Ready to Wean Exclusively Breastfed Baby

I have 2 girls 8 and 3 1/2. I ended up breasting feeding both until they were 18mnths because they refused milk and wouldnt drink from a bottle. Both of them did not drink whole milk until they were 3. You can try soy milk she might like it better or with mine what worked was orange juice with the calcium and no pulp. My younger one now only drinks her milk with ovaltine in it chocolate flavor. Good luck.

S.

Hi!

This is a lil test of my memory as my son is now 9 and my daughter is 7 ... so it's been a while -- both were breastfed only -- i thought i was going to have a really hard time with me son - WRONG -- what i remember doing is taking away a feeding and giving a sippy cup .... ween a lil at a time and just give lots of hugs in between .. it was so much easier than i thought .. it was a game of substitution ... don't give in or you erase all that you have done ... good luck!

I would try some of the alternative choices for a while longer. She may not be able to digest the cow's milk. If you get her almond or rice milk it is easier and better for her. It is also not so strong in taste.

I recommend dropping one feeding at a time. Nurse her 3 times/day for a week, then nurse twice a day for a week... you get the idea. This should reduce your milk supply and make an easier transition. Good luck!

My son wasn't a fan of cow's milk right away, either. I weaned him in two stages. At 12 months, I weaned him from the breast to formula bottles. Then, from formula bottles to sippy cups of milk. Just, because I didn't want to fight two battles at once: cow's milk and sippy cup. He was familiar with bottles already.

I remember the doc saying to start him slow on cow's milk. He was at 4 breast/bottle feedings a day by then, too. I think I replaced the 2nd and 3rd feedings with a couple ounces of milk in a sippy cup. The doc said if he didn't drink it, oh well, that's all he gets instead of water in a sippy cup. He was getting enough solid food by then to where it wouldn't be harmful. After I started to warm the cow's milk a bit in the microwave (Duh! He's used to warm breastmilk!), he started to get the picture and drink more and more. Now, he's up to the maximum of 4 sippy cups of 5oz of cow's milk a day, and then he just has water. The doctor says if he goes over 20oz of milk, he could get constipated. Hang in there! They just get comfortable with what they know. It takes them a while to understand that times are changing.

with my second child i breastfed until she was one as well.she did not like the bottle but did like the sippy cups
so i just started by cutting down on the breast milk by half and giving her warm milk on the sippy cup,and that helped.if she does not like the milk itself i would try giving it to her with her favorite type of cereal a little at a time until she gets more used to that taste.

I agree with those who say it's too early to wean and cow's milk isn't good for babies. I am still b-feeding my boy (only twice a day), and he's almost 3. he's never had cow's milk, and the only dairy he gets is an occassional fishy cracker or what he gets through my breastmilk. However, as a rule, I don't eat dairy either. If she's spitting it out, she's letting you know she doesn't like it, and I would stop giving it to her.

Your situation sounds exactly the same as mine when I was ready to wean my son at a year. He also refused a bottle and was being nursed 4 times a day. What I did was to slowly replace one feeding (I started with one of the ones in the middle of the day to make it easiest) with a sippy. I pumped and put mostly breastmilk mixed with a little bit of regular milk. He didn't seem to notice a difference when I did it that way. Every day I reduced the amount of breastmilk and upped the cow's milk until he was used to the taste. After that, I started giving him sippy's instead of nursing. I would cut out another feeding every couple of weeks until he was weaned. So, it took a couple of months to get him completely weaned but it was fairly easy. I have to admit it was harder on me than it was on him! We had almost no problems! Good luck!

Are you planning to wean because you are tired of it? Seems a little early to me. Think of when babies commonly give up bottles. You mentioned that you were down to four feedings a day. Usually once a baby is down to three nursings milk supply will begin to diminish and then they will lose interest naturally. Nursing an older baby can be a wonderful experience, if only for comfort or as a bedtime ritual. My four children weaned themselves between 22 months and three years. My third daughter would take one side each night for six months at bedtime. Cherish that special time unless one of you is really ready to give it up. If that is the case there are lots of easy steps you can take without giving regular milk as a substitute. Holding your daughter in your lap and rocking her in a sitting position away from the breast can be a loving replacement. Wear clothes that make getting to the breast impossible. Putting off feeding as long a possible will also diminish your milk supply and again help her to lose interest. Good luck to you whatever your decision.
PS. I am a grandmother now. Nursed four children. Founded a nursing mothers' program. Counseled nursing mothers for fifteen years at a local hospital. Auntie C

