Breastfeeding is the only process that connects and makes a strong bond between a mother and her baby. You may have noticed that when your baby breastfeeds, she locks her eyes to her mother’s eyes and plays with the mother by touching her dupatta, earrings, hair, and clothes. She listens carefully to her mother when she talks and smiles or laughs at her jokes and expressions. This time is something very special to both mother and baby. Your baby finds this moment comfort, loved, safe, and happy. When it comes to stopping breastfeeding your baby or baby weaning, it becomes challenging for your baby to come out of this connection and bond. It is also emotionally difficult for the mother as she also loves this bond and time spent with her baby alone and she cannot see her baby cry again for breastmilk. The same happened with me too when I stopped breastfeeding my 2 kids. It was a very painful experience when I stopped breastfeeding my elder son when he turned 2 years old. As that was my first time, I didn’t know any tips or tricks or how to handle the situation. My son became very cranky, fussy, and irritated, and cried the whole night for breastmilk. I also used to cry along with him not knowing what to do. If you want to know more about how I stopped breastfeeding my elder son within 2 weeks please read this article till last. But weaning my second daughter was very easy and quick. She also adjusted to everything very easily without getting fussy and irritated. In this article, I will tell you what tips and tricks I used to wean my daughter very effectively.
Breastmilk is considered the best milk for your baby other than formula milk or any other food for at least one to two years of your baby’s life. The Baby’s main source of nutrition is breastmilk till 6 months of age, thatswhy doctors recommend exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months. After 6 months, when your baby starts to have solids, the amount of intake of breastmilk or formula milk decreases a bit, but still, it’s a good source of nutrition for your developing baby. Since your baby has been used to your breastmilk since his birth it will be very difficult for him to cut it down completely and make a transition to cow milk or formula milk when you decide to wean your baby. It will take from several days to weeks for your baby to adjust to your routine and make a complete transition from breastmilk to formula milk or cow milk when you stop Breastfeeding
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Pre-Plan and Prepare Yourself:-
The mother needs to be mentally ready and prepare herself to stop breastfeeding. Because you will need so much patience, willpower, and also good health to manage your fussy, crying, and angry baby who doesn’t want anything other than breastmilk.
- You should plan how to gradually stop. Breastfeeding. You have to decide which feed you will stop first and in how many days you want to stop breastfeeding.
- For this one month you have to avoid travelling or too much work. If your baby is going through any big milestones like painful teething, feeling sick, learning to crawl or walk, or has cold and cough then delay the weaning process as this time your baby needs breastmilk for immunity and healthy development.
- After weaning, you may develop breast-related problems like breast engorgement and clogged ducts. So plan now or research on how to handle it. Take all the preventive measures. You may need a breast pump to remove all the extra milk that your baby doesn’t drink anymore. Or you can remove the milk with your hands too.
- It is advisable to talk to your doctor before weaning so that you get all the information based on breast problems, how to handle a cranky baby, and how to wean your baby slowly.
- Prepare yourself to wake up at night times and calm your crying baby who wants breastmilk at night. You can either give water, formula milk, or cow milk to your baby when they ask for breastmilk.
- You have to be very strong emotionally. You shouldn’t give them feed though they cry too much or become fussy. If you give your breastmilk again, your baby will think that you will feed him if he cries and he will continue this when you don’t offer the breast.
- Keep an alternative to your breastmilk, like cow milk, formula milk, or water. So that whenever your baby wants breastmilk you can offer these instead. Buy some good quality feeding bottles that have cartoons on them so that your baby drinks milk in them without resisting and keeping them engaged with those cartoon characters.
- Buy some new toys or try new activities to distract your baby from breastfeeding. Whenever they ask for breastmilk, distract them.
- Talk to them about their development and now they have to stop breastfeeding as they have become big. Tell them very politely that your breastmilk is over and you cannot do anything to bring it back again. Babies understand so much what you say though they pretend they don’t know anything.
