I'm thinking about weaning my son from nursing he just turned one. Any help would be great

Christine - posted on 07/26/2009

I want to wean him but also at the same time we both enjoy it , it's just starting to hurt more casue he's getting more teeth. I have dropped a couple feedings once in the morning and at his frist nap time. The last one i'm going to drop is his bed time one. Tlhanks to everone for the great help.

Elizabeth - posted on 07/25/2009

Deciding to wean your son is of course a personal decision but I just want to point out that the world health organization recommends breastfeeding for at least the first 2 years. Of course everyone's situation is different but if you are weaning because you think you have to at a year this is not the case. Take your time and wean him whenever he is ready.

Tiffany - posted on 07/25/2009

My daughter was a year old when I weaned her, my doctor told me to do it cold turkey but I thought that would be hard because she seemed to enjoy nursing so much. At the time she was nursing when she first woke in the morning, before her morning nap, before her afternoon nap, before bed, and once in the mid-night. I decided to take one nurse out a week. First I stopped the morning nursing at it wasn't to too hard. Then we stopped the afternoon nap feeding, this was harder. After another week I stopped nursing before the morning nap, this the hardest. Finally after about a month I stopped nursing before bed and when I did this my daughter stopped waking in the middle of the night for her mid-night nursing (& sleeping through the night). It was like she was more ready than I was, and I thought I was ready :). I think by dragging it out so long for us made things more difficult. With my next baby I will probably stop one feeding at a time but I won't wait so long between doing it. Hope this helps!!

Jana - posted on 07/24/2009

I waited until my daughter was one to wean as well and I had her fully weaned in about 1 1/2 months, but I did it kind of slow (at least to me it was slow) I will say that she didn't really get into drinking/liking cows milk until she was fully weaned, so just keep that in mind. Here is what worked for me. I dropped a mid-day feeding first, because I knew she was eating solid foods and drinking water from a sippy cup so she wouldn't be fussy. Is she did get fussy I just gave her some more solid food. I waited a couple days then dropped another feeding. I kept doing this until I was only nursing her when she woke up in the morning right before bed and if she woke up during the night. I kept with these feedings for about a week maybe longer, then I dropped the morning feed. Waited about a week (or until I knew we had nothing major planned) and I mentally prepared myself to only nurse right before bed and not feed her when she woke up at night. She did fine with that. Then when I was truely ready to be done I just stopped the pre-bedtime nursing. I kept every thing the same and my daughter never had a problem and I never had any pain either. I think the waiting a few days after dropping a feeding helped with any pain I might have had.



I know that some people start by dropping the night feedings so they only have to nurse during the day. But basically it is the same idea, you just need to decide what feeding you want to drop first. Good luck and I hope everything goes well for you and you little one.