Men: Beware. That's your only warning.
I know it's coming.
The time when peanut and I will inevitably end our lactation relationship.
When I first began nursing, my goal was to make it till at least a year. I figured that would have given me ample time to pass on all the goodness that breast milk has to offer a wee one. And now that we are closing in on ten months of me exclusively nursing Georgia, as well as the fact that she now pulls my hair as she lays there, weaning is something I've had to think about. I had a friend gently remind me last week that Georgia and I will both know when the time is right to wean. And while I know we're not quite there yet, the fact is inevitably on the horizon.
Problem being this: I've never weaned a child before!
Have you? Any advice?
I've weaned calves before, though. I always hated that job. You'd have to sort the babies off their mamas and drive them far, far away. For the next week, you could expect the calves to be bawling and the mamas to be bawling…and engorged. Not exactly an ideal picture in my head of how I see this going…
I'd like to take it slowly. Gently dropping a feeding at a time, maybe one every week or so. Which begs another question – what do you wean your child to? After doing some Google-research (what did Moms do before the internet!), I've decided that we will wean to raw milk.
Now, now. Calm down. I know what you're thinking. What! You're thinking about giving your child raw milk! Are you crazy! And the answer is no. Well, maybe kind of yes, but that's a discussion for another day. Again, after some research (as well as the fact that we drink raw milk everyday), we've decided that we are confident in our wonderful raw milk supplier to provide us with a healthy and safe product for our child. If you have questions about this, here is a great article. Here is another.
I'm not saying that you have to make this decision for your child as well – but as my friend Kendra and I often remind each other, all we can do as parents is try to do the best that we can for our child. And luckily, each parent gets to make these decisions for themselves – that is a blessing!
In a way, I know I will be sad to lose my intimate nursing time with peanut. It's a time where I get to just hold her. Snuggle her. Love on her. On the flip side, she does pull my hair on occasion. And my earrings. And the buttons on my shirt. And it can also make for some pretty acrobatic moves as I try to nurse in under less-than-ideal circumstances.
And even though she has bit me three times (*shutter*), I wouldn't trade the wonderful blessing of lactation for anything.
Now that's something you don't hear every day.
My daughter is 8 months and EBF also! I looove our nursing relationship but she is quite the acrobat too, and she loves earrings too. I have a lot of the same questions as you, thanks for blogging about it!
HEY! I was really clueless and nervous about weaning too, but it turned out to be WAY easier than I was anticipating. I was like, “how do you just DROP feedings? and how do you know which one to drop first?”
I was asking everyone for advice, and I started out the weaning process by just trying to stretch Brody’s time between feedings to 5 hours instead of 4 hours, and just making sure to add in more solid food. Soon we were at 3 feedings a day, then I changed the midday feeding to a bottle (formula first, then raw goat’s milk).
As for dropping the last 2 feedings, I know a lot of people that wanted to keep the nighttime feeding as the last feeding cause it was part of the bedtime routine. But I opted to drop that one next and keep the morning feeding, mostly cause I’m lazy and loved feeding him while still in bed.
Finally I just tried giving him a bottle first thing in the morning too!
The one thing I’d say is do cabbage leaves even if you think you don’t need them. I had no feeling of uncomfortable fullness or engorgement, but a week after his last feeding I started getting a clogged duct or something. So yeah, to make sure you don’t get mastitis, I recommend cabbage leaves.
Enjoy your last bit of nursing with Georgia! You really do miss it!
