Breast fed for a year - a few questions please :)

[SparklingSarah]

Hiya
I have fed my son for 1 year and one week! oo oo

never had any major problems he's happy & bright and always fed rather well.
Weaned happily and has a healthy appetite.

now he's turned one he's gradually going quite a long time without feeding and past month or so found the joy of his cup.

Now life's got a bit gah and I really do need to concentrate on work a bit more and be able to plan ish ...
he's never ever taken to a bottle and would rather starve, he's had cow's milk in his cup which he seemed to quite like

So roughly ( I know there's no rules here ) how many feeds a day? or what sort of time spaces?

He is getting very distracted and twiddly
when feeding reading through this seems "normal"

How does self weaning go? I'm happy to let him but will he just stop? or drop a feed?
I had to combi feed my daughter before one so all new at this stage.

any other tips/advice?

I am still BFing my twins at 13mo, they have a feed first thing in the morning, before their nap (midday) and before they go to bed at night. Is that the sort of routine you have or does he BF any time he wants?

The 'experts' say a 1yo child needs a pint of milk a day, but there is really nothing that great in cow's milk that makes it such an essential food. If he is having cheese and yogurt every day plus a range of other meat/fish/veg/fruit etc there is no need for him to have masses of milk. Sardines are also a great source of calcium as is Tahini (sesame seed paste, which you can spread on toast). If you google 'weaning a vegan child' you will get more info on what to use as an alternative to cow's milk.

My advice is to offer him cow's milk in a beaker three times and a day and let him decide how much he wants to drink. He is a bit old for a bottle now anyway. I think it is quite nice for them to have a beaker of milk while you read them a bedtime story. You can warm it up or give it cold, see how he fancies it.

If you want him to self-wean, I am no expert but I think you just go with the flow and let him decide when/how much he wants to feed!

I don't do routines

and I had no plan to bottle him tried a handful of times he hated it I didn't push it.
I don't see want or need cow's milk to be a major part of diet he eats well and a wide range.

I agree! Cow's milk does not need to be a major part of his diet. It's nice as a drink if he likes it, but no need for 1 pint every day IMO.

So is your question more to do with how to let him self-wean? I am a bit confused!

doesn't matter.

Have I said something to upset you?