You should stop bf when it is right for you. I also chose 12mo and planned on this from before she was born. At 11mo, we started cow's milk in a sippy cup. Slowly, she started to drink it, but only an ounce or so at the start. I then dropped from 4-5 feedings per day to 3, 2, 1, none over 4wk or more starting with the late afternoon, then lunch, then am, then bedtime feeding. At some point I also sent my husband in her room when she woke up so she got no milk and then slept through after about 3 nights. We'll do this by 9mo wth our son. Good luck - your child has gotten a year of benefits and now you can have your body back before she starts pulling your shirt up in public.

Hi K.,

I have 3 girls 14, 10 & 8. My 10 yr old she would not take a bottle to save her life. I breast fed for the whole 12 mo. I took a month to stop bresting feeding. I took one feeding away a week. Which ever time of day you enjoy feeding the most save that till last. It worked well for us. I did this will all my girls breast or bottle.

About the milk. My youngest I stopped brestfeeding about 9 mo. She went to formula then to milk, soon after her 1st bday we stopped the bottle (one week at a time). After I took the bottle away and gave her milk in a cup she did the same thing spit it out. The only time she has milk its in her cereal. If she doesn't like the milk you just have to make she she gets the calcium and such from other sources. Good Luck!

A.

Hi K.... you're in good shape if she knows how to drink from a sippy. What worked for me and my son was to skip a nursing session and offer a sippy cup, then after a week or so skip another one. My son is 14 months and he still occasionally nurses. (I am the one that is having a difficult time letting go completely! ; ))

Another thing you can do is slowly mix in some milk into the water she drinks until it is eventually all milk.

Good luck!!

I friend just weaned her daughter she started giving her more food and nursing less each day and keeping the night feeding to very last one too go and she doesn't give her milk in a cup just water and it seemed to work for her. my daughter would have been 24 so i don't have any other tips sorry

Keep giving her milk in a sippy. definatly don't start her on a bottle. It's a different taste, she's not use to it. Soon enough she'll drink it no problem. It took my son about a month now he loves it and drinks a lot of it.
As far as taking her off the brest you need to decide what's best for you and stick to it. What I did with my daughter and now I'm in the process with my son is I cut out one feeding at a time. I think it's a lot easier on me with my milk drying up. I didn't have trouble with sore engorged breast. I had some tenderness, but not a big deal. Decide which feeding to give up first and no matter what don't let her nurse. Then when she's comfortable do the next one. My freind decided to stop all feeding all at the same time, her son addjusted just as well as my daughter, but she had issues with her breast. What ever you decide, don't give in to her. She's going to throw a fit, pull at your shirt. Keep telling her no and handing her a sippy with milk in it. Each day gets easier.
good luck
T. H

First, don't give her cold milk, but warm it to above room temp since your body is @100 degrees. Start with a rich version like Horizon and show her what you're putting in the cup. Try it right after she wakes from a nap or after a meal, rather than a time where she's already tired like bedtime. If she isn't interested, wait a few days or a week and offer it again. Then you can try it as a replacement for a nursing as she becomes used to it. The bedtime one will probably be the last to go from experience. If possible, have someone else give her the cup at the nursing you are trying to replace when she has accepted the milk so she will also accept that the activity isn't only associated with mom. Maybe go for a walk or GOD FORBID do something for yourself for a half hour!

Both my children went from the breast to a sippy cup at around 1 year old. My daughter, however, had to have the milk warm or at least at room temperature. She hated cold milk. I would recommend trying to warm it up.

K.,

It's a little young for cows milk. Usually pediatricians recommend they are at least a year old, maybe older. My personal experience was that I let my daughter wean herself, rather than try to wean her on my schedule. Of course, that can last for years but it really results in a very happy child with great bonding. Also, during the difficult "twos" it gives both of you an easy way to calm down. During the latter stages, she only nursed a few sips when going to bed and waking up so it didn't intrude on the day that much. Think about your reasons for wanting to wean your baby. Is it because you feel you "should"? Contact your local La Leche League for support.

V.

