping him half awake for this one instead of letting him fall asleep while nursing. I'd kind of wake him up to put him back asleep being rocked or patted. You have to find ways to help him get to sleep without nursing. You can do it!

Then I changed it to...bath, breast feed, then read books. So the feeding was sort of a side event in the evening and he read books before being rocked or walked to sleep.

One night (I remember it well!) when I took him out of the bath, instead of sitting on my bed to nurse him, I had a soft new blanket on the floor and some toys. He ran into the room so excited for the little play area. We read books. I turned out the light and held him over my shoulder in the rocking chair and put him to sleep like I always did. He didn't notice I had skipped the nursing! I almost felt sad. How could he not miss his very favorite thing? I was grateful that it was so smooth and that he was easy to distract, but it was a transition for me too.

Anyways, I hope some of these tricks work. Good luck and remember, you can do this, sneaky mom.

Answer 10

MY WIFE HAD A PROBLEM WITH THIS YEARS AGO. PUT SOME OF YOUR BREAST MILK IN A WARMED NURSER BOTTLE AND HOLD IT NEXT TO YOUR BREAST. LET THE BABY REALIZE THAT IT'S GETTING THE SAME BREAST MILK. ONCE THE BABY ADJUSTS TO THAT, MIX FORMULA OR MILK WITH THE BREAST MILK AND KEEP DILUTING IT UNTIL IT'S ONLY GETTING REAL MILK. ALSO, GRADUALLY MOVE THE BABY AWAY FROM YOUR BREAST ONCE IT STARTS NURSING. EVENTUALLY, YOU'LL GET SOME SLEEP.