Weaning EBF baby

[Anonymous]

I work from home and have a nanny so DD has been breastfed (no bottles) for nearly a year. She drinks water from a cup and eats fairly well but she’s still very interested in nursing. When and how do I start the weaning process? I’ll always be around and don’t mind nursing.

[Anonymous]

If you don't mind nursing, then you don't have to wean. Nursing a toddler is very different from nursing an infant. Pretty soon you can get to a point where you are only doing a bedtime or morning nursing session, and you can keep that going into the toddler years.

Even when you have to skip days with older toddlers, like you need someone else to put them to bed, they don't seem to really mind. I promise! It is not like having a 9 month old who is totally dependent on your boobs.

People are going to respond you should wean now or else it will be really hard at 2 or whatever. Okay, maybe that's true, but if you don't mind nursing, I highly doubt you will hate nursing a 3 year old once a day for a few minutes, if it comes to that.

[Anonymous]

If you don’t mind nursing, keep going for another year or at least six months before you worry about it.

[Anonymous]

I found weaning a 13 month old easy, and weaning a 19 month old was tough in both of us. I wouldn’t wait and assume it will be easier in the future.

[Anonymous]

I usually start weaning at 11 or 12 months, dropping one feed per week until we are done, which for my kids has meant that the process takes about a month.

[Anonymous]

Wean when you want. I weaned one kid at 2 and another at 2.5 and it was painless.

[Anonymous]

At age 1, mine were nursing 4x a day. To start weaning, I cut out the wake up nurse first then a few weeks later one that wasn’t before nap, then before nap, and finally before bed. Took about 2.5 months.

[Anonymous]

Start offering cow milk in a cup or sippy cup. Yogurt, cheese, table food. If you're not on a schedule, start the "don't offer but don't refuse" policy for BF.

[Anonymous]

I weaned my EBF son at 16ish months. He had a dip in interest and I pounced. Anecdotally my sis in law had to send my nephews away for 2 weeks to wean them when they were 2, they both fought too much otherwise. Weaning at 16 months was easy (and I was so glad to be able to go back on certain medications I held off in while nursing).

Drop the nurses one by one. I gave a cup of cow's milk with meals. I nursed at the beginning of the bedtime routine so there wasn't a sleep/nurse association. The last one to go was the wakeup nurse. I just sent his Dad in to do wakeup and give some water or milk.