Can we talk about weaning?

[abominationsnowman]

Strategies?

Baby is on a nursing strike. I'm leaking, clogged ducts,  and engorged. He's doing great with table foods and will be a year on 8/13. I want to follow his lead without my tits falling off. I plan on weaning him by his birthday, but this still seems like a sudden drop off.

[RandomName]

When I weaned I kept morning and night and dropped day feeds. Started with the mid morning feed. Then afternoon. Then lunch. Then morning. Then last was night.

If you're feeling engorged, express a bit. Don't drain bc it will signal to your body to make more and be counter productive. Just hand express a bit for pressure if baby refuses to nurse.

I don't have much advice bc my first time I dried up bc I got pregnant. Then this time around I introduced formula and replaced breastfeeding with formula and my milk was slowing down anyway.

Good luck! Watch for red sore areas. And massage, heat, and work them if they appear ASAP.

[tuscanlatte]

I haven't replied because I feel like I have no good advice on this. I had what you are describing and just waited it out miserably. Hugs to you!

[RandomName]

Jul 17, 2016 17:31:52 GMT -5 tuscanlatte said:

I haven't replied because I feel like I have no good advice on this. I had what you are describing and just waited it out miserably. Hugs to you!

+ 1

I saw no replies and thought I'd break the ice

[skinandbones]

I *think* refusing to nurse prior to maybe 15 months is considered a nursing strike.

With that said if you want to use this as a spring board to weaning, I say go for it.

I don't have any advice. I did extended breastfeeding and dried up while I was pregnant. I encouraged the process a bit and slowly dropped a feed once he adjusted. I picked the nursing sessions that he seemed least emotionally attached too. So nursing sessions during the day around meal time went first and then the one around nap. The one before bed was the last to go. I still remember DS1 refusing to nurse a couple days and I realized that was it. I had a lot of feels about it but was ready.

Anyway, I would go visit Kellymom.com. That site tends to be really good with advice. You also may want to check up the La Leche League site as well.

[abominationsnowman]

Thanks guys. I was feeling unloved for a bit there.

The strike is still ongoing. Expressing in the shower to avoid dying. I have a bleb trapped in my nipple.

I will try to keep offering and maybe up his water intake. He just wants to chew on his paci.

[th3stryck3r]

I *think* what I've been doing qualifies as weaning. I used to nurse morning and evening and pump 3 times/ day. The week of June 13, I dropped to two pumping sessions/ day and replaced one bottle with WCM. The week of July 4, I dropped to one pump/ day and she gets 2 bottles WCM, one bm. Friday was my last pump. There's enough stash for her to go to the end of July with one bm and two WCM. Then she will get all WCM during the day. Last week, I also started having MH either feed her WCM in the morning or at night (so she does not bf then.) I think she will be over nursing entirely in mid-August. I thought I would do extended breastfeeding, but I hate pumping, and I also like being able to sleep at 5:30 (or earlier) when she wakes up or go for a run at 7 when she's going to bed. And she doesn't seem to have an issue with cow's milk. I have not had any pain or leaking. I also started dieting around the same time I started all of this, so I think I have been producing much less anyway.

[hopefulreturn]

I was just coming here to see if there was a weaning thread! I'm an exclusive pumper so it's a bit different, yet similar. I've slowly dropped pumps and am now at 3 a day. I'd like to be done at her 1st birthday, but I'm still struggling with the latest pump drop. I'm also nervous about the switch to cows milk since she's had a dairy intolerance until 10 months. My daughter is still hit or miss on solids, so she isn't reducing milk ounces yet.

[motownthrowdown]

Jul 17, 2016 21:26:34 GMT -5 hopefulreturn said:

I was just coming here to see if there was a weaning thread! I'm an exclusive pumper so it's a bit different, yet similar. I've slowly dropped pumps and am now at 3 a day. I'd like to be done at her 1st birthday, but I'm still struggling with the latest pump drop. I'm also nervous about the switch to cows milk since she's had a dairy intolerance until 10 months. My daughter is still hit or miss on solids, so she isn't reducing milk ounces yet.

Hello, fellow EPer! I cut down one pump a week until I finally quit two weeks after A's birthday. I started in April and was doing 7 or 8 pumps a day. I pumped twice after "quitting" because my boobs hurt. I only pumped those times for maybe a minute or two, enough to get the pressure off. I was good after about a week.

Also, you are awesome for EPing this long!

