when can i start dropping feeds?

[OhWhatAPalaver]

DD is nearly 8mo and i am hoping to have her fully weaned off the boob by the time she is 1. i can already see that she is feeding less now that she is on 3 meals a day but unsure at what point i can actively start to drop feeds.

she doesn't take a bottle which makes things a bit awkward but we're working on it... she also feeds to sleep and i have absolutely no idea how i am going to go about getting her to fall to sleep with out the boob! any advice much appreciated :)

Well... advice is to drop one feed a week to avoid engorgement etc. That isn't terribly helpful for babies who are fed on cue rather than according to some kind of schedule, however, 8mo is certainly old enough to have fallen into some sort of routine.

From personal experience (and that of my peers) 9mo marked a pivotal point in feeding less and taking on more solids. I wouldn't have wanted to consider dropping feeds until a couple of months later - that said, I'm not thinking of weaning until he's ready. While milk is still the most essential part of their diet until 1, DS certainly went from every 2 hours to every 4 by 10 months. If your DD does similar it might make weaning seem infinitely more doable in a couple of months! She might do a large part of it for you. DS is now 11.5mo and feeds 3 times a day and alllll night but will also go without the middle feed (nap time) if we're out and about and he's in sling/buggy. If perhaps your DD did similar, dropping 2 or 3 feeds will be much easier to consider than whatever she's on now.

Will she take any formula? Does she have lots of dairy in her solid diet? I started off giving DS a little cow's milk in a cup at 10.5mo (not main drink obviously, just a taste). You could bypass bottles entirely, as you'll only have to wean her off them pretty soon anyway - try leaving a variety of different cups for her to play with, then gradually introduce some water/ebm and help her to use them.

Feeding to sleep...still working on it! Many will recommend Elizabeth Pantley's No Cry Sleep Solution. I will too (even if I'm not putting any of it into practise myself!)

Good luck!

Yes, you can. You could quit completetly now if you wanted, but probably quitting gradually is better. I went down to 2 or 3 feeds a day at 8 months. HV told me it was absolutely fine. Think it was 2 during day and one at night. DD never took a bottle. Actually I didn't stop completely until 18 months, but by then it was very easy. It was a bit tricky initially, but mostly emotionally for me, just to stay firm- DD then got the hang pretty quick and got better at drinking from her cup. I would say between about 8 and 12 months she was pretty rubbish at drinking milk from her cup, but then got good and starting glugging it. I offered bottles of formula up to about 12 months but she never took a bottle. Think I gave up on the bottles eventually and just gave her water from her cup and/or milk. We went to a wedding when she was 18 months which involved being away over night and then it was easy to go from that to not offering any more feeds.

Yeah, offer more yoghurts and stuff when you first cut back on BF, but basically it will all work out .

thanks for the replies :) i was thinking around 10 months would be a good time, then it gives me 2 months to gradually stop. glad this sounds like the time when she will want a lot less anyway!

she doesn't have much dairy at the mo as we thought she was allergic for ages but recent allergy tests show that she might be ok now so we are slowly introducing it in to her diet. hopefully she will like it!

she's not very good with her cup yet either, she gets soaked! but hopefully she will get better at it soon.

Can't help with weaning as dd is 8mo too do not there yet...

But feeding to sleep........ I broke at 7 months - feeding to sleep wasn't working v well anymore and I felt clueless as to any other way to get her to sleep as had depended on this since birth. I found the "what worked for us. Hope this helps' thread in the sleep section on this forum and successfully broke the cycle. look for that or google gradual retreat.

Basically you put them in the cot awake and sit next to it until they sleep, with occasional patting/soothing/singing to keep them calm. Do this for a few nights, then move further away. Repeat until you're outside the room!

First day I did it (at nap time) it took an hour of dd sobbing, which im not going to lie, was horridSecond time about 30 mins, then gradually less and less. She now self-settles beautifully :) and whilst some times she battles it more than others she doesn't cry anymore, sometimes shouts at me or her teddies but generally drops off in a few minutes.