Please help me stop breastfeeding

[gingerbaby]

DS is 11 months and I really want to cut down/stop breastfeeding him. I feel I've had a good innings and now am ready to stop.

The problem is he won't take formula/milk from a cup/bottle/doidy and also I use BF as a sleep cue and have done since birth. I'm finding it really difficult to get him to nap without his feed first. Also he feeds 2/3 times at night and I don't know how to settle him any other way.

Is it just a case of dropping feeds and putting up with the tears for a few weeks? He will sleep in the buggy/car but not for very long.

Advice and guidence welcomed!

TIA

i don't know how useful my advice will be - ds dropped bf himself, fairly gradually from about 12 months and ended at 18 months. i found it invaluable to settle him when he was teething, and we were still up a couple of times a night a couple of times week for extra feeds, but he did drop it eventually. i'm a bit lost now as to get him to nap in his cot without it, but bedtimes are a dream

anyway, prob not what you were looking for, hopefully someone more useful will be along soon.

Hi gingerbaby. I posted on this subject a month or so ago. My DS has just turned 1yr and we are down to 1 feed before bed. DS doesn't take a bottle and will only drink water from a beaker. I have just worked on making sure he has plenty of calcium in his solids(difficult as he is a pants eater). My HV said it wasn't a problem if the calcium didn't come from cow's milk as long as it came from somewhere. Our feeding was quite formulaic (not demand by 11 months) and I just stopped feeding him at night (I offered a beaker of water instead). I dropped the mid morning feed first, as that used to be a pre morning nap feed. Then dropped his pre breakfast feed a couple of weeks ago. It has actually been much easier than I anticipated. I offer milk in a beaker first thing, but he usually refuses and wants water.

It has taken some patience, but he naps fine without a feed now (in fact maybe better). He has a cuddle and we read some books as his sleep cue now.

Thanks Stainesmassif and bellamysbride, I was hoping by now he'd be dropping them left, right and centre!

bellaamysbride, between what times at night did you offer water to your DS? My DS is in bed between 6/7pm and gets up for the day at 6am - do I offer water between those times? Or feed until 10pm and then water afterward? I never know what constitutes a night feed. Did you have mant tears when just offering water? I don't have the strength for crying, even if it's better in the long run!

thing is, they're all different, aren't they. i thought ds would never give up. however, my pregnancy may have helped persuade him....is that something you'd consider??

Haha you ol' mind reader...I'm trying to get pregnant at the moment! (Just started another thread about it ), which is in part why I want to give up. How old was your DS when you got pregnant? I'm such nosey so and so.

he was 14 months, so carried on feeding a couple of times a day/night to start with. have your periods returned yet? mine did when he was around a year as he'd dropped his feeds to such an extent. but i had been back to pt work since he was 7 months, so was used to no boob in the day by then. i can see why you'd want to cut back though. i thought i'd still be feeding a sixteen year old!

I gave him his last feed at 7ish, then that was it until the morning. He was going through an early morning phase so that was between 5-6ish. He never got upset with the water (quite grateful for it) and was settled with cuddles. He never cried once I was offering hugs. There have been some tiring nights but the breast feeding had stopped sending him back to sleep anyway. I am really not good with crying either.

Like staines says, they are all different though and I suppose it depends on how much you want to stop. I was desperate, though now I am just doing the bedtime feed I could quite happily continue. For me it was more about knowing he could cope without my breasts .