She Will Be One Years Old Soon!!

I had to go cold turkey when my daughter was 10 months. I had had it. After a couple days she even slept through the night. It will be hard, but dont look back, dont give into the unnessisary guilt, and she will figure it out. They always do. Good Luck!

D.,
This happened to me too! My daughter would only nurse -- until she went to whole milk. What I did was to provide her with a small weighted glass (a shot glass with work -- gasp!) Eventually she took sippy cups, and mastered the glass much faster than I expected. She is now 22 months and definitly prefers the glass/cup at the dinner table.

Hope that helps.
A.

If you can pump to mix the two and put it in the cup to wean from the breast milk and just keep trying (try the soft spout Nuby cups). Four months is young to try to get them to do anything, my girlfriend had the same problem and I think her son was about 15 months by the time he mastered the sippy cup. It will happen you just have to be persistent even if the cups are being thrown at you, give her a cup with each meal whether she wants it or not. Not to worry this is a small price to pay for breastfeeding.

As a parent of a 15 and 10 year old, I will tell you that some of the most important decisions/actions that you will have to make a parent will be very difficult. This is just one in a long line. Wait until your daughter is a teenager, and you have to make the choice to send her out in a car w/ another teen driver. You will get through it. It might be tough, but you will get through it!! Good Luck

I would introduce the sippy cup now. My son was the same way and I introduced the sippy cup at 5 months old. By 6 months he was taking pumped breast milk from it. If you're worried about wasting breast milk, start by letting her play around with the sippy cup and use water. You also have to be a little firm. Of course she's going to want the breast - it's what she knows, but stick with it. Be patient, it may take a little while, but it will happen. Personally, I would not go cold turkey, but that's up to you. Instead I would start by substituting one nursing session with a sippy cup and go from there. Good luck!

D.,
There is no physiological or psychological reason why an infant must be weaned at one year. I would like to strongly encourage you to consider continuing to nurse her through the winter flu season. Breastfeeding provides immunological protection that can't be replicated in any other way. My neighbor chose to continue nursing past one year through the winter and when her daughter caught the croup, her doctor told her that if the baby had not still been nursing, she would have needed to be hospitalized. With this year's flu pandemic, there is even a stronger reason to continue nursing through the flu season. After that, I would like to suggest gradually weaning, both for your daughter's psychological well-being and your own physical comfort. You can gradually shorten the time she spends at the breast and put other limits on it. Cold turkey would be a shock to both your system and your daughter's.
K. , IBCLC

When she was 15-months, I stopped nursing my daughter over 4 days. (She was getting up 3 times a night to nurse, plus I was pregnant and needed the calories and energy). It was bad. She screamed, beat at my breast. I felt awful. But after 4 days, she never looked back. Whew!
Try giving her the cup many times a day; don't give up! Mine knew how to drink from a sippy so it was easier. You'll need a little more time with her, but good luck!

it will be very hard for her. Why not give her milk while you are away (or other calcium rich food she doesnt neeed to drink milk) and when you are home you can nurse her? Flu season is coming and sick kids dont eat but they will nurse. Consider nursing her through the winter and reevaluating in the spring.

I went through the same thing with 3 boys. I started milk around 10 months in a sippy, but kept nursing in the morning and at night for another few months. I just always had a sippy for them with milk or water and juice in it. Eventually they'll get used to it. The weaning wasn't easy for 2 of them...it took the help of my husband putting them to bed for a couple of weeks to finally to it. But the slow weaning was fine, no pain for me.

Don't wean now with flu season coming. Sorry to be harsh, but her immunity will be so much better with your milk rather than cow milk. Is there a reason you want to wean her? It's not necessary at age one, contrary to what people try to make us believe.

You'll have to just stop breastfeeding cold turkey and STICK TO IT! Assuming she's healthy, she'll eventually take a cup or bottle (give her some different options). But don't hold out for a while and then give in - that will just teach her that she doesn't have to take a cup or bottle because eventually you'll nurse her. Once you decide to stop, you absolutely can't go back! We gave my daugther a little watered down juice in a cup... it's super-yummy and got her to drink out of the cup. Then we started putting milk in the cup and she did fine with it. I'm not saying it will be easy - it may take a while before she'll drink anything, but if you stick to it, eventually she'll drink. People have a natural drive to stay alive, and her body will eventually know that it needs the bottle or cup to stay alive.

I started with my son by giving him really cold water in a sippy cup he could easily maneuver. He ended up nursing until 14 months but then it was a super easy transition. I would say to stop- do more bottles and offer a sippy cup to ease your nursing sessions down. My other advice would be to wind down slowly- for the last two months, my son was still nursing in the morning and before bed and then he gave it up easily. I think a lot of times when you stop something abrubtly or before the child is ready, it is a much harder transition. I think it will be easier than you expect, at least it was for us. You might have a few days/week where they don't seem to get as much to drink as you would like but they will be fine!

You will find the most supportive people in the world at La Leche League. This is what they do best/what they are there for. You need lots of support right now and you will find it there. You'll also meet other moms who have been thru or are going thru this. Pls do not feel like you'll be criticized or glared at bc you want to wean at 1 year. You are to be commended for nursing for a full year. All moms are different and LLL respects that. Pls look up your local area LLL and go to a meeting--you'll be so glad you did! ;D Here's the link:
http://www.llli.org/Web/Illinois.html