Today I got an email from Parenting Magazine.
The subject line read: 34 Weeks: Make Weaning Easier
Um. Make weaning easier? Weaning? Piper is only 34 weeks (as it said in their subject), eight months (on Saturday)… am I supposed to be weaning?? I went to the page it linked to and it said this:
When to wean: Aim to nurse exclusively for the first 6 months, as advised by The American Academy of Pediatrics, and to continue some nursing for at least the first year.
How to do it: Make sure your baby masters using a bottle or a sippy cup with expressed milk, formula, or a combination of the two well before you begin. For easy transition, replace one breastfeeding with a bottle or cup every four to seven days. When you’re ready to drop the pre-bedtime feeding, establish new routines so that having a bath or hearing a story — rather than nursing — is the last activity of the evening.
I am not exaggerating when I tell you reading the last line of that whole article made my heart start racing and stomach drop. Apparently I am anxious about someday weaning Piper.
I have no problems feeding her solid foods. I have no real issues with her crawling and moving away from me quickly. I think my issue with weaning her are just like, “What? But it’s so EASY, so quick… so… fun?”
So it’s not fun. It’s more like, she is hungry, I pull out a boob, she nurses for 5 minutes and is done. Voila. Back to scampering about on the rug. We’ve got a system. At night, solid foods at 6, playtime until 7 when we have our bath (we being SHE), then we get lotion, diaper and jammies and go into the nursery. Once there I turn on the white noise machine, settle into the glider and nurse her- again, 10 minutes and done. Depending on how tired she is, she’ll either conk out and I’ll place her in her crib- or I can just lay her down awake and she’ll put herself to sleep- OR the most recent development in the Felix household- she’ll crawl to the end of her crib with her head pressed into the slats in the corner and wail uncontrollably until I have to rock her to sleep. Sigh. I do NOT like this new development, but she is starting to crawl more and stand in her crib so maybe it’s the “new fun things are happening” stage again.
I guess what I’m afraid of, other than losing that breastfeeding bond, is that our whole routine will change. The last line, about changing up her routine now? Well, that put a mighty fear into my heart.
My previously 7/8 times a day nurser is now a 4-6 times a day nurser. Six is the high, four is the low… Things are changing already, and I’m mostly happy for it. Then again… how is Piper eight months already????
For moms: new, been-there-done-that, someday mommies: when do you think is a good time to wean for an exclusively breastfed baby?
July 21, 2010 at 9:53 am
I don’t know. I was a BF failure, and I’m so jealous that you have been successful for 8 months. (Really, I am jealous. I have so much mommy guilt over it.) But please don’t be one of those moms that your kid takes a break at the playground to run up to you, take a quick drink of the boob, and goes back to playing.
Oh, just thought of this. One of my old professors weaned around 9 months. But her son had been exposed to bottles from an early age. Try introducing the bottle (or cup) and once she seems to like it, start weaning. Maybe???
July 21, 2010 at 10:03 am
Kim, I totally agree. My SIL was a nurser until her son was passing three years old. I was freaked out about that, especially when he was old enough to be wearing hiking boots with socks, and would like, pop off to say hello. It was CRAZY.
Luckily, Piper is good with a sippy cup, but we only use water in it now. I guess I could pump enough to put in her cup?
Do not feel guilty about having a hard time breastfeeding. I have guilt over not trying harder to have her use a bottle. It’s not worth making ourselves feel badly. Our babies are happy and healthy, right?
July 21, 2010 at 12:50 pm
I am totally not a mom, so I probably have no right to be commenting at all, but I found that email very irritating. I think YOU and PIPER are the ones who decide when it’s time to wean, not some website! Or even a doctor. It’s totally up to the both of you. You will do it at the right time.
July 21, 2010 at 10:54 pm
wean when it stops being convenient to bf is my short answer. I think I bf longer than most parents, with my three I ranged between 13-16 months. The morning and bedtime nursings are the hardest to wean from. I choose to make the morning the last one to wean because, imo, its easier to make a fussy baby happy in the morning by offering alternatives to bf than when you’re trying to get them to put themselves to bed at night.
in hindsight it does’t really matter when or how you wean. responding to your boobs and the needs of your child is what’s important. boobs are more prone to blocked ducts when weaning and baby will adapt to any new routine that you implement for as long as you are comfortable. remember also that baby enjoys the bf for the bonding/connection it provides the two of you but bonding is also now possible on more sophisticated levels than what was possible when she was a newborn. play and interactions provide just as much nutrition as what bf can provide.
July 22, 2010 at 12:13 pm
As a non-mom, my opinion is highly suspect and need not be taken in any way! That said, I think you should stop weaning whenever you and your daughter feel like it. Who cares what some woman in an email thinks? Whenever you decide will be right for you.
July 23, 2010 at 9:11 pm
Thanks, everyone. I think I’m going to get to one year of nursing (since it’s easy for me, good nutrition for her, and it’s quite the bonding ritual), then see where I stand then. As it is, I have gone from 7 feedings a day to 4/5, mostly right when she wakes, lunchtime and before bed, with various additions here and there. I’m kind of proud of that. Haha.
I PROMISE to not be the woman breastfeeding an eight year old.
August 6, 2010 at 4:20 pm
I know I’m late on this, but…5 minutes!?! How did you get her to be so quick? Or do they get faster at it as they get older? If we could take care of this job in 5 minutes, I can see why you might not want to quit b-feeding.
August 7, 2010 at 8:08 am
I completely agree with the others, you should stop when you feel like it is a good time for you and for Piper.
Also, I would like to clarify the that the AAP does not say that you should stop at one year. What they are doing is encouraging people to breast feed exclusively for at least the first 6 months before introducing solids and then continue nursing in-between meals until they are at least one year old. They are not discouraging breastfeeding after the age of one. They are just encouraging other sources of food so that babies/children get all of their necessary nutrients because after 6 months, milk doesn’t provide it all.
Here is a link to the AAP site about breastfeeding:
Americal Academy of Pediatrics
Good luck!
Teresa <
♥ Too Many Heartbeats ♥