how to wean...

[Cha]

I would like to start the process of weaning my exclusively b/f 11 month old dd. She does not like the taste of formula or cow's milk and has never drunk from a bottle, though drinks copious amounts of water from a beaker. She has 3 feeds a day, 1st at 6am (gets her back to sleep for an hour or so)2nd before her pm nap and last one before bedtime. If she is very tired she will fall asleep on the breast, but is generally OK about going to sleep by herself if she is tired.
I would like to start with dropping the nap feed. What do I do???

Sorry to be dim, but do you mean that she has not yet had any solids, or that she has had no other milk?

Cha,

You are fast approaching the time when she will probably be able to suffice with only two feeds anyway so if you want to drop the pm one then you should be able to just go for it without offering a direct replacement. You could try cooking with cows milk to get her used to the taste. Just make sure she has yoghurt, cheese etc to maintain her milk protein intake.

Good luck,

LizS

She eats lots of dairy already and has been eating solids happily for 4-5 months now - any tips on getting her interested in formula? Or should I just go straight for the cows milk? How long does / should it take to wean her completely?

Cha at 11 months I would go straight to cow's milk. The official recommendation is 12 months but if you're weaning gradually there should be no problem and formula is such a faff.

Cha,

You could drop one feed at a time and your body would take 3 days or so to adjust each time (with ds I allowed a week to adjust each feed I dropped). You will feel a bit full to start with. Try the day feed first and then it is a matter of personal preference which goes next. Otherwise I know some who went completely cold turkey and stopped altogether in one go but I think you would run the risk of painful boobs and possibly mastitis as a result.

It can prove useful to do it gradually as if for any reason your dd gets a tummy upset, as ours did a month after weaning her day feeds, you still have a supply of breastmilk to fall back on.

Otherwise I would move straight to cows milk and a cup, providing she is perfectly tolerant. You would then cut out the formula and bottle to cup transitions altogether.
Good luck

LizS

Definately forget the formula and don't go near follow-up milk - it is not necessary.
At 11 months cow's milk will be OK.

I would much prefer cows milk (agree it's less hassle) but am anxious about dd's iron intake - SMA Progress has the RDA of iron if baby drinks a pint a day (ho ho ho). My dd hasn't had much meat (I don't eat it) only fish and pulses. Breast milk apparently aids the uptake of iron so was trying Progress. She hates it tho. Little lip curls and beaker handed politely back.
Tried dropping pm nap feed but could I get her to sleep?
SIGH.

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