Ready to stop nursing, but how?

When I weaned my DD she wouldn't drink the cows milk etc. So I dropped I had to make her a milkshake, with blueberries or banana or something similar. Then I stopped the day feed, waited a month, dropped the morning feed, waited a month, dropped the night feed. With the milkshakes I slowly reduced the amount of fruit I would put in it and she now takes the milk straight. I take her up to her room, sit quietly with her and read while she has her sippy cup of milk and then she goes to sleep. Hope that helps.

Speak to Cecile De Scally - she was brilliant, and answered all my questions patiently and provided different ways of dealing with weaning, stopping nursing, etc. 050 6947938.

I stopped nursing my DS at 14months cos i got pregnant and it was just too exhausting for me. We had to go cold turkey. It was awful, cos he would cry and he just dint know how to fall asleep without the boob. My DH had to put him to sleep.. but he kinda forgot the boob in about 10days. Also, he slept thru the night wthout askign for a feed as DH obviously cant feed him. Everytime he woke at night, DH offered him water. He dint drink any milk for a day or two before accepting cow's milk in a sippy cup. In No-Cry sleep book there was a method suggested to wean off the boob. Its a longer process than going cold turkey, but if u dont want ur child to cry, u cud give it a shot. It says, nurse till u know ur child is almost a sleep and then pull out the boob. Yes, he will wake up, offer it to him again. Keep doing this, untill he eventually just falls asleep. Do this for a few days/weeks/months and he will eventually learn that he can fall asleep without the boob. Good luck! :)

Weird for a Dr to say that given that WHO say for 2 years, obviously it is still healthier than giving cows milk or formula. Maybe he thinks its harder to stop later? That said I'll probably stop around then too for other reasons. I'm sure it is a comfort thing, and associated with sleep cues which is why I suggested moving the feed times further away from naps (gradually). h Having tasted all 3 :), cows milk is closer to breastmilk in taste than formula but breastmilk is sweeter, so smoothies might be a good way to interest him (you can add berries or banana, pinepple etc). I doubt he'll drink as much in one sitting as on the boob so you'll just have to give them more often. The other thing my friends have done is gradually shorten the length of feeds, and replace with cuddle time until you are feeding for around 1 minute (and then just stop), with older kids they try things like covering their nipples with a sticking plaster and saying they are "broken" or "sick" but I'm not sure that would work with a 14 month old. Good luck and well done for feeding for so long, I'm sure stopping will be harder on you than him to be honest!

I thought of sharing my input on this as I did it for two - as far as I remember this is what my pedia recommended ( I might have missed something!) : They started on rice cereal at 5 months then moved up to pureed fruits and veggies - 1 new vegetable per week or so - then moved up to chunkier foods and meats. By year 1 my twins were eating basically everything an adult eats (with some exceptions like greasy foods and depending on how many teeth ( awww so cute!!!) your baby has. Grilled chicken/grilled beef bits Pureed green veggies noodles cooked soft (bite size rings) mixed with the purees or plain, with butter or olive oil Chunky homemade purees or steamed and cut in bite size pieces: carrots,peas, potatoes, beets, squash, turnip....(with a drizzle of olive oil for taste - yum!) Fresh fruit juices Fresh fruit cut in bite size pieces especially apple, pear, mango,papaya, canteloupe, watermelon, grapes only seedless or pitted and ALWAYS cut in half (very important detail) Oatmeal Yogurt Hard boiled egg once a week - cut in small pieces or mashed in the food ( I think it started 1/4 egg per week at 9 months, 1/2 egg once a week at 12, then increase using this ratio at 15 and 18 months.) Cereals like Cheerios..Arrowroot cookies....Melba toast...they loooove crunchy foods. (Babies that age need to eat crunchy foods to stimulate digestion and their teeth. But beware of sizes as some foods can be dangerous as they could choke) Nurse after meals then offer one bottle in the morning, one after lunch and one before bedtime (Two naps a day and try to wean the second nap around age 2. ( I strongly think that by adding the food to their diet slowly makes them lose interest in breast milk) - as for my pedia he said to me " once your child develops teeth, he does not need nutrients from "you" he needs it from food" (added this) it will become easier to wean them off the breast when they have a more complete, filling diet. They will naturally not show much interest anymore. They never had an illness, not even a cold until they started daycare at age 2...not sure if it's related or not to their diet but I like to think it is :) Hope it helps!!!!!! edited by MomOfTwins on 01/06/2011 <em>edited by MomOfTwins on 01/06/2011</em>

Does your baby drink expressed breast milk from a bottle or cup? That way you can know if it is really the taste of the milk he doesn't like, or the bottle / cup? If he drinks expressed BM you could start mixing it with cows milk etc etc rather than introducing formula at this late stage... no other wisdom from me I'm afraid :)

My DD just turned 1 and I'm hanging on to that morning feed for that extra snooze in the morning :) How about trying one of the 1year+ formulas (idea being the formula is closer to the taste of breast milk than cows milk ) to see if he will drink that, then you could gradually mix it with the cows milk until he's switched over to the cows milk during the day? That's where I'm up to just now, the cows milk on it's own gets completely rejected but if I make a bottle with 3/4 formula and 1/4 cows milk she takes it normally. I stopped feeding gradually from about 8 months when I slowly introduced formula but I was giving it to her in a bottle and she just loooves a bottle where as I guess at 14 months you'll be offering the milk in a cup? Ooooh if only there was a text book with all the right answers in it lol. Get rid of the day time feeds first and then tackle the before bed feed, could you husband do that one with a bottle for a little while until he gets used to it? Just some ideas . . .

Will he eat yoghurt, cheese etc, he doesn't have to drink cows milk to get the nutrients. Or will he drink a banana smoothie (milk and banana) etc I think the before bed feed is usually the last to go, I haven't done it myself but I think first you are supposed to dissociate the milk from the sleep, so feed him before his bath at night, not after etc. I read something along the lines of, don't offer, don't refuse, see how that goes maybe? If you're ready, fine, but why did your pediatrician recommend it?