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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

How was it for you weaning your baby off breastfeeding?

26 replies

hmmmum · 08/11/2011 10:14

Exclusively breastfeeding my 5 and a half month old, going to start her on solids soon. Not sure when I'll stop breastfeeding but am kind of dreading it. I'm looking forward to it from my point of view so I can have a bit more freedom but I feel like it's going to be a real battle... Is it usually, or is it quite straightforward in that their interest just naturally moves away from breastfeeding? Just interested in hearing about your experiences.

OP posts:

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101North · 08/11/2011 10:25

Slower the better. My hv (I know i shouldn't take any notice !) suggested replacing the mid morning and mid afternoon bf's with a snack. so now my 9 month old has snacks and bfs! - oh, and has also started waking during the night for feeds! I'm SAHM so its not a problem for us to take things slowly and naturally.
If you are able, take the lead from your lo. Offer real food when out and during the day, but this won't be for a few months yet. If you're going back to work, you'll need to be a bit strict

Pootles2010 · 08/11/2011 10:41

Well, mine flatly refused a bottle when I tried to introduce one at 8 months due to returning to work, but then on his first day at nursery he took to it straight away for some reason!

Once they'd gotten him used to bottles, he'd happily take breast or bottle, with no real preference between the two.

notcitrus · 08/11/2011 10:43

I found once ds got the hang of solids, ie was getting quite a bit in, around 8 months, the amount of breastfeeding went down a lot and I suddenly felt it really wasn't difficult at all, whereas bf until then had been quite onerous! 6-8 months was quite a pain as seemed to be constantly feeding one way or another...

By 11 months he started nursery and on those days he had a carton or two of formula in the day and then a feed morning, evening and night. After a year it dropped to basically a morning and goodnight feed and dwindled after that - at first I wasn't ready to stop so encouraged a few feeds, but then I got my head round it and didn't let him suck unless he was actually drinking - around 14 months we had the odd late night cuddle but bf had stopped.

Other babies are different...

Moulesfrites · 08/11/2011 10:46

For me the lunch time feed was the first to go, then mid morning. He is still feeding 3x per day at 9 mo, morning, mid afternoon and bedtime. It is not a question of stopping bf altogether though, just introducing some solids alongside milk at first. I think the "ebf until 6 mo" advice is confusing as it implies that you stop bf at 6 mo, not that that is the point at which you introduce something else. If you want to stop bf you will have to introduce formula which is a different kettle of fish from starting solids - it's not clear from your op which you mean?

Bramshott · 08/11/2011 10:51

Both of mine gave up themselves at 10 and 11 months respectively. Immediately before that they were just feeding morning and evening.

Octaviapink · 08/11/2011 11:07

In both cases once solids were introduced and had kicked in (about 8 months - before that they're still reliant on breastmilk) I stabilised their feeds to four times per day (once per nap and one for bedtime). Before that it had been on demand. Dropped the late-afternoon feed shortly after dropping the late-afternoon nap (about 9 months). The lunchtime feed was next to go.

DS is 11 months now and still has a feed before his morning nap and one before bed. Planning on stretching out the interval between feed and sleep over the next couple of weeks with the aim of having him completely weaned around 12-13 months.

Night feeds were a different story altogether! At night I think you just have to do what they need.

DeWe · 08/11/2011 11:44

Mine were easy to wean. They all weaned themselves at round about 3yo.

Dd1 weaned herself at just over 3yo when dd2 was born and the milk "tasted funny". She continued for about a month, but decided she didn't want to after that. She probably would have weaned just as easily with a little push about 2-3 months before, but I was concerned if I did that she might look at the baby taking over.

Dd2 weaned at 2.6yo. Just started asking for a bedtime story rather than milk.

Ds weaned at 3.7yo. he probably would have weaned earlier, but he had a batch of ear infections and liked the comfort, and it was also good he was eating anything, so I let him.

naturalbaby · 08/11/2011 13:48

my 9month old is on 3 or 4 feeds a day. it took a while for him to be having enough solids to start dropping and cutting down breastfeeds.

my older 2 were having a bottle of formula at bedtime from 7months, then added a bottle mid morning a month later, then got down to feeding for comfort/bedtime/1st thing in the morning then stopped at 12months.

BlueberryPancake · 08/11/2011 13:59

same as other posters - DS didn't want to take bottle until first day at nursery when he turned 8 months old, but I would still BF him morning and evening. When he was 9 months old he just weaned himself - he didn't really ask for it anymore - which is good because I was pregnant again! His last BF was on an airplane from Canada and I was 4 weeks pregnant with DS2. I had problems BF DS2 and started formula at 4 months old.

mumofthreekids · 08/11/2011 14:00

Agree with other posters that you may well start feeling less 'tied down' as soon as she is established on solids - all mine dropped down to 3 feeds a day within a couple of months of starting solids, and the older 2 went down to 2 feeds at around 9-10 months. That's very different to feeding every few hours as you are at the moment.

I stopped bf when mine were 12m, 11m and 8m (getting gradually younger with each one, as I had less and less free time to spend bf!!). It was much easier than I expected. DS1 in particular loved his breastfeeds, especially the bedtime one. I felt ready to stop, but thought it was going to be a real struggle. But no - we just replaced it with a story (read by DH for the first few nights, as he was not associated with milk) and he went off to sleep fine - I couldn't believe it! DD was even easier and basically weaned herself off at 11m - literally pushing me away.

