Close
Any links to Amazon are affiliate links. '
Showing posts with label weaning. Show all posts

Poll Results: Weaning from Breast


Our latest poll discusses weaning from breast. You can find original answers here--some were also answered on Facebook.

1. What age did your baby wean from the breast?
2 Months: 2
3 Months: 1
4 Months: 1
6 Months: 1
11 Months: 4
12 Months: 10
13 Months: 5
14 Months: 5
15 Months: 2
16 Months: 3
18 Months: 2
22 Months: 1
24 Months: 1
26 Months: 1

2. Did you initiate weaning or did baby?
Mom: 32
Baby: 4
Mom and baby: 3

3. Why did you wean?
Met my goal: 17
Child not interested/stopped: 5
Was Pregnant: 5
Wanted to Get Pregnant: 3
Child biting me: 2
Mission Trip: 1
Not confident breastfeeder: 1
Worried about growth: 1
Postpartum Depression: 1
Just happened: 1
Lip/Tongue Tie: 1
Persistent Yeast: 1
Supply low: 1

4. Did you experience any engorgement?
No: 25
A little: 8
Yes: 6

5. Did you notice any enhanced emotional states? (sad, weepy, etc.)
No: 25
Yes: 14

6. What method/process did you use to wean? (cold turkey, dropping one at a time, etc.)
Dropped one at a time: 32
Cold Turkey: 5
"Don't offer/don't refuse: 1
One at a time, then cold turkey: 1
Baby Led: 1

7. How did your baby handle the weaning? 
Just great!: 31
A little fussy/sad: 8

8. Any advice or words of wisdom?
Amanda said: " Go as long as you can. I would have kept going if I had the supply [stopped at 14 months]. Also if you're trying to wean the bedtime nursing, have someone else put baby to bed for a week or so until baby realizes they won't get it anymore."

Rachel said: "Highly advise dropping one feeding at a time. It was much easier, I think, than going cold turkey... both for baby and for myself." Give extra cuddles if fussy.

Naomi said: "Pregnancy was a great time to wean because I didn't have to deal with the engorgement. The downside was she clearly remembered nursing and was very jealous of her brother nursing when he was born (I decided not to tandem nurse but you could avoid the jealousy that way)."

Sally said: "Everyone tells me it's easier when the baby decides to stop feeding although I felt emotional!"

Katie said: "Follow your gut. If you want to nurse longer, do it!"

Jessie said: " Do it slowly so your body will adjust and feel free to adjust your time line as needed to accommodate vacation, illness, etc."

Ariana said: "Substituting other bonding activities (snuggling, book reading, talking together) helped both of us not miss it."

bamathews2 said: "For his morning nursing session, I would always bring him to my bed and we would snuggle and play afterwards. So for a few weeks after weaning, I would make his sippy of cow's milk and still bring him to my bed to drink it, so that we still had that special time together."

Margaret said: "Don't feel guilty for stopping when it works for you and baby. You'll miss it, but snuggles can make up for it and you can still feel close to baby."

Heather said: "Do what's best for you and your baby not what you feel is expected of you or what others think is best. Before quitting because of difficulties see an LC, check for tongue tie, lip tie, do weighted feeds, etc to see if there's some troubleshooting that can be done."

Alena said: "Babywise is helpful in this, as usual!"

April said: "A gentle wean worked very well for us."

Jess said: "switching from bf to formula feeding when you wanted to bf can make you feel like a failure. IT IS NOT A FAILURE. Much better to be happy feeding your baby what he needs than constantly being worried and stressed and never enjoying those moments when you are "stuck" nursing."

Ashley said: "Enjoy it! It is so much hard work, but it is precious beyond words. Don't stress if baby or you wants to wean. Breastfeeding is a great source of nourishment for your baby, but if you aren't able to or baby isn't interested, you're not a failure. smile emoticon Give yourself grace and realize you're a great mom whether you breastfeed for 12 months or 12 days."

Jolene said: "If at all possible, go slow! Easier on both of you."

