Partial weaning? (Question for extended nursing mommas)

[TheAnalyticalMommy]

Hi everyone! LO is 12 months old and while i intend to continue nursing him, i can't seem to cut down on the nursing sessions. If I'm around, he won't touch WCM and insists on nursing. We've even tried giving it to him in a bottle (he no longer uses bottles) as a "treat" and he refuses it! Did you encounter this and how did you handle it? 

He's always been VERY attached to me and I think it's emotional but i can't seem to get him to break free. He's fine if he can't see or hear me but if i'm anywhere near by, it just won't work. 

Also, just curious - Why do you continue to nurse? I think it's become more of an emotional decision for me than a nutritional one. I just get sad at the thought of not nursing him ever again.

Thanks!

[honeylemon]

I nursed my first until he was over the age of 2 and I want to do the same with my daughter (19 months) and the new baby (due in May). Partially for the emotional connection, but there are still nutritional benefits from extended breastfeeding.

Breastfeeding is an unequalled way of providing ideal food for the healthy growth and development of infants; it is also an integral part of the reproductive process with important implications for the health of mothers. As a global public health recommendation, infants should be exclusively breastfed1 for the first six months of life to achieve optimal growth, development and health2.

Thereafter, to meet their evolving nutritional requirements, infants should receive nutritionally adequate and safe complementary foods while breastfeeding continues for up to two years of age or beyond. Exclusive breastfeeding from birth is possible except for a few medical conditions, and unrestricted exclusive breastfeeding results in ample milk production.

LINK

I let both kids nurse on demand for the most part. At a year they were nursing anywhere from 5-8 times a day but by 18 months they were both down to 2-4 times a day. DD usually only nurses first thing in the morning and before her nap and bedtime.

[rodiesmum]

Hi. I nursed my first child till she is four. She didnt actually wantd to stop but my supply dried up midway thru my second pregnancy.

My reason for nursing her past one was at that time i still work 8-5 and it was our special bonding time. I also just wanted to follow her lead as to when she wanted to wean.

As for my advice. Try using colorful and interesting sippy cups to put wcm in.

[vvvvvfee]

DS always loved the taste of WCM, so he would drink it just because he liked it regardless of whether i was around. 12 months is still pretty little, though. at that point DS was probably nursing at least 5 times per day when i was home, and more if he was sick or feeling clingy. by the time he was about 18 months, he was down to more like 3 times per day. definitely as he got more mobile and physically independent, there were more things to entertain and engage him besides just boobs. so, if you're patient, your LO will probably reduce nursing sessions on his own within the next couple of months. if it's hard for you to cut out sessions altogether, you can at least decrease the duration of certain nursing sessions, which might make your LO more likely to drop them on his own.

i did/do extended BFing because of the health benefits for both me and DS, and for the emotional/bonding benefits. kellymom has a nice summary of the benefits: kellymom.com/ages/older-infant/ebf-benefits/

[casey]

First, congratulations!!

It's almost like these babies didn't get the memo that they should flip a switch around the AAP 12 month minimum. I think I was expecting something magical to happen at that point in our process. It took a while longer, but it did happen.

My LO did not cut back on her own until a few months past a year. She's 19 months now and nurses 2-3 times a day on weekdays, although sometimes her nursing sessions are shorter now. Or, she's waking up and playing for a couple minutes before wanting to nurse (vs. previous signing for milk over her head when I walked in the room in the AM). On weekends, she usually nurses 4-5 times a day -- except when we are on the go, then it might be just twice. When she doesn't feel well or is out of sorts, she nurses like a newborn. So, I'm not much of a help on the intentional decreasing aside to say LO will decide to cut back at some point.

About the WCM. My LO still doesn't like cups much when I'm around except when she's busy and distracted and other people have the cups. We tried the milk in a bottle thing, and she outright refused at home and at DC. It took being around other kids using cups for her to want to use the cup.

[somerandomchick]

Is there a particular reason you want to cut down on nursing sessions? Just asking cause you don't mention any so I'm wondering if you feel like you 'should' (baby is 12 months and should nurse less, because 'thats how it is'). If you want to cut down because YOU don't want to nurse 5 times a day or whatever, that's a perfectly legit reason to cut sessions, you don't have to justify yourself at all.

I nursed DD until 18 months or so. Eventually I started cutting sessions out because I was pregnant and my boobs just HURT but that was more like 15+ months.

If you're struggling to get him off the boobs I would just go slowly and be gentle. Since your goal is reduction not elimination, you can try a delaying tactic--when he asks to nurse, you say not right now, etc, and push the time between nursing sessions. I did this when I was cutting Rosalind back; I always nursed her at bedtime so if she was grabbing for my boobs an hour or two before bedtime I'd say not right now, we'll do mommy's milk at bedtime. (You can try to offer 'do you want this milk right now or mommy's milk at bed time?' to see if they'll take the bait on WCM)

[bluerainfire]

I nursed for 21 months- I miss it The world health actually recommends till two for nutritional reasons- if you think about it, thus why we give babies after 1 whole milk-at 12 months, I stopped pumping at work, and slowly just cut back on feedings for nine months. she also started biting, hard, around month 20, and i was sadly done at that point--My daughter doesn't like cows milk, unless it sweet- We sometimes give her almond milk, but our doctor said don't worry so much because she eats a lot of cheese...

every family is different, don't feel weird if you want to feed after 12 months-

[TheAnalyticalMommy]

Thank you all for the feedback! I can't beleive how quickly you all replied! (I've been busy with work an haven't been able to check back until now).

I felt the same way about the memo and actually joked with my husband that my LO clearly hadn't received one. I really just assumed he'd wind down on his own and had heard from others that they had started self weaning around 10 or 11 months old. Some of my friends had wanted to continue nursing past a year but their LO's weren't interested.

I don't have a specific reason for wanting to wind down other than some flexibility. It would be nice to eat dinner with two hands agian but LO still insists on nursing on and off during dinner LOL

I also feel like my supply has dropped quite a bit since i stopped pumping and at times i think he gets mad. He did start pulling on my shirt when he's hungry and then when i try to nurse him, he'll start hitting or pinching me if nothing comes out right away. So the nursing sessions have become more frustrating and less cuddly because of this (I try to take him off and tell him no etc to discourage this but he still does it).

[jennlin]

Feb 24, 2015 14:33:03 GMT -5 TheAnalyticalMommy said:

Also, just curious - Why do you continue to nurse? I think it's become more of an emotional decision for me than a nutritional one. I just get sad at the thought of not nursing him ever again.

Thanks!

it's definitely still nutritional as it's a great high calorie and vitamin rich food..that doesn't change no matter how old your baby is.

i continue to nurse my kids on demand because it's an easy way to get nutrition in for picky eaters and also my kids can't have cows milk.

[Deleted]

There's no reason to stop if you don't want to. DS stopped just before 18 mos, but I think it was more out of frustration with my supply than anything. After we both cried at a feed in the wee hours of the morning (I let him keep his 4 or 5 am feed because we got to see each other before I went to work that way), I just let MH go to him at that time. He ran out of patience with my slowing supply and dropped his afternoon and evening feeds on his own.

As for the WCM: DS does coconut milk, but for awhile he took more at daycare than home. He also preferred open cups (messy but...eh) or straw cups.