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Weaning... HELP!!

Sarah - posted on 05/03/2012 ( 1 mom has responded )

11

18

I want to start weaning my 10 month old before she turns 11 months and be done with breastfeeding by the time she is a year (in June). My goal was 6 months but she loved it so much I didn't want to stop but now that she is getting older it seems to be even harder to wean her. She Loves her Boobies. LOL! I feel guilty for taking them away from her but she is biting constantly and I am always sore, and frankly I'm a little tired of breastfeeding. I give her formula every once and a while and she will drink it but she wont sleep with it. She needs the breast to sleep. We have been co-sleeping and I want her to start sleeping in her bed also but I know that wont happen till I wean her completely. I know you are supposed slowly switch her feeding every few days but that really isn't working for us. Does anyone have any suggestions on weaning and how I can get my baby to sleep without having to nurse her (Other then letting her just cry it out... I'm not really a fan of that!)?

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Janice - posted on 05/03/2012

1,890

18

When my daughter was almost 10 months I decided to night wean and also stop co-sleeping. I night weaned first. So when my daughter woke in the middle of the night usually 2-3 times, I would just cuddle her but I wouldn't give her boob. She cried for 5-10 minutes each time at first but with-in less than a week she was night weaned. I still nursed her about 6x a day though. Then I started sleep training. Night time routine was reading a book and then breastfeeding until almost asleep. I would put herin her crib and stay by her until she fell asleep. She cried but I didn't pick her up. Instead I would rub her back, give her hugs over the crib rail and hum lullabies. Each time she woke in the night I would do the same thing. It was a long week but things got a bit better each day till she was sleeping through the night.

Then I began taking away daytime feeds 1 at a time. At her 1 year b-day (10-30) she was only nursing upon waking up, before nap and before bed. We cut out the nap feed around Christmas because I was returning to work in January. I planned to let her nurse 2x a day up until 2 years but things got crazy once I was back to work and the morning feed was dropped in February and we were done with the bed time feed (due to biting) by mid April when she was 17 months. The last feed was hard on both of us it took over 2 weeks before she stopped wanting it.

I was lucky because my daughter was/is a great eater. She had 8 teeth at 10 months when we started weaning so I just replaced her feeds with snacks and I started whole milk (in her sippy cup) at 11 months. When she wanted to nurse at times I was eliminating I would just cuddle her while she drank out of her cup.

Going slowly really worked well for us and I plan to do the same with my son who is currently only 5 months. Hopefully something in my long personal story can help you. Good luck!

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