Lydia said: "I definitely would recommend a gentle wean. Going cold turkey was not easy for me at all."

Janalin said: " I do think having a spouse as an active participant is really helpful. He can distract baby much easier than mom can."

Stacy said: "Unless you have a need to quit immediately/cold turkey, dropping one feeding a week or even moving slower than that will make the process more acceptable for your body and baby."

Katie said: "Don't be afraid to ask for help, look for signs of tongue ties/upper lip ties, formula is NOT poison (even though I have had someone tell me that). Feeding your baby by breast or bottle makes you an awesome mom because you are feeding your baby and taking care of him/her."

Nicky said:"Don't feel pressured to wean until you (and your baby) are ready. I had a lot of pressure from my family to wean him well before his second birthday. We were just not ready. But, I am glad that we picked our timing, and when worked for us. We are still close, and have an amazing bond. I still rock with him several times a day ... instead of mama's milk, he asks for rocky-rockies."



Related Posts:
No comments
Labels: , ,

Poll Discussion: Weaning from Breast


It is very helpful for me when compiling answers if you at least number the answers you give. You can also copy the questions and answer them. If the question does not apply to you, simply put "N/A."

1. What age did your baby wean from the breast?
2. Did you initiate weaning or did baby?
3. Why did you wean?
4. Did you experience any engorgement?
5. Did you notice any enhanced emotional states? (sad, weepy, etc.)
6. What method/process did you use to wean? (cold turkey, dropping one at a time, etc.)
7. How did your baby handle the weaning? 
8. Any advice or words of wisdom?
4 comments
Labels: , , ,

Brinley Pre-Toddler Summary: 12.5 Months Old

enjoying an ice cream cone at a family reunion
This is a summary for Brinley for age 12-12.5 months old. This is weeks 54 and 55--she was 53 and 54 weeks old. Hopefully that is enough info for however people count :)

EATING
Eating is going well and normal. She is eating the same as usual. Children around one usually start to slow down their food intake. Hers hasn't so far--I think one reason is making up for being sick just before she turned one; she has some ground to recover. 

She is not eating purees at all except for her morning oatmeal and prunes. I am not sure why she still likes that each morning, but I am going with it.

BOOSTER AT TABLE
We have permanently moved her booster to the table. We hadn't done it yet and were just bringing out the booster each time, but I decided that was silly. It was time to make it official. She has a new spot. We rearranged some seating at our table and we are nice and cozy now with all 6 of us there. Do you guys have assigned seating at the dinner table? We totally do. We are strategically placed so people are by people so they don't goof around (I feel like a school teacher).

SLEEPING
Sleeping was good and normal this week.

Looking ahead, I think Brinley will be an early "one nap" person. I will be thrilled with that! If it happens. I love one nap. The earliest is typically 14 months that a child can move to exclusively one nap a day. So I am planning October sometime. 

PLAYING
So...I have a confession. During this time period, it was the last two weeks of summer for my kids. I didn't want to cut in in her time to play with them since she is really not a wake a ton, and when you add in eating, play time is limited enough...we didn't do any independent play! I think it will be okay. This was a time when the schedule was to serve us, and I wanted to enjoy every minute of the end of summer. I wouldn't give up on it long-term because I highly value it, but we took a vacation.

OBEDIENCE
Her obedience is just getting better and better! It is so great to see improvement. 

BOTTLE WEANING
One day, I remembered I needed to be weaning her from a bottle! McKenna, you might remember, never took a bottle, so I didn't worry about that with her. But with my older kids, we were in weaning mode at least by a year. I realized just a couple of days after her birthday, so I wasn't too far behind, but it took me by surprise.

She is down to sippy twice a day and bottle twice a day. She wasn't really phased by the sippy. It is a hard-top sippy. She has soft top sippys and she has always had water from those, but they are starting to break in the nipple, so we are transitioning to the hard top for milk. I don't mind water leaking everywhere but don't want milk leaking. Her flexibility always astounds me! (for more on how I wean, see 

SCHEDULE
8:45--nurse with solids (fruit, cereal, yogurt, finger foods). Independent Playtime happens in this block.
10:30-11:00--nap starts
12:45-1:00--wake up, bottle with solids (veggie, fruit, other foods we are eating)
2:30-3:00--nap starts
5:00--wake up, bottle with solids (veggie, fruit, dinner) 
7:30--bottle, then bedtime. In bed by 8:00-8:30.


