Over what period did you stop breast feeding?

[Dophus]

DS is now 11 months and I have to reluctantly stop breast feeding by the end of January due to a trip abroad.

What is the best timeframe over which to wean?

Any tips welcome!

I cut down gradually - he was just down to 3 feeds a day and how ever many he needed in the night (). I think I cut out the morning one first as one day he just didn't want it and preferd to play with his brother. A couple of weeks later I gave him a beaker of milk in the afternoon instead of a bf then gave the last before bed one a couple of weeks later when we were out all day and he was asleep by the time we got home - I just didn't bf anymore after that. Definitly over a few weeks of cutting down - it was September - don't know if that makes any difference and DS2 was about 13m

How often do you breastfeed in a day? Does your DS like solids much?

(NB: if you don't want to stop, you don't have to, there's always a way around it. How long will you be away from your DS on the trip?)

I stopped bf DS1 at 18 months, but by then, we were down to one feed a day.

At the moment he has 3-4 in the day and variable feeds in the night.

I was thinking of leaving everything as it is over X-mas then dropping down to am and pm only in the new year for a couple of weeks. Is one week prior to my trip for dropping those feeds going to leave me in pain?

I am only away for 5 days and have considered continuing. However I need to stop at some point and now is as good a time as any. My aim was for him never to have formula which I have achieved. I will definitly miss it though!

You may have engorgement, dropping that many feeds in a relatively short time. Do you have a pump you can take with you?

Also, have you tried offering cow's milk in a cup? Best to get him used to it over some time, too. (It's fine for him to have a cup or two of it before he's one year.)

Oh, no, I thought it was early January. Late January should be ok. Try to drop no more than one feed per week, if you can ...

Maybe I'll drop one now and go with one a week.

Cheers!