From friends who have done extended bf I think it can get harder to stop if you leave it later, eg at 18m-2y they are so much more aware of what is going on whereas a 12m baby tends to just accept whatever happens!

HTH

mumofthreekids · 08/11/2011 14:02

Forgot to say that DS1 and DD went straight from breast to cup so I never had to bother with bottles which was a plus!

Octaviapink · 08/11/2011 15:30

Yes, we never bothered with bottles either. IMO if they're having fluids out of a sippy cup after 6 months then why would you bother introducing a bottle?

TeddyRuxpin · 08/11/2011 15:46

I agree with others that once they start eating a reasonable amount of solids you are less tied down with BF.
My DD self weaned at 19mo so there was no struggle with weaning at all.
She wouldn't take bottles of EBM after 8mo and just drank water from a cup if she needed a drink if she was at her GPs for the day.
From 12mo she only BF once at night so I didn't feel tied down with feeding at all.

Original poster

hmmmum · 09/11/2011 08:36

Good to hear all your stories.
Moulesfrites, just to clarify my plan was to breastfeed exclusively til 6 months-ish, then introduce solids but continue breastfeeding and gradually phase out breastfeeding (using formula instead I guess) at some point around 9months-1 year. It's encouraging to hear that it's usually not that tough and I don't mind doing a bed time feed a bit beyond 12 months if she really wants it.
I too plan to skip bottles (she hates them) and go straight for the sippy cup

OP posts:

juneau · 09/11/2011 08:43

With my first I let him self-wean, and I'll probably do that again as it was very easy and it was gentle on both of us. By a year he was down to two feeds a day - first thing in the morning and just before bed - then he dropped the morning feed at some point and by 21 months he didn't always want his night feed either, so it just petered out. Having said that, I think if he hadn't stopped of his own accord I might have been a bit more encouraging as by 21 months I was ready to stop and in my head I had two years as the cut off. I never wanted to be one of those mums who are still breast feeding a pre-schooler IYKWIM.

matana · 09/11/2011 09:42

Really easy for us because we did it very gradually. I had cut down really slowly to just one feed (bedtime) when DS was about 10 months and then cut that out so he now has a bottle instead. It wasn't so easy emotionally though - i was very upset when i knew i'd given him his last feed, but the time had come. He just wasn't as interested any more, though he still guzzles his bottle!

matana · 09/11/2011 09:44

Meant to say i replaced BF with bottles - didn't just cut out milk feeds altogether! He's now almost a year old and has two bottles - but i think he's dropping his morning one.

TheBrideofFrankenstein · 09/11/2011 09:51

I cut down to 2 bf's (morning and evening) at 6mo (was already doing 1 ff per day from around 6 wks as could never express enough).

Did that for a few weeks, but then about 7mo he just lost interest in bf so I switched to formula entirely.

elfiro · 09/11/2011 10:31

It depends on what you want imo. You can try to replace the daytime feeds with bottles and keep the morning/evening/night breastfeeds. I think that's what working mums often do?

With my dcs they all naturally reduced the number of breastfeeds as they got older - I think from about 9 months it was morning/evening/maybe one in the night and once or twice during the day, in between meals. Between a year and 18 months it was definitely only morning/evening and they had all stopped by 18 months and would drink a lidded cup of milk instead.

It wasn't a big deal to stop. I think at the end they would want to feed some days and not others, and then not at all. In fact I would recommend doing that - with dd1 I stopped too abruptly and got really sore.

TeWihara · 09/11/2011 10:48

I weaned DD off the breast at 11 1/2mths... we didn't quite make it to a year because by that stage she wasn't having that much milk and my supply dried up/she lost interest quicker than I expected her too!

She was mixed fed though, so used to a bottle already.

Bramshott · 09/11/2011 11:58

Hmmmum - if they are good eaters, you may find you don't need to bother with formula. Both of mine had cows milk from about 11 months, which they seemed to prefer to formula.

tifflins · 09/11/2011 13:48

Weaned both my DS at 10 months. Was so ready to stop. DS1 took a couple of nights to get used having a beaker with milk instead of me but DS2 was fine from day one. It was harder giving up DS2 because he will (prob) be our last baby. My advice is to drop feeds one by one, otherwise you will end up with huge, painful, swollen breasts!

Cies · 09/11/2011 13:56

Well I had no plan to stop bf, so just started giving ds solids when I was eating, and so now at nearly 2yo he eats 3 meals a day plus 2 big snacks, and any number of bfs in between, depending on his mood and what we're doing. If I'm not around he'll eat more food and drink more water, but if I'm there he still prefers a bf and less food. Either way is fine by me.

mumofthreekids · 09/11/2011 14:08

Agree with Bramshott

Tigresswoods · 09/11/2011 14:25

Yeah it was fine. He just sort of became less and less interested. I started doing bottle at bed time at some point... 6m maybe? We just gradually reduced the no of feeds until he was only having the first thing in the morning one and then I replaced that with a bottle too.

It was right for us at the time and totally over by 8 months.

I think it is such a personal thing and up to you and your baby. I like feeding and had no problems in any way so was cool about giving up too.

I liked that it settled him BUT I was aware that I wanted to have my life too and it wasn't fair on me, DH or DS that Daddy couldn't settle him too.

This is purely a personal feeling and I am pleased that I gave up when I did but am very much of the opinion that it is no business of anyone else's how someone else feeds their baby.

Good luck with it all

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