RELATED POSTS/BLOG LABELS:
6 comments
Labels: ,

Reader Weaning Questions

Weaning From Bottle:
  • mommytoisabella said...
    For some reason I am having a problem posting this question under the appropriate title and this is the only place on the blog where I can get it to work.My question is in regards to weaning from the bottle. I read the article you posted. I was wondering at what age did you wean Brayden from the bottle to a sippy cup. Isabella will be 11 months next week and I am wondering if I should start weaning her right now. Also at what age did you stop giving your little ones milk or formula before bed?
    June 26, 2008 3:25 PM
    Plowmanators said...
    mommytoisabella,Brayden had sippys starting at 6 months with water. I weaned him from BFing at 12 months. He had a bottle until he was 13ish months, then we started to wean and took about a month. It wouldn't hurt to start weaning now. See the sample schedules post to see when I did milk before bed:Sample Schedules: One Year and Up : http://babywisemom.blogspot.com/2008/03/sample-schedules-one-year-and-up.html
    June 26, 2008 11:21 PM
2 comments
Labels: ,

Adding Milk/Dairy to the Diet

image source
If your child is like Brayden or Kaitlyn were, you have no concern over the milk or dairy intake of your child. He/she drinks plenty and you are not worried.

If your child is like McKenna, however, you are concerned. 

When it came time to wean McKenna and move to milk, she was not interested in milk AT ALL. To get 2-3 ounces a day was good. Yes, I was concerned. But I have had two children come before her, so I wasn't freaking out like I would have if Brayden did that. 

Now, a little more  than 6 months later, McKenna will drink about 8 ounces a day most days in milk. Some days, she drinks 16 ounces, but most of the time she still isn't up to the ideal range of 16-28 ounces (I aim for 24) that many pediatricians recommend. Yesterday, as I mixed some milk in with her yam and giggled to myself that I was "sneaking" milk into her, it hit me that a post with ideas for "sneaking" milk into your child's diet would be helpful. So here were are.

Adding Milk
It is easier than you might think to add milk to your child's diet. 

You can do it easily through foods. Like I said above, I added milk to McKenna's baked yam. 

I routinely add milk to her oatmeal each day.

So any time you are adding a liquid to something, add milk.

Also, just keep a sippy of milk in front of her at meals. Don't push it, just have it there for her to drink if she chooses to.

Substitutes
All of the dairy "ounces" do not need to come from milk. In Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron, she has a "Calcium Equivalents" table. This is found on page 127. 

The following foods are equivalent to 4 ounces of milk:
  • 1/2 cup yogurt
  • 2/3 cup cottage cheese
  • 4 ounces tofu (calcium coagulated)
  • 3/4 ounce of natural cheese
  • 1 inch cube of cheddar cheese
  • 2 T cream cheese
  • 2/3 cup ice cream
You can of course also get calcium from other dairy products such as buttermilk (make pancakes!), evaporated milk, some soy milks, and butter.

Non-Dairy Sources of Calcium
You can also find calcium in other foods not derived from dairy (found on page 540 of Super Baby Food). Note that the sole point of dairy is not calcium--it is also a great source of fat. So if you use these methods, make sure your baby is getting the fat she needs from other sources.:
  • Chia seeds
  • Flaxseed
  • Almonds (this is obvious, but do not feed whole almonds to pre-toddlers and even toddlers. Some even say to wait until 4-5 before feeding nuts to children)
  • Soybeans
  • Tahini
  • Filberts
  • Brazil nuts
  • Collard greens
  • Kale
  • Mustard Greens
  • Almond butter
  • Great Northern Beans
  • Navy Beans
  • Amaranth
  • Broccoli
Conclusion
Check out this Pre-toddler summary where I talk about McKenna's milk consumption (or the lack thereof). It also discusses how I observed McKenna to balance her dairy diet on her own. Trust your child to take what she needs. So long as you offer her healthy choices, in most cases you can trust she will eat what she needs to.