Hey K.. I was in the same exact boat as you 5 weeks ago with my 12 month old (plus one week). She too was exclusively breastfed and has never taken to the bottle. I weaned her by replacing one feeding per week with6 ounces of toddler formula in a sippy cup. Toddler formula is supposedly more nutritious than whole milk and is made for 9-24 month olds. I decided to go with toddler formula because she seemed to like it better than whole milk but you can use either at this point. At first she didn't want anything but her normal watered down juice from the sippy cup. At the advice of her pediatrician, I added a teaspoon of Ovaltine to each 6 ounces of formula to make it more enticing. Once she was used to it I slowly reduced that in each cup until it was gone and she doesn't seem to notice the difference. I took away the middle-of-the-day feedings first, then the morning, then the night time feeding last. When the bedtime feeding came around I rocked her to sleep instead of nursing her, in the rocking chair in her bedroom. I can't believe how smoothly the weaning process went. She really has never protested any of it. Good luck and hang in there.

My daughter never really liked bottles or milk. Don't worry about making her drink milk. Make sure she gets the nutrition other ways. My daugher loves cheese and yogurt as well as the veggies that provide calcium.

As for weening, you've got options. There is everything on a wide spectrum from cold turkey (having someone else take over completely) to a long drawn out child lead process. We did a bit of a combination. We cut back on the nursing by keeping busy and providing other food and drink most of the time. Then when it was time to cut out the night session I let my parents watch her for a weekend then had my husband put her to bed for a while afterward. We did something similar with my son but it was much less work. One note though. The kids each get a sippy cup of water to take to bed with them. This serves as a substitute when they want to suck and allows them to take care of hunger/thirst in the middle of the night without waking us.
GOOD LUCK!!!

I would try watering down the milk a little. Cow's milk has a much stronger/different taste than what she's used to. I do think it's normal for her to spit it out. It took a long time for my daughter to drink much milk from a sippy cup. It's amazing how the child will drink other things from a cup w/ no problem, but not milk! Good luck!

My daughter was a bit older when I weaned but she did not like cows milk either. I started her on Silk milk for kids and it is a bit sweeter like breast milk and to this day that is all she will drink. Also she was eating pretty much a normal diet by that age and nursing in between so it was easier to wean. By exclusively breast feeding do you mean no bottles or no food? You can replace breast feedings with food, but it probably just depends on what you want to do. I started out by getting rid of one feeding at a time. The first to go was the morning nurse, we replaced it with a walk and so fourth. The hardest feeding for me to breaks was the night time before bed nursing. Once I started the weaning process it was easier than I thought, but never gave in, once the feeding was skipped, it was skipped no matter what, it really was not as bad as I though it would be, Good luck to you.

Hi K.. I completely understand what you are going through. I too started weaning my two children off breastfeeding around their 1st b-day and they both didn't like sippy cups as well. I just started to take away one feeding at a time. My goal was to take away their least favorite feedings first, the middle of the day feedings for them, for about a week. This way they could they could get used to the new change and I wouldn't be engorged. I didn't want to take everything away all at once. I did this process one breastfeeding at a time until I ended up with their one night feeding and did that until he/she was ready to be fully weaned. In all, it took about 4-6 weeks to wean my babies. (each time) I also kept indtroducing the sippy cup when I wasn't breastfeeding them. It took a while!! Both my kids didn't like sippy cups at first, but they do get used to them. As long as you're still breasting feeding, they are getting the proper liquids and they are also getting the other nutrients in their baby food as well. It's a process. You'll do great!!! Good luck!!!

Hi K.,
I weaned my daughter at 1 year old on her birthday. I already had her eating cereal and babyfood. I told her she was a big girl and She now was going to drink out of a sippy cup. I gave her regular milk for breakfast and dinner and apple juice diluted with half water for lunch. Milk is cold and she is used to getting it warm but she will get used to it. Just keep giving her the sippy cup and don't back down if you want her to use a sippy cup. It will take time for her to accept but when she is thirsty she will enjoy it. D.

Maybe you could pump a little and add your milk to the regular milk then gradually reduce the amount of your milk every 2 or 3 days until she's just on regular milk. This would give her time to get used to the taste of regular milk. While doing that, start nursing her less and less until she's off completly. This may take some time and she may fight you, but be consistant and I think she'll do fine.

My first suggestion would be to work with the milk situation. Use different blends to ease her into the whole milk. I had to start with Almond milk and then add 1% cow's milk gradually until he would drink just that. Afterwards I bumped him up to 2% followed by whole milk. It took a few weeks at best.