- If they cry too much, give them a pacifier kr if they have a habit of keeping their thumb in their mouth then let them keep it. This makes them comfortable and they will sleep on their own. Or you can carry them in your arms and walk around till they go into deep sleep.
When To Stop Breastfeeding:-
A parent decides to stop breastfeeding as early as 6 months or as late as 2 years. Since breastmilk offers so many nutrients doctors recommend exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months and continue to 1.5 or 2 years. Many parents stop breastfeeding when their baby is 12 to 20 months old due to many personal reasons. Some parents want to get back to work, so they stop breastfeeding. However, there are many other options available in the market to keep giving breastmilk to your baby when you are out for work. You can pump out and store your breastmilk in the refrigerator and tell your partner or anyone at home to feed your baby through bottles when they feel hungry. The weaning process all depends on you and your baby. You and your baby should be ready to make this huge transition.
Before weaning, check that your baby is growing healthy and you are also ready for so much patience and hard work. Also, consult with your doctor once. He will check the overall development of your baby and tell you if it’s the correct time to stop breastfeeding. Don’t stop breastfeeding when your baby is underweight, traveling, sick, teething, or going through some major milestones.
According to my experience, the best time to stop breastfeeding is when your baby is 20 to 23 months old. That’s because, for the first 2 years of life, your baby will go through many major milestones like teething, walking, crawling, learning to eat solid foods, and exploring everything. There will also be many vaccinations for up to 2 years. Babies at this age become ill very frequently, like they may get a cold and fever due to vaccinations or flu. At this time your baby needs comfort and your attachment and you know that breastfeeding creates a very strong bond between the mother and the baby. Also, it gives so much comfort to your baby which is very necessary at this age because babies can’t talk and they can’t express how they feel. We must make them feel better always.
How To Stop Breastfeeding:-
When you plan to wean your baby then start by decreasing the quantity of milk that you offer to your baby at every feed. Every day try to decrease the amount of milk. Do this for at least one week before cutting off one feed completely. This is very important because breastfeeding goes on with supply and demand. The less you offer, the less milk your breast will produce.
Here are some of the tips that work well with baby weaning:-
1. Don’t stop breastfeeding all of a sudden, this is going to make the matter worse and your baby won’t stop crying until you give him milk and it will affect his emotions too. You will also face breast-related problems like clogged ducts and engorgement which can be very painful and gets severe if not treated properly.
2. Start cutting off the morning feed first. If you offer the breast after breakfast or at nap time then to distract your baby from breastmilk you can walk around with your baby and gently pat him so that he doses off on his own. In the initial days, he may not sleep like that but still make this a routine every day in the morning. If still he doesn’t sleep and gets cranky, offer only some amount of breastmilk and put him back to sleep again. After this slowly cut off the morning feed and wait for at least one week before cutting off the second feed during the afternoon nap.
3. After one week you can start cutting off the afternoon feed which you give after lunch or at nap time. Repeat the same process of walking around with your baby or swinging and singing songs in your lap until he doses off. You can also offer cow milk or formula instead of breast milk before a nap. This process will be for 4 to 5 days and after that, your baby will understand that walking around with mom or swinging in mom’s lap means it’s time to sleep and not time for breastmilk.
4. Now comes the night feed which is very very hard for every mother who is trying to stop breastfeeding. There will be times when you cannot sleep. Your baby will continuously cry for one hour thinking that you may offer him breastmilk. At this stage, you have to be very very strong and patient. At night times if your baby wakes up more than 3 to 4 times then you have to start cutting off one night feed by continuously decreasing the amount of breastmilk you give to your baby and wait for one week for your baby to adjust. Then go on with the second night feed. The main problem comes when you stop the last night feed. Your baby may cry and you may feel like you are a bad mother and you may also start crying. Take your partner’s help or any other member of your family to comfort your baby because if he is with you, he can smell your breastmilk and demand more. Or give him pacifier or let him put his thumb in his mouth for comfort.