I’ll tell you what I did a long time ago now…. I nursed my kids until they were ready to stop on their own, which was around 18 months for my older two and my daughter being independent was at 12 months. They had food allergies, and I wasn’t in a hurry. I slowly dropped all but the morning and bedtime feed, not even on purpose, it just happened, and then just slowly they stopped, no fuss, no fight, no crying baby, just done. Can Georgia fall asleep without out you? If you are nursing to sleep at bed and naps, wean that first, which sucks a lot. Nurse, then put her down awake, find a comfort item she uses only at bedtime. If she falls asleep after nursing, you will do well. By 12 months, she should mostly be eating 3 meals and some snacks, like an older child, and only needs 3 cups of milk daily. I’d go straight for the cup and forget the bottle, just another item to wean from later. Just my two cents…
All three of mine so far have been ready to wean around 16 months. We gradually dropped a feeding every week or so. I always left the before bedtime feeding for the very last. There was no fighting or fussing with any of mine, and believe me, they fight and fuss about other things..lol.
I think if you don’t stress about it and let it happen gradually, it will be fine.
I also agree with homemade Alaska, go straight to the cup!
None of mine would ever take a bottle anyways, so that ended up being a blessing!
And we weaned straight to raw milk also. We have an amazing farmer who we trust. We had not discovered raw milk when my firstborn turned a year, and we dealt with diarrhea, congestion, and the like with organic store milk. Once we switched to raw, bye bye sickness!
Both of my girls were weaned straight to raw; wouldn’t have it any other way!
Just be ready to buy a lot more of it! 🙂
Amanda
Okay, I’ll share my experience 🙂
I nursed my firstborn until she was 14 months, my son until he was 16 months (I think), and baby Xia when she was about 18 months. Each time I just felt like it was time. No rush. (Actually, I was WAY over nursing Xia by 18 months. Plus, I was pregnant again!) I weaned over a period of two months or so, dropping feedings as we were both comfortable with. If you have crying going on, I’d say wait and don’t push it. I didn’t have any trouble with this with any of my kids, I just kinda went with what they were ready for.
I breastfed Xia exclusively for an entire year! I did try baby cereal, and baby foods occasionally, but she wasn’t having it. And that was fine! She didn’t even eat cake on her first birthday. No biggy. After she hit 12 months she wanted table food. She never did eat baby food, she only wanted what she could pick up and put in her mouth herself. Much easier for me!
With all of mine I replaced nursings with meals, or large snacks, and a cup of warm milk. I definitely agree with the others, go straight to a soft tipped sippy cup. And I wouldn’t recommend one with a straw. I’ve seen kids who can’t figure out how to tip a regular cup to drink from it because all they’ve known is a straw.
With my first two I didn’t even know raw milk existed, but with Xia she’s had raw milk (cow’s and goat’s) from the get-go. If you warm it before giving it to baby, they are more willing to accept it. You might wanna pump to relieve some engorgement too.
I always left the night time nursing for last. I made breakfast special for the first week or so of weaning, so they were less likely to want to nurse. My Titus LOVES bananas. So every morning I’d give him a banana, and he forgot all about nursing. 🙂
Take your time, and do what is best for you and Georgia. Nothing else matters 🙂
My children are teenagers now, so it was quite some time ago. With my first child, my daughter, I felt pressured to wean her too soon, it turned out to be a blessing because I became pregnant with our son right after, with my son I was more confident with breastfeeding and continued nursing him unitl we were both ready, and it felt natural to start weaning, around 18 months. I agree with the others- we went straight to cup, not bottle, and he ate solid foods as well as his milk ( I knew nothing of raw milk at the time nor had a source). We still kept a night time nursing for awhile, and that ended sometime around 20-22 months. Very slow natural process. I am sure you will do wonderfully. 🙂
Good for you for weaning to raw milk! I was nervous about it with my first one too, but since we get an endless supply of raw milk living on a dairy, there was no way I was buying milk for my baby!! Since then, I have read so much (from Nourishing Traditions and others) about the benefits of raw milk for your baby. We are actually making our own formula now for our youngest two using our own raw milk. I just couldn’t keep up with them anymore, and I’m SO thankful to be able to give them something far better than the processed formula that shouldn’t even be called milk–ugh!
Best wishes for a smooth transition! Just remember it’s probably harder on you than it is on her 😉