Tips for Weaning Breast-Fed Babies
Choosing to breast-feed your baby is a very personal decision.
Cherylyn Feierabend
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Tips for Weaning Breast-Fed Babies
Hey there! You’re listening to the Mighty Mommy with some Quick and Dirty Tips for Practical Parenting. Today’s Topic: Weaning Woes
Tips for Weaning Breast-Fed Babies
Choosing to breast-feed your baby is a very personal decision. While I am a believer that “breast is best” when it comes to feeding your new baby, I also believe that every mom has the right to make that decision for herself. Similarly, it will be the mom’s decision as to when her child will be weaned. I’d like to offer some tips to help make the weaning process a little easier.
The American Academy of Pediatrics encourages mothers to breastfeed their babies for a minimum of 12 months. If you have decided that it is time for you to wean your child and 12 months or more has already passed, your child will have begun eating solid foods. At this point, your child may even start weaning on his own. This is generally the easiest type of weaning, but sometimes mom is ready to wean first. If you have the opportunity to wean gradually, this will save you from a little bit of physical and emotional pain. Start by removing one or two of the daily feedings over a week’s time. You can replace the feeding with some other type of activity such as reading, coloring or just cuddle time. If your child is hungry, offer him a snack or some milk. Continue to remove feedings in the same manner until the child is completely weaned. Using this method of gradual weaning should decrease the possibility of breast engorgement. It will also ease your child into a new form of eating.
A child can start using a cup as early as nine months of age. If you have already familiarized your child with a cup, this will help to simplify the transition. If you are weaning an older toddler who already has some cups of his own, this might be a good time to take him to the store to pick out a new cup. Let him help pick out his new “special” milk cup. You can offer him this cup during the feeding times that have been removed. During these times, avoid holding your child in any type of nursing position. If there are any locations where you normally nurse your child, try to avoid these areas as well.
Another good tip is to let Dad spend some extra time with the child. It can be especially helpful when you are doing away with the nighttime feedings. Let Dad take over the comforting of the child who has woken up in the middle of the night. Once you’ve done away with the nighttime feedings, try not to get back into the habit of it. These are usually the hardest feedings to let go of, especially if Mom often nursed the baby to sleep.
If your baby is under 12 months old and you’ve decided to stop nursing, you may be switching your baby over to a bottle. Most of the tips will be similar to that of weaning an older child to a cup. The main difference is that it’s a bottle instead of a cup. Be sure to use Dad or another adult when you can. It’s usually much easier for someone other than Mom to give a bottle to a nursing baby. You may need to try a few different styles of nipples before you find one that your baby will like. If you are switching to formula, it might take a little time before your baby’s digestive system and taste buds become acclimated. Be sure to keep your pediatrician informed as to any changes you are making with your baby’s diet.
When my daughter was just under 12 months old, she was ready to wean. I stopped nursing her about two weeks after her first birthday. Because she weaned herself gradually, I didn’t suffer any type of pain from engorgement and she didn’t suffer from separation anxiety. I was not so lucky with my second child. He was a biter and he didn’t like bottles. I felt the need to stop nursing him shortly after 11 months. It was too painful to nurse and too painful to pump so I was forced to stop cold turkey. I do not recommend this to anyone. Unfortunately, this is sometimes the only option. If this does happen to you, it may cause physical pain due to engorgement of the breasts. If anything seems unusual, please be sure to contact your doctor. You can relieve some of the pain with ice packs. Wearing a snug, supportive sports-bra will also help to minimize some of the discomfort. Another natural way to relieve the pain of engorgement is to place fresh cabbage leaves over the breasts. The cabbage leaf method of pain-relief was definitely the most effective for me when I stopped nursing. It really does work.
Finally, regardless of whether you are weaning to a cup or a bottle, be sure to make up the bonding time with your baby. You may both feel a bit depressed when you stop nursing. Spending time together cuddling and doing other activities can help to relieve some of those feelings of separation anxiety. Enjoy the cuddling while you can. They grow up way too fast!
That’s it for now. Hope you enjoyed listening.
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Music – “Golly Gee” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons “Attribution 2.0” https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
Nursing image courtesy of Shutterstock