I wanted to wean my son at 12 months (he didn't take a bottle either) but interestingly enough it doesn't just happen over night. You have to start taking out one feeding at a time. Start with the least favorite feeding and then work your way through the others. Be sure to start feeding solids/milk at the times you want to replace. My son's favorite was the morning feeding so that was the last to go. By 14.5 months he was completely weaned. It could have been sooner but he was sick at 13 months with diarrhea for a few weeks and they can't have milk with diarrhea so he had to nurse so he would get enough fluids. Besides the point, just be patient and they will catch on.

Cow's milk is perfect for calves and it can cause a lot of mucus and other respiratory issues. If she doesn't like it, it's ok. My sons have never had cow's milk (5.5 years and 22 months). We've always given them water....and even at restaurants, my sons ask for water.

We do give them liquid calcium at night to help them sleep and to make sure they are getting enough calcium, so they have no growing pains.

I have not had cow's milk since I was 14 years old and I've never felt better. I'm not lactose intolerant or anything, but I just feel better - not so sluggish.

Ok, so the weaning part...my sons both were BFing 5-6 times each day around their first birthday. By the time they hit 16 months, they were BFing maybe once each day and then my husband and I went on a trip each time, leaving them with my parents for the weekend and when I came back, I just told them that there was no milk left. One cried, but was fine after day 2. The other was ok with it. She'll wean herself, but if her first birthday is your deadline, then I have no easy solutions for a 4x/day BFer.

PS With my first, I still had milk for 6 months after I weaned him...so don't be surprised.

I had the same problem with my oldest son and what i did was just put breast milk in a sippy cup and then slowly mix whole milk into it more and more until he got used to the whole milk...and at the same time i made nursing time less and less by nursing for a shorter period of time and then giving the sippy cup to finish him off...there were times when he refused to take it, but if you be strong and make it clear that its time for the sippy cup then it should work out fine...

another good trick, which i learned with my second one is ovaltine...so that he didnt think much on missing out on breast milk at all, it became a treat to him and allowed me to slowly get him away from nursing...

Hi,
I weaned both my boys around the same age. The weaning and the milk in the sippy are 2 different issues.
As far as weaning goes, we would just cut one per week. If she is nursing to sleep, then you might want to extend this and cut it every 2 weeks, so she won't stress too much.
As far as training her to drink milk, I found it was helpful to pump breast milk and mix in a little bit of cow's milk. Then gradually I would increase the ratio until the cow's milk was more and the breast milk was less. You can also do this with water- serve water with a touch of milk and gradually increase the amount of milk in the water. Then she will adapt to the flavor.
It all just has to be done slowly, because cow's milk definitely does not taste like breast milk.
If she's good with a sippy, then at least you get to skip the bottle stage- hurrah!
Have fun and just take your time; some kids don't love milk for quite a while.

Try warming up the cow's milk until she gets used to the taste. Remember, the only milk she's had so far has come from you and has been body temperature. Also, try using two distinct cups so that she gets to know which one is for milk and which one is for water. This will keep her from being surprised by the contents when she takes a sip. Congrats on making it a year with nursing!

Good luck!

I vote for continuing on. I too thought I'd stop by a year but it gets so easy that we're now at 20 months. My daughter doesn't like any milk other than mine... and mine has to be from the breast (she never liked it pumped).

As your little one gets more active you may find that you enjoy the 5 or 10 peaceful minutes here or there with your "baby" in your arms. I know I do!

Hi K.,
I laughed when I read that your daughter spit the milk out! I have a 15 month that I weaned a month ago and he will only drink maybe one sippy cup of milk the entire day. He loves water out of the cup and drinks lots of it. He never really drank out of a bottle either. So, my son doesn't drink much milk but we give lots of other dairy products - yogurt, cottage cheese, and cheese.

As far as weaning her, cut out one nursing time at a time each week. Usually nights and any middle of the night feeding are last to go. Eventually your milk supply will get low and they usually lose interest. But, I do hear from some mothers that their children never lost interest.
Good luck!

Hi. I also exclusively breastfed my daughter until she was a year old. I stopped when I just couldn't take the pain anymore! I just did it cold turkey. She didn't seem to mind very much. She also had the problem with the milk. In fact she just started drinking it about 4 months ago and she turned 2 this past Jan. Everyone told me to just feed her a lot of dairy products and keep trying the milk every week or so until she takes to it. Also, she seemed to like the low fat milk the best at first. Well good luck with the weaning!
R.

start by offering it less. Like 2x a day then slowly reduce it to one a day, together with other liquids and lots of solid. Then stop offering any at all. Replace milk with other products such as cheese, yogurt which gives them the same nutrients as milk in case she still would not take the cow milk when offered. Hope this help.

