breast feeding - weaning

Help! Suggestions wanted.
My 14 mth old baby is brst fed, I am weaning him off. He used to take the bottle but now refuses. What do you suggest?

I weaned my son at the same age, what a battle after two weeks of tears and tantrums both mine and his I was ready to give up. He would go 8 hours with only having drunk 100mls of water. In the end hubby took a week of work and did it. The first few bottles took an hour to give but after that he never looked back and was fully weaned by the end of the week. I had to leave the house whilst he was doing because if our little boy thought I was around or could see me he would play up. So I guess what I am trying to say is if you have someone else who can help, who bubby is close to then maybe ask them for a hand. They have to be prepared to give all the bottles though. From memory the way we did it was the first day he got his morning, lunch time and afternoon feed from Daddy and I did the bed time, and early hours of the morning feed. Second day I dropped the early hours of the morning feed and Daddy gave a bottle though there were a few tears. The next few days we I continued the night feed and on the 7th day I gave him a bottle for it which was a struggle for about a week but he eventually realised Mummy wasn't giving in. I did it so quickly because I had to go onto heart medication. It is recommended you do it slower over a month or two if you have the time. I also recommend chatting to your community nurse or The Breast Feeding Association would probably be even better. The main thing to remeber and it is hard to.. Stay Strong. All the best and I hope I was some help. My little boy is now 16 months and in no way interested in a breastfeed, he gets extremely excited about the bottle though.

Piglet-
thank you for replying on weaning my son. I will try sticking to what you said. I am going to persist on giving my baby his bottle during the day and b-feeding only at night and slowly wean him off totally. On the w/end he actually drank his bottle from my brother in law and I was not around, so I will get my husband to try when he is home. Thanks again for your useful information. I will be strong.

Good Luck. It is tough, but I am sure you will all get through it. Let me know how you are going. e-mail watts_e@yahoo.com.au if you want to chat or need an understanding shoulder to cry on when it is gettting tough

My baby is still refusing the bottle so I thought I will just breast feed him. I occasionally give him a cup and he has a few sips but not much. I will keep trying the bottle every now and then. My husband can't take time off work. I also get someone else to try the bottle if they are around. I will keep you posted on my progress, thanks for asking.

Hi Tanja I weand my first daughter at 14months she just went straight from the breast to a cup.
So maybe you should try a cup, my daughter never had a bottle at all. I have three girls aged 11,9 and 1 and they were all different.

Hi, I read your letter about weaning. I was wandering if you could help me. I have posted a letter in another section but no-one has answered it.
My son will be 2 in a few days. He no longer breastfeeds during the day, which is great, but he still likes my breast to go to sleep at night and as he is still in bed with me, he wakes during the night and needs my breast to get back to sleep.
I now have to have a shower late in the night necause as soon as I have a shower he associates it with the breast and will hop on the couch and away he goes. I don't have alot of milk left so after a few minutes they become sore.
I guess he is just using me a portable dummy. I amdesperate. this is wearing me out. I am so tired and it can't be so good for him either.
I hope you can help me.........

thanks
Regards
Diane

Diane,
I find my baby seems to do a similar thing, if he wakes up during the night, I put him in bed with me and give him my breast and he falls asleep. I did try doing control crying but I gave in and didn't keep up with it. Have you spoken to your health nurse about it? You could try Tweedle (sleep school) or there is a video you can borrow from your library called "Toddler Taming" (volume 3) it may be helpful. My child never took to the dummy. He is now 15 months. Let me know how you go, good luck.

Diane
I strongly believe that you should try a combined effort of routine and controlled crying. Try getting him to associate a bath (for him) with bedtime instead of breast time. then follow the controlled crying method at night. (this method is explained very well in the book "toddler taming" by Dr christoper green - it is a fantastic book) you and your baby may well be a wreak for a week or two but the effort really pays off. It is hard to hear your baby crying, but if you are strong it really pays off. I did this with both of my children
hope all goes well for you

HI! I was wondering how you went,and if well, could you give any advice? I have an 18mth (2 mths prem baby) who sleeps with me and wants a breast feed every morning.I want to stop but i havent the heart! thanks,Cassie

Hello,
I would also like to know how Tanja went and also how you are going Cassie. I have a 17mth who loves her breastfeeding. I really need to get her on the bottle though and more independant as I wanted to start work later this year. It is so hard though I just cant bare the thought of how upset she will be, and how exhausting I imagine the whole ordeal will be. I really need some feedback, hopefully positive experiences and ideas.

At the moment I am only able to give her a bottle (sometimes) in the car in the afternoons. Apart from that she doesnt want anything to do with a bottle.

hi guys on friday i will be on my last feed. Jasmine is now 1. I have just been dropping a feed per week. Going pretty well im happy. She loves her solids so it helps. Good to sort of have my boobs back. But i do miss breastfeeding. smile