Strategies to wean or partially wean a 1-year-old?

[TxCat]

I can't believe DD2 will be 1 in 2 weeks!

Assuming nothing crazy happens between now and then, she will have been essentially EBF for the year (minus one formula feeding in NICU). I am definitely going to stop pumping at work by her first birthday - I'm sick of pumping and it's not going to continue to be compatible with work. Right now I think I would be fine letting her nurse in the morning and before bed for a while longer if she wanted to. With DD1, she never really liked nursing and basically self-weaned early, around 8 months, but DD2 loves nursing. Any tips for getting DD2 used to a reduced nursing schedule?

[Philly Mom]

I can't believe she is already 1! Congrats! No strategies but I will be watching this. I want to stop pumping in the next month or so. I only pump enough for one bottle anyway so I am mainly pumping so I keep my supply up and on the weekends I don't need to supplement. I would probably give cups of milk or water during the day when you are not with her and stop the bottles cold turkey. With my DD, I think if she can start drinking even water well from a cup, then I will not worry about her milk consumption. She loves Greek yogurt so she will get plenty of dairy in a day.

[indigo99]

You haven't started solids at all? DS1 mostly weaned himself around 10 months as we gave him more solids. His last session to give up was at night, and we actually switched him to a nightly bottle of toddler formula until he was almost 2. He needed the extra calories anyway.

I nursed DS2 longer, but I wasn't doing it all that often once he started getting regular meals with the family. Can your DD drink out of a straw? My kids preferred the straw sippies since they had the sucking action down. You could start by giving her breastmilk in a sippy instead of a bottle. Then gradually start mixing in whole milk with the breast milk until you can get her used to the taste and give her (literally) a couple cups of whole milk each day (only water after she drinks her daily 2 cups) with solids so that she gets used to eating rather than drinking her food.

[georgiegirl]

Will she drink whole milk?
If it were me, I'd wean myself off the pump, but continue to nurse as normal when together. Once your breasts have adjusted to that, then slowly eliminate each daytime nursing session (when together) by distracting her and giving her milk and lots of cuddles. I do know working moms who have continues to nurse when they are with baby, but they don't pump at work. It's completely doable if you want to continue to nurse part time. Pumping is such a pita.

[TxCat]

You haven't started solids at all?.

No, we've been doing solids since 6-7 months, but she is a voracious eating machine. She eats a ton of real food and still loves to nurse.


Will she drink whole milk?
If it were me, I'd wean myself off the pump, but continue to nurse as normal when together. Once your breasts have adjusted to that, then slowly eliminate each daytime nursing session (when together) by distracting her and giving her milk and lots of cuddles. I do know working moms who have continues to nurse when they are with baby, but they don't pump at work. It's completely doable if you want to continue to nurse part time. Pumping is such a pita.

Thanks for the above! I haven't tried her on whole milk yet since we just have 1% at home right now. She will drink from a straw cup easily though (we've given her little sips of water here and there over the last month). I just wasn't sure if I should cut pumping and daytime feeding with her at the same time but I like your approach suggested above.

[goldenpig]

I also stopped pumping when 16 month old DS2 was 1 year old (I stopped pumping at 13 months with DD and DS1 too). I was only able to pump once a day (if even that) anyways, as it was just too busy at work. I just had the nanny give him coconut milk (DS2 is allergic to dairy and soy, otherwise I would have used whole milk or soy milk) during the day in a sippy cup. He gets water too whenever he wants. I usually nurse him when I come home from work, at bedtime, once in the middle of the night, and once in the morning when he wakes up. When I am with him during the weekends he sometimes asks to nurse during the day which is fine, but usually he is busy and forgets. I'm working on night weaning--he usually wakes up at 11 pm, and again sometime between 3-5 am, so I'm trying not to let him feed between midnight and 6 am. I know it's bad that he's still waking up so often at night, but I've been more lenient with the night nursing/night wakening because of his allergies--I want him to be able to get some real "whole mommy" milk at least for the first two years. I'm not good with cold turkey or CIO so I prefer a gentler wean. Good luck and don't feel that you have to do anything drastic, unless you want to.

[nfowife]

I just picked the nursing session my kids seemed least attached to- usually one that was not associated with a nap or bedtime. I would offer a sippy of milk for that feed and then about 3-4 days later, do it with another one. Keep the most important nursing (like if you nurse her to sleep or whatever) for the end. Don't expect that they will fully replace the nurse with the milk right away. But in time, the milk intake will increase and you will see the interest in nursing wane. It will take a few weeks- it took us about a month or so to completely give it up, because I wanted to do it gently.

[TxCat]

Thank you all for the input and suggestions - I would definitely like to do this slowly and gently, and ideally let her self-wean if possible. But, I definitely need to also nudge her in that direction. I really appreciate the suggestions and time frames suggested.