5. Some parents give pacifiers to their babies when they demand breastmilk which will also help a lot as babies just want to suck for comfort. Some babies have a habit of sucking their fingers or thumb for comfort or to sleep. If your baby has this habit, it becomes very easy to stop breastfeeding but removing the habit of sucking their thumb becomes almost impossible. This becomes another task for the mother. My second daughter had this habit and thatswhy it was very easy to wean her compared to my elder son. When I refused to give her breastmilk she cried a bit and put her thumb in mouth and slept again.
This process of weaning will go on for more than one week. Your baby will get up every night crying and you will be roaming around with your baby and comforting him until he gets back to sleep on his own. Your hard work will be a success soon. You and your baby will have a peaceful night’s sleep after completely weaning, which is very good for both of you.
My Experience with My Second Daughter:-
If you want to know how I stopped breastfeeding my elder son please read it here. It was a very painful process for me and my baby. My First Experience of Weaning with My Son. After this experience, I thought the same would happen when I stopped breastfeeding my daughter too. I was so afraid that when my daughter was turning 2 years old, I started preparing myself for all the worst situations that can happen while weaning. And I was delaying the process so that first I get mentally prepared for all this. For my elder son, I stopped breastfeeding when he was 1 year 11 months old. But for my daughter, I completely stopped breastfeeding when she turned 2 years 1 month old.
My daughter had a habit of sucking her thumb when she wanted comfort. She doesn’t drink breastmilk much. She drinks only for comfort and leaves it. My son was quite the opposite. He didn’t have any habit of sucking fingers and he likes breastmilk so much that he demands it after every 3 hours. And at night he demands more, like 5 to 6 times. My daughter demanded only 2 to 3 nighttime feeds when she was 2 years old. So I started decreasing the quantity of milk she gets then first cut off the morning feed that she had when she woke up, then the afternoon nap feed, then the bedtime feed. It took my baby one week to adjust when I stopped one feed. So it took me one month to stop the daytime feed. At night time, I offered her only one feed in the middle of the night in a very small quantity. The next day I would not give her a night feed. And gave feed on alternate days. This worked best for me and since my daughter had a habit of sucking her thumb, she cried and sucked her thumb when I refused to give her feed. She didn’t take water, or milk as the alternative.
Since my daughter drank very little breastmilk day by day, my breastmilk production reduced gradually. This time I didn’t get any clogged ducts or pain in my breasts like I got before when I stopped breastfeeding my son. It was so peaceful when I completely stopped breastfeeding. My daughter was very supportive and didn’t get cranky or fussy. She just asked once or twice for breastmilk and when I told her I would not give it or the milk was over, she took her thumb inside the mouth and slept.
How To Handle Breast-related Problems After Weaning:-
The best way to stop breastfeeding without any pain is to wean gradually, which means decreasing the amount of breastmilk slowly when you offer it to your baby, This will help you to stop breastfeeding completely without any breast-related problems. Breastmilk is produced based on supply and demand. The more your baby drinks milk, the more milk is produced by your breast. If your baby is drinking less milk, your breast will start making less milk and like this when you stop breastfeeding your breast will slowly stop making milk.
You may have lumpy breasts after weaning for 4 to 5 days. If your breast becomes hard express some milk out with your hand. Your breast will become normal after 5 days. Don’t pump your milk completely, this will make the breast make more milk.
For some women, the milk supply is more and it doesn’t stop even after weaning. At that time doctors advise taking certain tablets which reduce the milk supply.
Never allow your breast to be sore, red, hard, and tender. It will cause mastitis which can be very painful and you need complete treatment for it. It can cause fever, chills, and red hard breasts. For some women after weaning completely, the milk present in the breast will form into hard lumps and doctors have to do an operation to remove those hard lumps from the breast. Check here to learn more about breast-related problems.
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