stop breastfeeding

[wavybaby]

My not so little one is nearly 12 months and I have no idea how to wean her off breastfeeding - early attempts at expressing and giving a bottle worked but I didn't keep it up. Now she refuses a bottle nd hates the taste of formula (screws up her face and clamps mouth shut!) Am I going to end up like the mother in the Little Britain sketch - with a 28 yr old child clamped to my boobs? Any advice greatly received!
PS I also need to return to work so have to do it.

hello, ds drank straight from cup at 6 months slowly weaned him off till 8 months, took a little formula, but you could try expressed. do it slowly. ds did not miss it once i stopped, v slowly over a few nights, actually i missed it more.

bf does stop at some stage dont worry, try mustard if it goes too far!

Why not just do morning and night and offer water in a cup other times. I don't think the Little Britain scenario is likely to happen, but as your little one is almost a year it would seem silly to get her to take bottles just in time to then go to loads of trouble to get her to give them up again?

Definitely don't do bottles at this stage - you can just use cups, she may take a little while to get used to it, but she'll manage. Whilst you're at work she doesn't necessarily need any milk at all at this age, particularly if you keep up morning and evening feeds. And you can use whole cows milk now instead of formula.

I carried on with morning and evening feeds till my dd lost interest of her own accord at age 2 - if you're happy to continue your dd will self-wean at some point. If you're uncomfortable with continuing to feed, just take a gradual approach to dropping feeds.

My dd is not a big milk fan, she has some on her cereal and a couple of mouthfuls from a bedtime cup, but otherwise we just try to make sure she gets dairy in the form of yogurts and cheese since she stopped the breastfeeds.

I fed DSs until 12 and 15 months and by the last few months was just doing morning and night like Pidge said. This was actually quite nice as I still got to give that sleepy, snuggly bedtime feed. They both then had their bedtime milk in a bottle and any other milk (cows or follow on (which I know is a marketing scam!)) from a beaker.

My DS2 was a bit like this. When I stopped bfeeding I was worried that he wouldn't get enough milk. I cut it down gradually and offered him milk in a beaker for breakfast first and then mid afternoon and finally before bed when I completely cut out the bfeeding all together. Most of the time he didn't drink any! Now (3 months or so later) he drinks milk for breakfast and mid afternoon but that's it. He eats a lot of yogurts and cheese and stuff so I'm not really worried about it.
Thing I found was that DS1 drinks milk for England and I just assumed that DS2 would really like it too - but I guess they're all different

My child has never drunk milk (apart from mine!) in any shape or form. B/feeds were only happening at either end of the day from 8 months (went back to work) and b/feeding gradually tailed off and stopped around 21/2.
Didn't worry me at all-she's as healthy as an ox. I can't stand milk either!

wavybaby - no need for bottles or formula at this age,. Same experience as moondog for me as far as drinking milk is concerned. My babies just drank juice/water. Only one of them (out of 4 )liked milk. Milk can be taken in breakfast, cheese, yogurts, puddings etc. it is not a worry. You can still breastfeed when working, just scale it down.

Thanks for the advice everyone, I did get around to talking with our health visitor but although she is very nice she is also a little vague (it seems to be a common trait with H V's!)

I've actually loved bfeeding, after the initial traumas, but feel it is time to regain some independence back (and ensure the hubby takes on some childcare responsibility!!)

Will keep trying with beaker, had some results last night but no luck today, got it thrown at me - bless!!

I did it with 10 month old by offering beaker of formula - she didn't like so offered cows milk - she drank a bit. But basically rocked her to sleep for night or two on empty stomach (don't normally rock to sleep but she cried in cot as no booby) - then she started drinking formula - 3 days later - gulps it down with a lovely cuddle on sofa, just as nice as bfeeding.