And if you have any tips of your own, please share!

Related Blog Posts/Blog Labels:
7 comments
Labels: , ,

Weaning Index

Dropping Feedings
Weaning from Bottle
Weaning from Breast
Weaning from Thumb/Fingers Sucking
No comments
Labels: ,

Index: Dropping Things

Dropping Feedings
Dropping Naps

How To Posts
In Action Posts
Polls
Swaddling
Timeline
Weaning
8 comments
Labels: , , ,

How to Wean Baby From a Bottle

How to Wean Baby From a Bottle to a sippy cup. Get baby drinking milk from a sippy cup each day instead of the bottle.

How to Wean Baby From a Bottle to a sippy cup. Get baby drinking milk from a sippy cup each day instead of the bottle.

Kaitlyn was basically an easy dream with everything we did with her as a baby. No complaints here. I assumed weaning from the bottle would be no different. She had always be easy and weaning from the bottle would be no different. She already drank water from a sippy cup like a champ. No problem. Things were lined up perfectly.

I nursed Kaitlyn up to 1 year old. My husband and I left for a week-long vacation without the children a few days after she turned 1. The kids were scheduled to spend half of the week at my parents' house and half of the week at my husband's parents house.

Had I been home after Kaitlyn was weaned from nursing, I would have taken her straight to the sippy. I had no doubt she would be okay with that. However, I was also positive she would drink her milk better if it came from the bottle. I didn't know how she would react to being without her mommy for a week, newly weaned from breastfeeding, and I didn't want to worry about her eating while we were away. So I opted to move her from nursing to bottle and would tackle the weaning from bottle to sippy once I got home. I thought at worst, it would take four weeks of doing one feeding per week. I was wrong.

I got home, gave her a week to get back in the groove of being home, and started the weaning. Was she ever disgusted to have milk coming out of her sippy cup! Like I said, she has been drinking water from a sippy since six months old with no problem. But for some reason, she did not like milk coming out of there. We needed to take this slower than one feeding a week.

How to Gently Wean Baby from the Bottle

It took us about two months to get fully to the point of being weaned from the bottle. I did one feeding in a sippy until she would finally take it. I chose the feeding right after her afternoon nap. It took her several weeks, but she finally started to drink from it. Then I did her lunch feeding. She adjusted to this one much faster. I kept it at that for a couple of weeks. We had a lot of setbacks because she would get a cold and refuse to drink from the sippy again. But we pushed through.

Then I moved the morning feeding to a sippy. No problem. She didn't even bat an eye. Then we went and bought all BPA free sippys, moved her to those, and dropped the 4th bottle all in one day. Again, no problem.

She was resistant at first, but eventually came around and is back to her flexible self.

Lessons Learned from Weaning from the Bottle

So what would I have done differently as I look back in retrospect?

First, in many ways, I would have done things the same. I wanted peace of mind knowing my daughter would eat well while I was out of town. I didn't want grandparents to have a one year old to take care of who was refusing to eat. It was a tricky situation. If I had been home, I would have moved her to sippys instead.

Second, I would have changed something at 6 months of age. I recommend breastfeeding moms give their babies a bottle every so often to be sure they will drink from it. See: Breastfeeding moms, give your baby a bottle. I also introduce the sippy cup at 6 months and offer that with water each day just to get baby used to it. I would change that up just a bit.

With my next child, I think I will do the bottle once a week, then at 6 months when I start the sippy cup, offer a sippy once a week rather than a bottle. This way he/she can be used to milk coming from it rather than just water. If I had known for a fact that Kaitlyn would have taken a sippy well, I would have moved her to a sippy after weaning instead of bottles. This whole process was a lot harder with Kaitlyn than I ever anticipated. Hopefully we all can learn from it!

