EBF 11.5 month old- how do I stop?

[Littleguggi]

Hi all

As much as I have loved my breastfeeding journey with my little one, I feel we are coming to the end. She currently feeds 4 times a day but I think with distraction this can be reduced further to once in the morning and once at night. Often her feeds are very start/ stop and it's a battle to get her to empty each breast at times. Plus she has started biting me which upsets me.

She is someone who up until a week or two ago was still feeding 3-4 times in the night but I have managed to night wean her completely.

I will be returning to work just after her first birthday and don't plan to pump so I know my supply will reduce. Plus I'm happy for her to go straight onto cows milk now.

My question is how do I wean her off the breast completely? Like do I start by stopping the day feeds? She eats 3 balanced meals a day so I'm not worried about her starving. Will I have any side effects?

Please feel free to share your experiences of ending breastfeeding..good and bad. Thank you x

I am in the process of weaning my 11 month at the moment...I weaned the day feeds so (as of yesterday) he has two feeds a day (morning and night). For the day feeds, I did one at a time and replaced with some cows milk and a small snack and it seemed fine. I am nervous for the night feed which I will wean next week. I have read to change your bedtime routine so book is last so plan on starting this tomorrow but dubious as my LB does not really sit for books and also by bed time after feed he is usually drowsy. Would be interested to hear what others did too? I plan to keep the morning feed for a few more weeks and have him on cows milk by his first birthday. Happy to be finishing - for me I have fed because that is what I believed was right for my child and only even planned to do a year - proud but can't wait to get some nice new underwear and be able to wear all my clothes again (well the ones I fit into anyways).

Hey thank you for your reply. That sounds like a sensible idea..to wean off the day feeds one by one. My next plan is to stop the mid morning feed, followed by the mid afternoon feed (which she has recently been skipping anyway especially when we are out all day). I understand your concern about stopping the night feed as this is something they expect just before bed. Perhaps getting someone else to help with bedtime may help, I plan on getting my husband involved a bit more when I plan to stop the bedtime feed. It's amazing how the little ones adjust though isn't it..I thought I would have a real battle stopping the night feeds but its been a breeze so I hope the daytime feeds will be the same, if not easier. I find giving weetabix with warmed cows milk just before bed helps to keep her full through the night. I like your idea of replacing day feeds with milk and a snack. Good luck with weaning and let me know how it goes as it seems I'm a few steps behind you :)

Do you want to stop completely or carry on with morning and evening feeds?

If you want to carry on, I'd just wait until you're back at work and see how she adapts. My DD started nursery at 12 mo because I was at work and they just offered her cows milk or water and I'd feed before and after nursery (and at night but I hasn't tried to stop that!). On days when I wasn't working, she'd feed more frequently but I was ok with that. If you didn't want to, you could easily just stick to the am and pm feed that she'll be used to from your working day.

Hi teaandbiscuits. Thanks for your reply. Like you I will be returning to work when my little one turns 1 so I'm just going to go with the flow and see how she adapts. This week I've managed to drop her mid morning feed so she'll just have the one feed (mid afternoon feed) to adapt to. I think she'll be fine as she's increased her food intake since dropping feeds and she's quite happy with water. The morning and bedtime feed will be the hardest to drop so I'll tackle them one at a time when the time comes :|

Thought I would check back in...tonight is the first night my DH will try to put DS to bed without me....fingers crossed! How is your weaning going? Any tips?