Hellobee Boards

@rahlyrah: what do you mean by weaning? Starting solids or stopping nursing?

@rahlyrah: it became obvious. Around 5.5 months he would frantically eat his hands and cry if I ate in front of him. When I first attempted solids he knew exactly what to do. We started with purees to test out to see if he had any digestion or allergy issues (he didn't) and moved up to soft foods in tiny bits or smooshed up our food. The pieces got bigger as he got teeth. It was a very natural progression.

ETA: I don't know if this info helps but I'll share: I went back to work at 7 weeks. DS kind of hated bottles and my supply was a struggle. We did pretty well, even though I didn't sleep like at all. At 9.5 months he started to slow down BFing, would drop feedings here and there. Then at 10.5 months we only nursed to sleep because he was actually still sleeping when I left for work in the morning. And at 11 months he started to refuse all nursing even the night nurse in favor of play. He was also fully walking by 10.5/11 months and totally into everything. I tried to stretch it to a full year but if we tried to make it to his birthday, I would've had to have held him down and forced him. I just didn't want to do that.

Ohh, in that case. I have no idea. Still going at 13 months. I'm probably going to be done soon though. She naturally cut down around 6-7 months after starting solids, cut down even more around 10.5 months. And now at 13 months she drinks whole milk during the day (introduced at 11.5ish months) and nurses morning and night.

We day weaned at 13 months because I was so done pumping. I would have done it at 12 mos but her birthday is right before holiday travel and I didn't want the added stress. We continued night and morning and LO eventually stopped the night feed on her own. We still morning nurse at going on 22 months...

My LO recently self-weaned at 13 months and I just took the don't offer don't refuse approach. We had stopped nursing on demand around 6 months so we had set times for nursing. If she happened to be hungry (growth spurt etc.) of course I fed her but we created an overall very predictable nursing schedule of morning, bedtime, 4am, and after two naps. Around 10-11 months she would regularly choose not to nurse during a session. By 11 months she also learned to signal (pointing) when she was hungry during nursing times which made things easier. By 12 months we introduced whole milk and I started offering it to her at times we normally would nurse. Sometimes she would still ask to nurse (and we would) but other times she would be happy with her milk and some cuddles. We also maintained three full meals of solids (she's always been a good solids eater) along with the occasional snack. Shortly after 12 months she was down to three nursing sessions. Unexpectedly she started refusing her bedtime session and just wanted cuddles, leaving a morning and after her second nap feeding. We phased out the second nap session with milk leaving only the morning. Finally we were able to drop the morning session by feeding her breakfast right when she woke up and before she asked to nurse. She is now 13 months and hasn't nursed in over a week so I think it is safe to say our BFing journey is over! I tried to follow her lead with dropping sessions but also directed and helped things along too (offering milk, feeding good meals). I tried to not push the issue by constantly offering her the breast or getting upset if she refused. Overall I'm happy with how things have worked out. I'm sorry such a long post but we just went through this! Good luck with everything!

One of my good girlfriend's has just day-weaned her twelve month old and it has been a relatively stress free process for her.

Basically she started reducing the length of time her LO would nurse during the day and then dropping the shortened feeds one at a time. I think she dropped all day feeds over a period of three months and is planning on dropping the morning and night feed over the next month or so.

@MrsMccarthy: lol @ throwing a boob at the problem! Exactly! Just out of curiosity, has AF come back at all for you? I really thought I'd get AF once LO started STTN, especially since we do 3 solid meals a day (and snacks!), but it's hard to tell how much she's really nursing since I nurse her to drowsy....

When DH comes home we are going to start replacing feeds with bottles but she won't take one from me so when he gets home, we've got three weeks to work on her together!

@PrincessBaby: I have had AF since about 2 months PP but my periods are all over the map so I'm not sure if I am ovulating every cycle. I found this very informative. http://kellymom.com/bf/normal/fertility/ I would still rather he ween himself before I get pregnant again but I am takin the slow approach for now. Hoping i can help him fall in love with drinking milk on his own. Good luck! H is such a little cutie.