Stopping breastfeeding

[coco111]

My daughter willl be one next week. I want to stop breastfeeding for a few reasons really. Mainly it's become a bit much. She is still feeding alot - like sometimes 6 times a night .i need a break. I a risky really want my periods to come back - mainly to see if it will help with my stress levels/ postpartum hair loss and weight loss. I just don't know where to start though! Has anybody got any advice. Her milk routine is a bit everywhere and she's feeding on demand at the moment.

My daughter was exactly like yours then the minute she turned 1 she just one day never breastfed again. I was absolutely blindsided! Obviously the chance of this happening to you is low but it's worth bearing in mind sometimes they do just decide for themselves and to be mentally prepared for the possibility of that is helpful.

My son was not like this and I weaned him off it very gradually so I truly have had both ends of the spectrum!

Is she fed to sleep currently?
With my first I just swapped it for a bottle of cows milk and she was fine because She was already putting herself to sleep.
It was more complicated with my second because he was still feeding to sleep. Only took about half a week to wean him, I think it's a good age to do it because they forget quickly.

Can your other half go in at night with water when she wakes up, rather than you going in and trying to get her back to sleep without breastfeeding? That worked well with mine.

She is currently still in the bedroom with us so even if my partner tries to soothe her as soon as she sees me or even smells me she will go wild until I take her and feed her. She is currently fed to sleep, she doesn't know how to self soothe. She won't take a dummy. I'm just exhausted and drained. I have 2 older kids so I don't want them walking at night due to her crying so that's why I probably give in and give her the boob so quickly.

My son was exactly the same. At about 13 months he started waking really frequently at night so we made the decision to sleep train him, I started doing it during the day for naps. He'd only ever contact napped so it felt awful! I let him cry for five mins and then I picked him up and he gave me a massive cuddle and fell asleep on me, after I did this for three days he learned to let me rock him to sleep like he let my husband.

Then we did it at night time and he only cried for five mins and went to sleep, I didn't even need to rock him. The next day he barely cried, I really believe he wanted to learn how to sleep but didn't know how to. He also got more upset if my husband or I picked him up, if we left him then he would be okay.
For one night we slept downstairs and after that we sort of 'hid' when he woke up so he didn't see us. I know the idea of sleep training is hard but there are different ways of doing it and you could always see what works for your baby. Obviously if they get very upset you can stop and try something else.

It took about a week and he was sleeping through the night without feeding. During the day if he asked for milk I would just distract him or give him a drink of water / cows milk. I think he only got upset a handful of times. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be! Good luck!

She needs to be in her own room asap - is that doable?

6 feeds a night is a lot. Try to do one before bed then after that your DP needs to offer water or a bottle

Agree though you have to not be in the room as an available option. If she can see or smell you, she will want you!

Mine both fed to past 2, but were down to only 1 feed at night, so not overwhelming like I can imagine yours feels

I have 2 friends who's dc self weaned at 13-14 months though, they are all different

Check out Emma Pickett’s Instagram and website. She has information on weaning a (as she calls them) booby monster.