[skinandbones]

Jul 17, 2016 19:33:50 GMT -5 th3stryck3r said:

I *think* what I've been doing qualifies as weaning. I used to nurse morning and evening and pump 3 times/ day. The week of June 13, I dropped to two pumping sessions/ day and replaced one bottle with WCM. The week of July 4, I dropped to one pump/ day and she gets 2 bottles WCM, one bm. Friday was my last pump. There's enough stash for her to go to the end of July with one bm and two WCM. Then she will get all WCM during the day. Last week, I also started having MH either feed her WCM in the morning or at night (so she does not bf then.) I think she will be over nursing entirely in mid-August. I thought I would do extended breastfeeding, but I hate pumping, and I also like being able to sleep at 5:30 (or earlier) when she wakes up or go for a run at 7 when she's going to bed. And she doesn't seem to have an issue with cow's milk. I have not had any pain or leaking. I also started dieting around the same time I started all of this, so I think I have been producing much less anyway.

With DS1 after he hit a year, I stopped pumping. I only nursed on demand when we were together. He also got milk during meal time. Extended BF looks very different because it becomes a supplement to their nutrition rather than the primary source.

[abominationsnowman]

skinandbones, I always forget about the awesome that is kellymom. Thank you.

I cannot unclog this nipple duct to save my life. Sleep bras all day.

[hopefulreturn]

Jul 18, 2016 9:08:30 GMT -5 abominationsnowman said:

skinandbones, I always forget about the awesome that is kellymom. Thank you.

I cannot unclog this nipple duct to save my life. Sleep bras all day.

Sleep bras oddly seem to cause/ not help clogs for me! I may just be weird but I realized that a few months in.

[th3stryck3r]

Jul 18, 2016 0:57:12 GMT -5 skinandbones said:

Jul 17, 2016 19:33:50 GMT -5 th3stryck3r said:

I *think* what I've been doing qualifies as weaning. I used to nurse morning and evening and pump 3 times/ day. The week of June 13, I dropped to two pumping sessions/ day and replaced one bottle with WCM. The week of July 4, I dropped to one pump/ day and she gets 2 bottles WCM, one bm. Friday was my last pump. There's enough stash for her to go to the end of July with one bm and two WCM. Then she will get all WCM during the day. Last week, I also started having MH either feed her WCM in the morning or at night (so she does not bf then.) I think she will be over nursing entirely in mid-August. I thought I would do extended breastfeeding, but I hate pumping, and I also like being able to sleep at 5:30 (or earlier) when she wakes up or go for a run at 7 when she's going to bed. And she doesn't seem to have an issue with cow's milk. I have not had any pain or leaking. I also started dieting around the same time I started all of this, so I think I have been producing much less anyway.

With DS1 after he hit a year, I stopped pumping. I only nursed on demand when we were together. He also got milk during meal time. Extended BF looks very different because it becomes a supplement to their nutrition rather than the primary source.

This is what I originally wanted to do, but I don't want to HAVE to always do bedtime and morning nursing in order to maintain enough supply to do so. Did you have flexibility with your schedule when you nursed post 1 yr?

[skinandbones]

Jul 18, 2016 18:17:58 GMT -5 th3stryck3r said:

Jul 18, 2016 0:57:12 GMT -5 skinandbones said:

With DS1 after he hit a year, I stopped pumping. I only nursed on demand when we were together. He also got milk during meal time. Extended BF looks very different because it becomes a supplement to their nutrition rather than the primary source.

This is what I originally wanted to do, but I don't want to HAVE to always do bedtime and morning nursing in order to maintain enough supply to do so. Did you have flexibility with your schedule when you nursed post 1 yr?

Yeah, I just nursed when he wanted. No schedule. If I happened to be gone during a time he would normally nursed, I would just skip it without pumping. I also figured anything past a year was bonus so I didn't worry about maintaining a supply. If I dried up, so be it.

It really is a different animal.

[th3stryck3r]

Good to know, skinandbones —I think this will be my plan then!

[Deleted]

So m-f I was pretty much EPing. I just weaned fully last week. I did it over 2 weeks and shortened the length of each pump as well as completely cutting out a pump every couple days. I found this worked best with dd and I never got engorged, so I followed suit this time around.

I had one day of discomfort when I didn't pump whatsoever but I'm still nursing ds at night so I had some relief that evening.

Like skinandbones, I'm pretty much at nurse whenever he wants. We nurse twice before bed during the week and usually every 4 hours or so on the weekends but they're only like 5 min long feeds.