Related Posts about Feeding Baby

How to Wean Baby From a Bottle to a sippy cup. Get baby drinking milk from a sippy cup each day instead of the bottle.

42 comments
Labels: , ,

Weaning from Breast: Some Troubleshooting

I just finished this post, then it wouldn't post it and it was all deleted. Very frustrating :). Here we go again.

I have a friend who is weaning from breast right now and is experiencing a couple of difficulties. I thought I would share my responses to those.

Engorgement
While I do have pain and/or discomfort when my milk comes in, I have few problems when weaning. Not all women are so lucky, though.
  • Your obvious methods for drying up milk. Cabbage, tight sports bra, etc. I wouldn't use cabbage in excess until you are ready for milk to be gone, though.
  • Compresses.
  • Pump enough to alleviate pain.
  • Take it more slowly. I mentioned this in my In Action: Weaning from Breast post, but here it is again. Something I did with Kaitlyn was I would feed her 4 ounces and then follow up with nursing for the session I was dropping. I did that the first day. You could do that for a few days and take it slower. You could then slowly add ounces and decrease nursing amount. That might help your body adjust more easily. So, say you were dropping the lunchtime nursing. I would prepare 4 ounces (or whatever amount you know will leave your child wanting more). Feed that to him, then follow up with nursing. Your child will nurse, but not long enough to create a full feeding. Do that for a couple of days, then increase the prepared ounces and decrease the length of the nursing. This way, your body can slowly adjust.
Child Resistance
Some children have an affinity for nursing, especially right before bed. Brayden sucked for comfort before I started Babywise at 9 weeks. Kaitlyn has never been a comfort nurser.
  • Prevention. Try to avoid nursing becoming a soothing ritual. Avoid nursing right before bed. While this is easy to do for your first three feedings, many "top off" right before bed. If this is you, change your routine. Nurse and then do PJs and story and whatever you do. With Kaitlyn, her final nursing of the day came 45 minutes before she actually went to bed.
  • Drop the favored nursing session last. By that point, he might be ready for it to go. This was the case with Brayden.
  • Hold him while he drinks his milk. I hold my kids for a few months past weaning to ensure we still get that quiet cuddle time together. This is already a time of day you are used to sitting down and holding your child. With Brayden, it was the only time he would hold still. Kaitlyn loves to be cuddled and held, so she enjoys me holding her and feeding her.
  • Something you might try is doing a bottle at the favored feeding for now. I did that with Brayden. After he had been weaned completely for a couple of weeks, I started the weaning from the bottle. It was all very smooth and seamless.
Good luck in your weaning process! Here are some other posts on the topic:
5 comments
Labels: ,

How to Wean Your Baby From Breastfeeding

Inside: How to wean a baby from breastfeeding. Week by week process for gentle weaning. 

How to wean a baby from breastfeeding. Week by week process for gentle weaning.

I just finished weaning Kaitlyn from nursing. With Brayden, I was completely thrilled to wean him since nursing was such a battle to get him to eat rather than look around the room constantly. With Kaitlyn, however, I was sad. She was such a good nurser. Alas, I had to wean her when I did because my husband and I are going on vacation without our kids.

Yes, there are good things about nursing. I will have more freedom. When my husband and I want to go out to dinner, we can leave before her final nursing or be out past her final nursing. When she sleeps over at Grandma's house, she can have her milk as soon as she gets up and I won't have to be there at 7:30 AM sharp. If we are running errands, she can have her milk on the go instead of us stopping or coming home to nurse her. Yesterday we went to the park for lunch. I got her up and we just left--I didn't have to nurse her first. I say these things just to make myself feel better :).

Kaitlyn weaned very easily. Here is a rundown of how we did it.

WEEK ONE: I dropped the 3rd nursing (happens at 3:30). Since she was not quite 12 months yet, she had formula instead. The first day, I fed her a 4 ounce bottle, then followed it up with nursing. I knew she wouldn't nurse as much as usual and I wasn't sure if she needed more than 4 ounces. I also knew this would take some of the edge off so I could more gradually decrease my milk supply. This week I was the most engorged. It pretty much took a full 7 days to get comfortable. It wasn't as bad as when milk comes in, but not comfortable.

