weaning whining and woes

[lizajane]

ok, we are going no where fast over here. i kinda wish i hadn't taught him to sign for milk. because we tried to cut to twice a day, and now he signs for milk FOUR times a day. and i feel all sad for him. sometimes i give in (yesterday he had a fever- reaction to some shots) but usually i try to give him a sippy. well, he is on to me there. i even gave him ebm instead of soymilk. nope. still threw it on the floor.

i have decided that **i** am ready. but he is definitely not. and i really want to make it happen before ttc in may!!! only one month left!

he doesn't walk yet and i am still holding out hope that walking will help him lose interest, but it isn't looking good.

[lfp2n]

Hi Liza

No experience on weaning as I'm just thinking about starting slowly too, but I'm looking out for any posts on the March babies to get some advice! This week I converted the bottle of EBM that she has a daycare to cowsmilk without a problem so thats the end of pumping so thats good.
Next week I was thinking about trying to phase out one of our 4 nursings. The one after breakfast, before daycare usually is pretty short,and she often tries to fall asleep and I feel bad waking her up to take her to daycare, but I don't know what to substitue it with. Obviously a bottle of cowsmilk just before we leave or when we get there would be easiest but I don't really just want to convert nursing to bottles. So I was thinking about a sippy cup, but I'm worried I'll get the reaction you saw and it will be straight on the floor.

I'm totally stressed about this, I'll let you know how it goes.

Lucy and Olivia (3/27/03)

[nitaghei]

Lucy,

I'm not in a hurry to wean - but I wanted to end pumping. I first converted the one EBM bottle that DS gets to cow's milk. Then, this week, I've been working on him taking the milk in a sippy. Yesterday, he drank most of it, so I'm hoping we are at the end of using bottles. In a couple of weeks, I'm planning to convert the mid-morning nursing session to a sippy of milk + mommy time (but no nursing). That will bring us down to 2X a day, which I'm happy with for the forseeable future.

So this might be the sequence - EBM -> cow's milk in a bottle -> cow's milk in a sippy - that could work (at least, I'm hoping that it will!)

GL.

Nita
mom to Neel, January 2003
dog mom to a cocker and a PWD

[stillplayswithbarbies]

another March baby here, but nowhere near ready to wean.

I'm not even sure when we are going to start cow's milk. I have a big freezer stash to work through if I want to stop pumping.

She's been drinking water and breastmilk from a cup for awhile now, (a straw cup for water and one of those Drink Up cups with a lid for breastmilk) so when I am ready to introduce cow's milk it will be in that. But I don't have a problem with her drinking cow's milk from a bottle either.

Technically I am now an "Extended Nurser" since she turned 1 last week, but I look at her and she is just a baby and it seems so natural to still nurse her.

I would like to have another baby, and my period has still not come back, but I am hoping that it will even if we are still nursing. I think most people say it came back for them at 15 or 16 months or so.

She is nursing before bed, when she first wakes up, then she gets three bottles at the babysitter during the day, then nurses when I get home from work.

...Karen
Jacob Nathaniel Feb 91
Logan Elizabeth Mar 03

[lfp2n]

I'm not in a hurry to wean completely, my goal is to get to first thing in the morning and before bed by the time shes about 14 months. She can move up to the next class at daycare after 14 months if shes developmentally ready-which means walking (shes not doing this yet) and no bottles just sippy cups. I'm not in a hurry for her to move (I love our baby room) but everyone has told me that by 14 months they get really bored in this room and are much happier in the next room up that has more structured activities and crafts and older age range toys etc. So I guess I'm just kind of thinking that it would be good to be weaned to cups in the day for that (I still go over everday and nurse at lunchtime).
Anyway thanks for the responses I guess I shouldn't worry about cows milk in bottles-hope I didn't hijack the thread Liza.

