How do you stop breastfeeding?????Please help.

After 18 months of breastfeeding, I am trying to stop but am having no luck with my little girl who won't take formula and rarely takes cows milk from the bottle. She only wants the breastmilk, from the breast.


I used to demand feed but in the last few months have cut it down to 3 feeds a day. When she wakes in the morning, before she has her nap and when she goes to sleep at night. I have tried not feeing her at these times but she gets really upset.


Can anyone offer a way of stopping breastfeeding that doesn't leave you feeling like you are traumatising your little one???

Has anyone else tried to feed your daughter? She may (with some reluctance) accept a bottle better from your husband or a nanny. Then when she gets used to it, you'll be able to feed her.


Some children go directly from breast to sippy cup.

Thanks Cara & aemom, I have tried expressing and putting my milk in a bottle but she won't take it.

She'll take cows milk from a bottle from my husband when I haven't been home to do it but he is away a lot and when he is home it isn't for a long enough period for her to get used to this. And we don't have a helper either.


Some moms I have spoken to have waited until their little ones no longer want the breast. My little girl is all for the breastfeeding so I am wondering if she will ever get to the point where she no longer wants it :)


I think on the next baby I will introduce the bottle much much earlier.

Babies over one year old, according APA, should be drinking whole fat milk from a cup with a straw - not a bottle.


You can introduce this, and NO OTHER BOTTLE, it might take 2-5 days of an unhappy baby, but she will then learn.


Wherever she is, take the cup with the straw, she will learn to drink from it when she is thirsty.


Slowly - cut out the lunchtime feed, we found the best way to do this was to vary the routine and maybe even have someone else put baby to bed for her nap.

Then the evening feed a week later.

And last the morning feed.

We did this by having my husband put baby to bed and then wake him up.


We will stop BFing #2 in the same way.


Also, she is 18 months old - TALK to her.... explain that now she is a big girl and needs to drink from the cup with the straw, and no more BF... kids are smart, they understand a lot.


We never used a bottle, went straight from the breast to the cup with a straw at one year, and stopped BF at 13 months using the gradual process above.


Good luck!


If your husband is not around for 3-4 consecutive days, then I would suggest you vary the routine so you don't 'visit' the same place you normally breast feed (the bed, the sofa, whatever), and that you even wear different clothing, and you can just explain that there is no more MF at lunch, then before bed... etc... maybe introduce a new 'item' to the routine- like a new book or a new bedtime cuddle toy a the same time, so you can explain 'no more BF, but now we have this great book, etc...'


Hope that helps a bit, and good luck! kids are much smarter and more resiliant than we give them credit for :)

Babies over one year old, according APA, should be drinking whole fat milk from a cup with a straw - not a bottle.


You can introduce this, and NO OTHER BOTTLE, it might take 2-5 days of an unhappy baby, but she will then learn.


Wherever she is, take the cup with the straw, she will learn to drink from it when she is thirsty.


Slowly - cut out the lunchtime feed, we found the best way to do this was to vary the routine and maybe even have someone else put baby to bed for her nap.

Then the evening feed a week later.

And last the morning feed.

We did this by having my husband put baby to bed and then wake him up.


We will stop BFing #2 in the same way.


Also, she is 18 months old - TALK to her.... explain that now she is a big girl and needs to drink from the cup with the straw, and no more BF... kids are smart, they understand a lot.


We never used a bottle, went straight from the breast to the cup with a straw at one year, and stopped BF at 13 months using the gradual process above.


Good luck!


If your husband is not around for 3-4 consecutive days, then I would suggest you vary the routine so you don't 'visit' the same place you normally breast feed (the bed, the sofa, whatever), and that you even wear different clothing, and you can just explain that there is no more MF at lunch, then before bed... etc... maybe introduce a new 'item' to the routine- like a new book or a new bedtime cuddle toy a the same time, so you can explain 'no more BF, but now we have this great book, etc...'


