What changes should I expect when I wean DD off breast milk?

[ShineSmile]

Hi

I'm planning to wean DD off breast milk (14 months). What changes should I expect? What changes did you see when you weaned your LO off breast milk?

[Squtternutbaush]

I just came on to comment and have just noticed you replied on my thread about stopping.

We're now on day 6 and DD has taken it surprisingly well, in fact for the first time in her life she's sleeping more than 3 hours at night! She won't go to bed until I go but is generally sleeping 10-5, into bed with us and on until 7. This is a huge development for us!

In terms of of her eating habits I haven't really noticed a difference although I have been offering more cups of milk.

She did struggle a bit with change in routine but settled after a day or two.

I had sore, lumpy, leky breasts for about 4 days then it calmed down without expressing or anything like that but I did keep paracetamol to hand.

As much as I was exhausted feeding my 16 month old I do miss it but I really think it was the best thing for us right now :)

[ShineSmile]

Squtter, thanks! And wow, how did you manage to do it?

Did your LO cry alot? How many days did it take your LO to forget about the breast? DD is going to stay with her dad at my mums for a few days, where she loves going and gets plenty of attention from everyone, so I'm hoping she'll be ok and when she gets back she'll have forgotten about the breast?

Also, when she woke up at night, did you offer her milk or water in a bottle? My LO seems to be hungry at night and has long feeds (I think)

[Squtternutbaush]

We were down to 3 or 4 quick feeds so I just gave her a feed as usual before bed on Monday night and didn't offer at all after that. If you're feeding more I'd suggest cutting down gradually to avoid any risk of mastitis.

For the first day or two she was looking for milk when she was sleepy but a cup of milk or distraction sorted that within about 5 minutes and now it just seems like its always been this way. At night I had planned to offer a cup of water but she hasn't been waking.

I have kept everything else as normal though so she's been with me the whole time with very little crying.

[DuckandCat]

I stopped when DD was 14 months, she was night weaned about 3 months before this.

I must say it was easy! I couldn't believe how easily she stopped, didn't seem bothered in the slightest and never asked again

I bought her a new bottle (the one with the hole in the middle they hold themselves) and she was so pleased with it that she didn't give breast feeding another thought.

Night weaning on the other hand was a nightmare!!

She's 19 months now and still has a bottle/ beaker of milk in her cot before she drifts off to sleep.

I didn't really notice any other changes, except I had smaller boobs and lost a bit of weight! I then got pregnant again 2 months later, so it was a short lived joy

[LoblollyBoy]

I noticed that I drank a lot more alcohol after I stopped bf.

[sleepyhead]

I thought it was going to be really hard as ds2 was much keener on bf than ds1 was (mainly morning feeds, he didn't feed to sleep or feed during the night so we didn't have that problem).

It was actually really easy. I can't snuggle in bed with him in the morning at the moment as he wants to feed (and I do miss that extra half hour of shut eye..), but he's easy to distract otherwise and I've not noticed any difference in my breasts so far.

I last fed him about a week ago, and before that had been feeding maybe once every 2 or 3 days for a fortnight.

In terms of ds2's behaviour, sleeping and eating, I've noticed no change at all but we did wean very gradually (by accident rather than design).

[Churchillian]

I stopped at 16 months as my DD was down to one breast feed a day anyway at bedtime. She'd gradually dropped feeds herself and was getting very bitey at the bedtime one, so I don't think she was getting much milk. As I was pregnant this was very sore. My DP just did bedtime for a few days instead of me and we only had one night of protest and then she was fine, just goes to sleep with a cuddle now.

Do you have a reason for weaning now? How many feeds per day does your DD currently have? If you're down to 1 or 2 it should be easy to phase them out one by one over the next month. if it 's still more frequent I would wait a while if you can and it will probably drop off naturally.