Want to wean 13,5 mnths old ds from breast - but how? & how to replace with other milk??

[teatree]

Hi..
I desperately need some advice from experienced mums pls.. I am planning to wean ds from breast, he is having it once before bed and once towards the morning - 5ish - and goes back to sleep until 6.30.. Main reason I want to stop is that I need to take some medicine but cant due to BF. So, how do I best manage to wean him off the breast, any ideas, suggestions?
Besides, he never took the bottle and m trying to give him milk in a cup for quite a while now. how could I possibly meet his need for milk if not BF? I tried several formulas but he is not keen on them, the best that works is full cows milk (.. having said that, he takes only a few sips from it..better than nothing though..)
Thanks very much in advance for advice if any..

Firstly teatree are you sure that you need to stop BF due to medicine? It rarely is the case that you need to stop.

If you do need to stop the cows milk is fine. If he doesn't like drinking it though, he will get plenty of milk from cheese, yogurt, breakfast cereals, puddings etc. Babies/children do not actually 'need' to drink milk as long as they are getting enough calcium in their diets.

medications and mothers milk

he will need a pint of milk a day i give dd two 9oz bottles a day, full fat cows milk he can take that now plus its cheaper! cups are better if he drinking from cup my dd will drink from cup in small amounts but she hasbeen using avent magic cups which dont have a teat its more of a spout, it may be easier to drop a feed at a time or offer milk from th cup before bf so that your ds drops the feeds himself get him to drink as much from cup/beaker as poss before offering bf good luck

The pint a day does not need to be as a drink though - you can easily give that amount in foods.

Mears, Thanks for the link, I will read it carefully through and contact GP if I find something relevant to me that would not harm ds through BF. I dont know what medicine he had in mind, but he checked in one of his books during my visit and said it is not recommended (my problem is that I am very tired, drained - iron deficiency for which I use pills now-, very stressed, have no concentration ability whatsoever (back to work now, which makes it really hard) cannot sleep even now that baby sleeps better (but woke up several times during the night until just a month ago-still wakes up 2-3times), feel very negative about everything (probably depressed) etc.. so I cling strongly on the possibility that some medicine could help..

in terms of milk, he does not like cheese, but eats plenty yoghurt, thanks for advice

Sounds as though Dr is thinking of antidepressant. If so, you can still BF.

hi elsieandjoanne,
ds refuses everything and cries until he gets the breast, especially before bed. I could maybe do better stopping in the morning but I have been sleepless for ages, so I am very scared it will be affecting his sleep in the morning (I know its just 1-1,5 hrs, but its is like a full night sleep for me as I cannot sleep well during the night..
lucky you that she drinks two 9oz bottles of milk. I will try harder though before bed, thanks!

breastfeeding network - UK site

mears, he said we need to make sure I get as much sleep as possible as I am apparently sleep deprived too..

Do you have someone else who can go to him during the night? Technically he probably does not need milk during the night so it would be ebtter not to replace his breastfeeds with a bottle or he still will waken for that too. If you have someone else at home, they could see to him during the night and cuddle him. It might be that he will settle when he realises he is not being fed. This works with some babies and not with others. I don't think that stopping breastfeeding is going to be the solution to sleep deprivation. Medication may help but you need the support of someone else looking after DS during the night.

mears, dh tried a few times but ds just didnt stop crying until I gave in.. but it seems like i dont have any other options - for the morning feed at this stage..

I checked a bit more on the page, there are afew herbal suggestions too which I might consider..