Lucy

[lizajane]

lucy-
well we got rid of all bottles at around 10 or 11 months because he drinks very easily from a sippy. plus, he hardly ever got a bottle at all because i am at home. what about trying the avent sippy with the softer spout? i would definitely try to use a sippy for that session, especially if it would be the only sippy session of the day for now. and that is what i did when i went down to three/day at 11 months. i replaced the 11am post-nap feeding with a sippy of soymilk. good luck. (to us both!!)

[lizajane]

karen-

it isn't really that i don't want to keep nursing. it is more that i want to get pregnant again. and i just don't want to start the whole nursing while pregnant thing. i am tired enough as it is!! i really have my heart set on ttc this summer. last time, we were so lucky and i got pregnant immediately. so i am keeping my fingers crossed that we will be so lucky again. so i want to prepare for a pregnancy by weaning beforehand so that i don't have to worry with the weaning stress during the first trimester. i totally agree that it seems so natural to nurse my one year old, even though he is the size of many two year olds! (eta: i got my period at 6 months and i get ovulation symptoms, so not worried about conception, but the fatigue that follows!)

and he does drink water and soymilk (never plan to give him cow's milk) fine from a sippy. he just thinks he sure is something special for knowing how to sign for milk and then grab the neck of my shirt and peer inside. (of course, that is because he IS something special!)

and i did have a breakthrough today. i realized that i have given him vanilla soymilk for two weeks because that is what the store had. so i went back to plain, and i think he thinks, "um, where is the flavor? i am chuckin' this stuff on the floor." (after i spit some out and let it run down my front...)

[calebsmama03]

Karen,
I'm right there with you! Even though Caleb will be 13 months (gasp!) tomorrow he still is my "baby" and I'm no where near ready to wean and neither is he. He still nurses 5 (or more) times per day when he's with me, though I am trying to cut back some on pumping the 3 days I'm at work. I never imagined myself as an "extended BFer"!!! I, too, want more babies and though AF returned in October, I will wait till he's done BFing before ttc again (can't BF while pregnant - had preterm labor with Caleb).
Lynne
Mommy to Caleb 3/3/03

[christic]

Well, from the mom of a March baby two years ago, here's some things that worked for us:

my daughter started doing the "shirt peek" when we were weaning from her daytime nursing. It was more curious than insistent so I found that it was pretty easy to distract her. Sometimes a new food to have with her snack was enough. It also helped not to be sitting down, or to go out somewhere for snack time.

put Daddy to work! maybe let him try these daytime snacks over the weekend.

I think it's natural for him to be asking for nursing more now. He's trying to figure out what's going on. My daughter's "shirt peeks" sort of peaked within the first week, then decreased again quickly after that.

Be consistent. It will be harder on you both if sometimes you say no and sometimes give in.

my daughter started walking after weaning, so I'm not sure if that would help out or not.

good luck!

[shishamo]

Liza,

This sounds crazy, but it really helped me to wean my #2 when I did not 'sit down'. My DD had a habit of running to me whenever I'm on a computer (and sitting) or talking on the phone (sitting), and the fact that I just did not check my email during the day at all(it was hard!) and kept the phone ocnversation to a bare mimimum really worked.
It also helps to get out of the house. Again, he probably associates certain situations or places with nursing, and when we are out, she was more distracted and was less likely to ask. I remember spending 3-4 hours at the time at our local playground :)

I also wanted to add that in my experience, weaning during first trimester wasn't any harder than weaning before that. It all depends on a child's temperament and his/her's readiness.

[cinrein]

We used the snack and distraction method. Rather than nursing, I gave her a snack and some milk in a sippy. Then immediately after we either went outside or did some indoor activity that she loves. If you know he's not hungry, then I'd keep him busy so that he doesn't have time to remember. We also introduced some new cuddle time as part of our daily routine, so Anna is still getting hugs and kisses from Mama.

BTW, Anna didn't drink a lot of milk from the sippy at first. Now that she is fully weaned, she's a drinking fool with that sippy cup.

Cindy and Anna 2/11/03