Try mixing breast milk with cow's milk. Start out with mostly breast milk since that's what she's used to, and gradually add more cow's milk. (Avoid giving her water in the sippy cup for now.) Good luck! :)

Hi K.,

My son refused milk too for a long time. I weaned him off the breast slowly with formula because he would take that (sometimes I couldn't pump enough to keep up the demand when I was working, so he sometimes supplemented with formula then and developed a taste for it). A couple of weeks before he turned a year old I started trying whole milk in his cup but he refused it, even if I mixed it with formula. I tried it cold, I tried it warm. Nada. At his one-year appt. his doctor said he would be fine without milk, as long as he had three servings of dairy a day (yo-baby yogurt, cheese, cottage cheese, etc.). She said I could try soy milk or still give him formula after meals if I wanted to, but he started refusing that as well. I tried vanilla soy milk and he didn't like it at first, but after a few tries starting taking it. Then I started mixing the vanilla soy milk with regular milk and he took that. I kept making the soy portion smaller and smaller and now he takes straight milk no problem (and usually wants more than he really needs). He did eat a lot more regular food when he wasn't drinking milk, but now he naps better, so it's a toss up.

babies need breast milk or formula until at least 1 year old. It is too soon to switch her to cow's milk. Also, there is no need to give her cow's milk. Goat's milk toddler formula is closer in make to human milk. Try getting a goat's milk formula for her sippy cup. Or just give her water and diluted juices after a year and make sure she eats plenty of calcium rich foods.

My son, now 20 months, was weaned at 14 months. Never took a bottle and STILL does not drink milk. The doctor recomended rice or soy milk but he wont drink those either. He does eat yogurt and cheese and his doctor said that should be enough. My husband has the patience to sit with him and an open glass with a straw. He WILL drink milk that way but the first time was a week ago, so that's to say he has been growing just fine for 6 months without milk. ;) Feed wholesome food as much as possible and she wont need milk to support her dietary needs. Newer studies than what they had when we were kids say that cows milk is not very good for human babies anyway...
Hope this helps, K.!

:) G.

I would maybe try your breast milk in the sippy cup first. She is used to the taste and then maybe trying cows milk slowly. just a thought and good luck....
C.

hey K.,

i had this with my girl, too. 1st put the breast milk in the sippie cup for a few days. then try putting 3/4 breast milk and 1/4 cows milk or formula in the cup so the taste is somewhat familiar. do this for a few days and then go to 1/2 and 1/2 for a few more. then she will be ready to switch all together. also doing it gradually like this will lessen the chance of a bad tummy reaction to the change. and less chance of a diaper rash, too. hope this works!!

Hi there, you might want to try to put breast milk into a bottle or a sippy cup, but have your husband give it to her. They can smell you so make sure that you are no where near the room, or better yet take advantage and take off for 1/2 hour or so. It may take a few tries but this I am sure should work.

Hmm... She is already taking a sippy cup. And she did not like the taste of cow's milk. With her being so small, her taste buds are extremely sensitive. I know this sounds gross but have you tried to add a little bit of milk to her water and gradually ween the water out of it? It may work, it may not. Good luck!

Hi K....my best advice would be to go as slowly as you possibly can. I weaned my son at 15 months over a period of about 5- 6 weeks...if you have the time it makes it easier for baby. Skip the easiest nursings first, I would skip one and not skip another for another week, hope that makes sense, i.e. eliminate 3pm session, give her a week to get used to that and then figure your next elimination time...usually the last one to go is the before bed/night session. When I was trying to eliminate the first nursing of the day usually 7/8am or so, I would whisk my son out of the bedroom playfully(where we always nursed)and distract him by playing with him, holding him and reading, etc. so he still had that closeness with me..and it worked, eventually he stopped asking for it. I'm sure this depends on the temperament of your baby. Hope that helps a bit:-)

As some others have said, I'd wait until closer to her second birthday or even longer. Children will taper off naturally. One of the things I've enjoyed about extended breastfeeding is that when my daughter is ill I've had the one perfect food right there for her. If you do decide to go with weaning, check out the Kelly Mom website. Lots of good information there.