Hope that helps a bit, and good luck! kids are much smarter and more resiliant than we give them credit for :)

Thanks crj, my little girl drinks her juice from a straw cup so I will give this a go with milk tonight. Don't know why I didn't think to use the straw cup instead of the bottle :)

It's quite all right to bf for two years...it's actually recommended by many sources. She WILL want it less. This process doesn't need to be rushed. Sounds like you are sensitive to your little one's needs and you know her best. Usually we start weaning by saying, Don't offer, don't refuse. Any of the following tips can be done, but leave enough time between subs so she feels okay about it. Yes, it may take months, but hey, weaning is a process. And breastmilk is even MORE nutritious in at this time because there is less of it, but most of the same properties are there, just more concentrated!


Pick one that you think can be subbed for. The morning one can be subbed by getting her up quickly and having a really exciting breakfast/TV show/plan for an outting. Or your partner getting her up! She will need to be prepared for a few nights/days before you do this. It takes more work on your part, but if you do this consistently, you can usually stop this nursing.


The naptime one can be subbed by getting rid of the nap and going to bed earlier. Ease into this one and give lots of wee snacks late afternoon to help stave off a meltdown.


The bedtime one i found was the last to go. I got pregnant and my milk supply dropped right off, it tasted different and it was very painful when my daughter was 25 months. We negotiated a new bedtime routine. She literally said to be that she was a big girl (after I told her this for a few days) and she didn't need nursing anymore and, hey mum, can you sing me to sleep instead? Such a verbal 2 year old!


Good luck, hon and have a look at books like Mothering Your Nursing Toddler etc to help you. Dr Sears and kellymom websites are wonderful too.

sorry to hijack the thread - how do you get from bottle to a cup for milk? Ours were always bottlefed - never BF, they drink water from a beaker, and they are great with cups with straws (whenever we give it them). My problem is that I want them to drink milk (at the moment 200 ml in the morning, maybe 150 or so 2.30 pm and another 200 ml before bed) - but with a cup/straw/beaker - they will take 50 if we are lucky and that is it?

zimmum, am in the same situation as you. have a 13 month old that is really resistant to having milk from any other source than directly from the breasts.


i was getting really stressed over it and then just decided that i'd let things be for the moment and getnly ease him off breast milk when he starts understanding more spoken language.

ldsllvn


If your baby is over a year old, I suggest you go cold turkey.

Talk to them, have them help you throw away the bottles, and introduce the cup with the straw for milk. TALK and EXPLAIN, they are smart cookies, our kids :)

Wherever she is, take the cup with the straw, she will learn to drink from it when she is thirsty.

It might take 2-5 days of an upset toddler, but after that, they figure it out and you are free of bottles!


Be sure they know - there are no more bottles EVER, and there are no bottles in the house, and they aren't getting any juice or water in a bottle either... they have already shown you they can drink from a straw, so it is just not giving them any other option.


My Dr agreed this was a correct approach, and after seeing us, a few friends have done the same and at first I got 'I hate you, she is thirsty and has cried for a day' and two days later 'It's wonderful, thank you for helping me do this!'...


We used different cups with straws for water and for milk... but that's just us.


do a few searches for cup, straw, bottle and you will find a few detailed threads on this, but basically they pretty much say the same...


just do it, be strong, and good luck!

idsllvn,


like crj said, COLD TURKEY.

and whatever happens, DO NOT GIVE IN.

they are above one, a few days of lower milk intake will not kill them, just up the milk intake with food (cheese sauce, etc).

that's what i did with my toddler. he was bottlefed very early on but i was determined when he hits 12 mths that bottles would be a thing of the past - had enough of that and all that sterilising.

so when he was about 11 months, i added cow's milk into a cup with his formula...i think i would give him a small bottle first and then a straw cup to finish off.

but then i got lazy and when he hit one, i decided he was either take it from the cup or he won't take any.

he soon learnt, now guzzles 2 cups of pura a day from munchkin cup....no turning back.