Weaning from the breast

[Polgaraisbloodylate]

Quite sad to post this but I'm going back to work and I'm exhausted!

My eleven month old is exclusively breastfed and I would like to stop.

Can I wean him straight onto cows milk in the next few weeks or would formula or follow on milk be better?

Poor mite still feeds four or five times a day including once at night.

Has to done unfortunately.

[TipBoov]

Following with interest as I'm in the same situation!

[tiktok]

Cows milk would be fine at this age.

But you may not need to stop completely.

Work out a way of maintaining some BF?

[Polgaraisbloodylate]

No, I need him off the breast entirely I'm afraid.

[Santawontbelong]

My ebf ds is vegetarian so we decided to use follow on milk at 9 months. He was 5 weeks prem but although a bit Diddy is up to speed in development. .

[Polgaraisbloodylate]

I know a few people who use follow on milk or formula for older babies and I'm wondering why? Don't want to ask in RL in case offends.

Formula isn't veggie?? What's in it? Genuinely surprised!

[BendingSpoons]

I think most people who give formula to older babies do it because the babies are used to it and so prefer it to cows milk. At 11 months I would go straight on to cows milk. How long do you have to wean? I'd aim to gradually cut feeds, as otherwise your body will struggle.

[BendingSpoons]

Oh and saw you are still feeding in the night. I'd be tempted to drop that feed completely at this stage, possibly before cutting out other breastfeeds. I night weaned DD at 11 months. (I was back at work but feeding morning and evening). Also can you cut some feeds completely and give solids instead? At that age they only need about 2 feeds a day. Cows milk has quite a lot of calories so can be overly filling if given in large quantities.

[Polgaraisbloodylate]

What did you replace the nightfeed with? Water? No idea!

[BendingSpoons]

We replaced with cuddles. It was more about comfort at that stage for DD. Night 1 she cried quite a bit, night 2 and 3 she was awake ages but calm and night 4 she slept through! She then continued to sleep at least half of nights, with a cuddle if she woke up. It's obviously up to you, but if you are having to do a transition anyway it might be worth it.

When I went back to work at 9 months, DD would have small amounts of milk from a cup in the day but mainly had solids and water, having milk 3 times a day (morning, eve and night) when I was there. I think at 12 months the advice is to reduce milk to encourage more solids, so might be worth replacing some feeds with solids. Although the bottle of milk may be a comfort, in which case you may prefer to replace all feeds with that to start.