WEEK TWO: I waited a couple of days past me getting comfortable (from engorgement). Then I dropped the lunch time nursing (happens at 11:30). She continued to not mind in the least. In fact, after a few days of this she started to sign "milk" to me (which around here means milk in a cup, not in mommy) when it was time to nurse. We got through that, though, and she continued to nurse just fine. This week only took me about 3-4 days to physically get completely comfortable in regard to engorgement.

How to wean a baby from breastfeeding. Week by week process for gentle weaning.WEEK THREE: I dropped the evening nursing. I debated over which of the two to nurse. There are pros and cons to both. If you nurse at night, you can be more drained for sleeping. If you nurse in the morning, you can be more drained for your daily activities. Also, I have more milk in the morning than the evening. What decided it for me was that on Tuesday (the day I dropped it), I was cleaning the highway with the youth starting at 6 PM and she usually nurses at 7. I knew I would be home after her bedtime. So I dropped that nursing. This week only took me about 3 days to physically get completely comfortable in regard to engorgement. This feeding was probably the easiest for my body to drop as far as engorgement.

WEEK FOUR: I dropped the final nursing. It has only been a couple of days--I dropped it last Sunday and today is Tuesday. I am slightly uncomfortable; I assume it will take a day or two more to get more comfortable. Last night I could sleep on my belly for the first half of the night for the first time in a year and a half! For a tummy sleeper, this is exciting. Another perk to weaning. I haven't leaked milk at all during the weaning process.

For more on weaning, see this post:

Weaning: Breast, Bottle, and Formula
15 comments
Labels: , ,

Dropping a Nap: A Weaning Process

Whether your baby is 7 months old and dropping the third nap, or 4 years old and dropping her only nap, the transition does not need to be what is called "cold turkey." For anyone who doesn't know, cold turkey means all of a sudden, or immediately. While the naps I have dropped with Brayden have been cold turkey, that has not been the pattern with Kaitlyn. Her nap-dropping has been more of a process.

On Becoming Preschoolwise puts it this way, "Children don't suddenly one day stop napping forever. Everyone benefits when Mom sees it as a weaning process" (p.100). This is referring to dropping the only nap of the day, but when I read it, I thought how true that is to Kaitlyn and her naps. To wean someone is to "accustom [them] to manage without something on which they hae become dependent or of which they have become excessively fond" (American Oxford English Dictionary).

Some days Kaitlyn needs that third nap. Other days, she doesn't. As time goes on, she can go later into the evening without it. Brayden did just fine with the "cold turkey" approach, though it did take him a week or two to be happy without it as he adjusted. I will be taking the weaning approach with him when I drop his only nap. Take note that this idea is referring to naps that are dropped, not naps that disappear as schedules are shifted. For more nap-dropping information on this blog, see:

38 comments
Labels: , ,

How To Wean Baby from Breast, Bottle, and Formula

How To Wean Baby from Breast, Bottle, and Formula. Tips and strategies to help make the transition from breastfeeding and bottle-feeding smoother for baby.

How To Wean Baby from Breast, Bottle, and Formula. Tips and strategies to help make the transition from breastfeeding and bottlefeeding smoother for baby.

Whether you are weaning from breast or bottle, you might be wondering what to do. Here is what I did with Brayden. We haven't weaned Kaitlyn yet, so more ideas might come after I do that (a few months off).

I breastfed Brayden for a year. Neither one of us were attached to doing so. When it came time for weaning, neither one of us were sentimental about it (though I did have a brief moment at one point--lasted maybe five minutes).

One woman I know once pointed out that if you feed your baby for comfort or to get to sleep, weaning will be harder. So the good news for Babywise moms is that it shouldn't be an issue because baby eats to get nutrition, not for other reasons. Comfort, joy, and cuddling might be bonuses, but those things can still be done even if you don't breastfeed if you put in the effort to do so.

I am the type to take things slow, so here were my strategies for weaning.

Read more »
34 comments
Labels: ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)