Saturday, July 11, 2009

Weaning from Breastfeeding.

All good things must eventually come to an end. How do you recommend weaning a baby from breastfeeding?
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5 comments:

  1. Amy NelsonJuly 11, 2009 at 3:29 PM

    The hardest part of weaning for me has always been the night feedings. So I would try to tackle those first. I would keep them in the high chair as long as I could before bedtime shoveling as much food down them as possible. Then when they would wake up crying I'd let them know I was there, but not nurse them. It only took one or two nights before they realized that it wasn't worth waking up during the night for and they started sleeping a lot better too.

    During the day I would feed them solids first, then top them off with breast milk if necessary.

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  2. The MonkeysJuly 12, 2009 at 6:52 AM

    I must admit that I did it the other way around. My babies were all sleeping through the night before I weaned, so I didn't have the problem of them waking up at night. I started giving them solids and cups of milk, or water when they seemed thirsty and then would breastfeed for naps and when they went to bed and when they woke up only. By this time they were accustomed to table food and baby cereals. Most of my babies hated baby food and preferred table food. Since I had been giving them table food for 2-3 months, by that time they had stopped breastfeeding around meal times anyway, so the other ones were easy to cut out with a sippy cup full of milk. When I was ready to cut out the morning one, I gave them a sippy of milk. The hardest ones to cut out are the nap time and bed time ones, because you don't want them to fall asleep with milk/sippy in their mouths.

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  3. StaceyJuly 14, 2009 at 7:03 AM

    Like I mentioned on the phone the other day...do it by taking away one feeding at a time for a couple days so your body has time to adjust to the baby's milk demands and you don't end up in pain. Gradually, you'll be down to nothing...which is the way to go!

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  4. StaceyJuly 17, 2009 at 12:18 PM

    Another idea...my lactation consultant had a few suggestions for drying up the milk more quickly...I tried them all since I desperately needed to do it quickly so I can't say what worked/didn't work or even if it was any faster, but it might be worth a try...

    Idea # 1 Sage...I googled it and ended up buying a bottle of sage and coffee filters and made little homemade tea bags (a tsp I think) and tied them off with string. Then steeped them in hot water...not the best tasting thing (sources suggest adding sugar or honey)...but if it works...

    Idea #2 Peppermint...LC suggested peppermint altoids since it has real peppermint oil. Popped a few in my mouth all day long.

    Idea #3 Sudafed...She said it's safe to use while breastfeeding, but only short term because it works for you sinuses by drying things up and not just your nose...in this case I took the max dose for a few days and then tapered it off in order to help dry things up.

    So these where her recommendations...I did tried them all, but I had already quit breastfeeding...so I was just pumping and dumping...I don't know how it would be for the baby if you were doing all this stuff and still breastfeeding...I'd ask someone first...Definitely not the way I'd recommend doing it (I think gradually reducing feedings would be a much better way...but if something comes up and you need to be done now, it might be worth a try).

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  5. jeanineJuly 29, 2009 at 8:55 AM

    I would reccommend adding an hour or so between each feeding. So, if your baby eats every 5 hours... make it six. Keep doing it until you are down to once or twice a day. It's so much easier on your body!

    I love this blog... such a good idea. I wish I had had something like this with my first. btw I found you from your mother-in-laws blog... our husbands are cousins

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