How do I wean off breastfeeding

[solomon2]

Hi.

LO is nearly 10m. I plan to continue BF to 1y but then after I would like to stop.

How do I even do this? Is it possible to nightwean from breastfeeding even if we co-sleep?

Yes.

I had to stop breastfeeding at 10 months as I went into hospital to start a medication I couldn't breastfeed on. Our stopping journey won't be relevant but we went on to coslept fully until 2 years and we have been phasing it out slowly since then! She's 3.5 now and not usually in our bed until 5 unless ill.

Did you just go cold turkey then?

I stopped BF around 11 months and we still co-slept. Worked on daytimes at first and offered a bottle instead of breast and worked on other ways of settling- rocking, shushing etc. I also introduced a comforter that I wore down my top for a couple of days then between me and their face when giving them a bottle. Then tackled night times last but to be fair it went better than I expected. Just did it gradually and gently for us both

Looking for tips as my son is 2.5 and feeding all night long zzz

My DD is 14 months. I'm not in a major rush to stop but am thinking about how / when I could do so. Any tips or experiences would be helpful 👍

I had also intended to stop around age 1 but DS had other ideas. I tried various things, including shortening each night feed by a minute every night, unlatching him before putting him down so that he would fall to sleep by himself, and avoiding feeding before a certain time of the night. None of those things worked. Then I tried sleeping in the spare room and leaving my husband to it, which I think has worked for other people, but it failed twice for us. In the end I went completely cold turkey when DS was over 2. By then I could explain it to him better and I knew he was capable of sleeping all night because he did it for my mother.

Yep. She went 26h without a drink! I had support in hospital to try and get her to take formula in any vessel but she wouldn't. She has multiple allergies so had horrid tasting amino acid formula and had a bottle aversion from her GP prescribing a formula she was allergic too.
I collapsed with a BP of 80/40 and low blood sugars due to the diet I was on and because I couldn't look after myself due to severe depression and psychosis. I desperately needed to start a new medication. I had no choice but to send my daughter home to dad. He failed to get her to drink so she went into nursery and they got her to drink 2 5oz bottles. Dad did all feeds for 2 days then I did a few days time feeds whilst on home leave. She came back to the hospital with me on the Sunday night and never tried to feed.
It was brutal and I wouldn't recommend unless there is a very strong reason to do so. She was also still having weekly reactions to foods I was eating. I stopped breastfeeding at 10 months and I think it was 13 months when we finally got her to symptom free for her allergies

Oh bless your heart. That sounded absolutely horrific and I’m sorry you had to go through that. Hope your all well now x

This is really helpful thank you. Did you give a bottle of breast milk or formula just out of intrest x

So i stopped at 10 months as she kept biting and it was making me so anxious so i completely stopped one day. I just pumped for about 2 days then i started introducing formula with a but of breast milk and after a week she was just on formula. I wore high neck tops and always had a bottle and dummy ready for the moment she woke and she was never really bothered.
I think around this age theyre having alot of solids anyway which is a good way to distract them if theyre wanting boob

I gradually phased it out and at night we started to go long drives so he’d fall asleep that way instead of by breast. I stopped when he was nearer two so no need for formula and he naturally started drinking more cows milk.

This will sound like we had a plan but it’s more like it worked out like this:

We got into a routine by 9 months or so. BF was not on demand at that age. No BF during the night (Unless poorly), 4 feeds in the day (first thing, post nap 1, post nap 2, before bed).

In preparation for nursery, at 11 months I swapped out her last favourite feed (post nap 1) for yogurt/banana. 3 feeds per day.

At 12m I dropped the other day feed (post nap 2) when she started at nursery. Swapped for water, biscuit and cuddles.

That left us with 2 feeds - first thing and bedtime. We actually continued for another 9 months because it was easy, but by the end she dropped the morning feed herself, and then one day didn’t want bedtime. I think my milk got less and less over time so she was less bothered. So we stopped.

It was a very gentle way to end. Every baby is different though!

What did you do if your LO woke in the night? I’m too quick to offer the boob probs where I need ti start making changes

Yes I’ve had a few bites and they are bloody painful. I might give your idea ago. Did she have any bottles during the night

@solomon2 at night firstly we were fortunate in that she was a pretty good sleeper anyway. So partly luck. Partly through gently working on getting her to fall asleep from awake in her cot rather than feeding to sleep (there’s an element of luck there too). Including this detail because not every baby is a “sleeper” and I don’t want to be blasé about that. Secondly at about 7m I had to institute a “no boob before midnight/1am” rule after she’d gone to bed anyway so she and I had to find ways of comforting her back to sleep - cuddles, shushing etc. This was all a bit hit and miss though to be honest (Implemented that rule because she was always a vomity baby and I had a lot of milk. When she was older if I fed her again too soon after her bedtime feed she tended to sleepily drink more than her stomach could hold and she would then dramatically sick it up, repeatedly, all over everywhere)

In general though boobs are magic for sorting out most night time problems (hungry? Thirsty? Lonely? Cold? Boob is the answer to all!) so it’s hard to find other tools sometimes!

@solomon2 sorry it didnt notify me youd responded.
I still wince thinking about them bites! Yes shed have feeds during the night but only a few ounces at a time to help her get back off to sleep (shes a awful sleeper) but now i just keep her bottle next to the bed with water in so she rarely wakes for it now, only for her dummy