Weaning Your Baby Smoothly Off Breastfeeding and Off the Bottle

• Post Time - 2020-02-06 16:42:52

Are you ready to wean? Do you think your child is ready to wean? Often, weaning happens gradually and without any conscious effort or action. But you may need to wean before your child would have naturally stopped nursing or receiving your milk. If you need or want to actively wean before it happens on its own, it is best for you and your child to go slowly. Weaning suddenly can be physically painful for you and emotionally hard on you and your baby.

First of all, before you decide on taking actual steps towards weaning a baby make sure your baby is ready, same way you are for weaning. Your baby must be having three full meals each day, to be able to break free from breastfeeding or bottle feeding. If he receives three full meals on a daily basis you cn now consider weaning without hesitation.

When to wean a baby?
1- When you're both ready of course.
2- When your baby is already eating solid food and fine with the routine of having three meals.
3- When your baby is above one year or 14 months.
4- When you feel that your milk is become scarce due to whatever reason and you cannot bring it back to normal.
5- Your baby starts rejecting your breast or bottle or is actually rejecting them.
6- After consulting his/her pediatrician.

Before you entirely give up on the bottle or breast feeding, your nursing session should by now drop to become only one session before bedtime.
Now that he receives only one nursing session, follow the following steps to entirely wean him.

1- Remove all nursing bottles from his eyesight.
2- Don't show off your breasts to your baby.
3- Don't speek about the bottle or breastfeeing infront of him
4- Increase his daily meals in number and quantity so that he doesn't need breastfeeding or bottle feeding.
5- Make sure such meals are tasty adn variable.
6- Try to establish another routine for bedtime to escape the bedtime nursing session.
7- For your own health, use sage tea or cold cabbage leaves which is rich in natural estrogen that will help reduce your milk flow and such help you escape engorged breasts and perhaps fever.
8- Ask your doctor about medication that will help reduce milk supply in your breasts.
9- Don't take the move of forcefully stopping the flow of milk in your breasts unless you pass at least two days of peaceful weaning.
10- If engorged breasts become too painful consider hand-express or manual or electric pump to take some of the pressure off. But don't do that too often so as not to revive milk supply in your breasts again.

I hope I have answered all of your questions and worries relating to weaning your baby, a not very easy step in your step of motherhood.

Maha Youssuf.
Mamas' Guides Director.