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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Original poster

Dropping the last 2 breastfeeds

8 replies

Minicooper · 26/02/2009 10:24

Dd is now 15 months. I've loved breast feeding - and she is a breast fiend! Would quite like to finish soon though as I quite like the idea of having a gap before ttc again. How did you go about dropping the morning and bedtime feeds? Which first and did you cut down on time, or just go cold turkey? I'm a bit of a wimp, so not looking forward to having to say 'no!' Any tips????

OP posts:
MamaChris · 26/02/2009 10:32

I'm in the process of trying to cut the morning feed (ds is almost 13mo). if he sleeps long enough that I think it's ok to be up for the day, I go in with a cup and bottle of milk (if I just took a big cup of milk, it would be all spilt pretty quick!).

I top up the cup, and he drinks from it. if he asks for breastmilk, I say no, it's daytime now, so time for cup milk. he hasn't got any more upset over this than if I suggested we play with toy X instead of toy Y because it's early and toy Y is too noisy. I figure that's ok, but if he was distraught I don't know what I'd do.

he likes drinking from the cup during the day, so I try and make it clear daytime has now started - some toys out, books etc. it's going ok. the problem is the early wakes - 11pm I can pat back to sleep. but 2am he definitely wants milk, definitely doesn't want a cup (and I don't want to get him awake enough for a cup either!). last night he slept from 12am to 5.30am though, so that was easy.

if you have any 2am tips I'd be happy to hear them!

Original poster
Minicooper · 26/02/2009 10:46

Thanks, Mamachris - suspect she'd be ok if I gave her a cup of milk - or even went straight to breakfast! I think its just me being lazy - I like crawling back to bed for a 10min feed - makes the start seem a little more leisurely! We broke the night feeds at about 12 months - the key was how she went to sleep at night - when she learnt to go to sleep without me in the room, she started sleeping through automatically. It still seems like a miracle!

OP posts:
SoupDragon · 26/02/2009 10:52

I always dropped the morning one first as it's easier to distract them with breakfast or a beaker.

BonzoDoodah · 26/02/2009 10:55

Well done you for feeding so long. I finally gave up at 17 months when I was 3 months preg - So no gap for me! I dropped the feeds randomly and slowly ... On some days I got hubby to take DD straight down for breakfast on waking so she didn't get a feed or see me (and I had a blessed lie-in). On other days I sat her on my knee at bedtime (with a new and nice sucky cup of warm milk)- put her back to my stomach so she wasn't in the feeding position - and read her a story giving her a cuddle. Then to bed with minimal fuss. After a week or so of this we went cold-turkey.
She cried a (tiny) bit and I had one heart-rending day on day three of cold-turkey. She always did a hand sign for a feed (open and close hand) and was doing this to me first thing in the morning and saying "pease mummy pease" (sob) I said "no baby sorr"y but she carried on. Then she jumped down from the bed and toddled over to the corner and started to drag my L-shaped BF pillow out of the corner (not used it in months!). She dragged it onto my knee, put her head on it and said "yes mummy! .... pease" as though I just needed reminding what it was she wanted (more sobs). I nearly broke then but took her downstairs and gave her cuddles. After that she pretty much forgot about it. I was really surprised at how non-traumatic it was.
Good luck with it and as I say - well done for lasting so long.

BonzoDoodah · 26/02/2009 11:05

mamachris - our posts crossed there. Your DS really can sleep through the night now without needing a feed - so it is more his habit than hunger. I'd suggest putting him back down saying something like "it's night-time now - go back to sleep" or whatever you say to let him know it's bedtime - then leave the room immediately so he's not getting attention for waking. It may lead to a few protests and if they are extreme then offer only water. That'll soon lose its appeal and hopefully he'll learn that waking up gets no (decent) results. I never did controlled crying - I couldn't stand the thought - but I did this "night-time" thing when DD started waking up at 6am asking for "bikbix" (breakfast) and it seemed to work. Good luck.

MamaChris · 26/02/2009 11:26

I'll try telling the ds that then Bonzo!

What did you do if you left the room and your dd really cried? Last night, it took 45 minutes of shh/patting to get him back to sleep at 11 without a feed (and that was without him getting really upset or asking for milk).

BonzoDoodah · 26/02/2009 13:35

Eek ... It's difficult isn't it. My DD has always been quite a good sleeper so I couldn't say from experience. As I say I never did controlled crying and didn't really have to. When I did the morning thing I kept going back in - giving her a cuddle then putting her back down. I did end up getting up at about 7 having not gone back to sleep but it seemed to break the cycle for the next mornings.

MamaChris · 26/02/2009 13:52

Well he never has gone to sleep without me in the room, so I guess I need to work on that

But I'm turning this into a thread hijack...

Am hoping that by stopping the feeds slowly, I will never have one of those heartbreaking mornings you did... but very useful to bear in mind it was only once.

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