My LO started to self-wean from the breast at 7 months, and roughly cut his feeds in half over the next few months. By about 9 months he was only feeding first thing in the morning and last thing at night. I started offering solids for breakfast before I nursed and he gradually stopped looking for a morning feed and I stopped offering at night by 12months and he didn't notice at all that we had stopped.
Once he understood food, he just wasn't interested in nursing and those last 3 months were really for me, to give me time to adjust. It's frustrating and sad when you are happy to carry on nursing, but now I can see that he made the decision for us and it has worked out fine.
I'm sure your LO will be getting enough goodness from your milk and her solids, so please don't worry too much about that.
How do you know that your lo is getting enough nutrients? My dd is pretty well on 3 meals a day - eating a ton... But I do worry that she isn't get enough iron and other vitamins and minerals. She probably only nurses 3, maybe 4 times a day and not for long. I know the transition is to eat well - but milk is supposed to be the main source of nutrition, right? It does make me worried... And sad that we aren't nursing as often. I guess she knows what she needs, right? Hym
Well, I suppose I knew he was getting enough vitamins and minerals because I tried so hard to give him a varied diet, with most things freshly prepared from scratch. Our shopping bill has gone through the roof because of the fresh veg, fruit and meat that have become the norm for us. I also gave/give him a daily dose of Well-kid vitamin drops as advised by doctor to ensure he gets enough. He was/is also just thriving.
I think it's normal to worry but there's only so much you can do...right now my veg drawer consists of baby sweetcorn, sugar snap peas, green beans, carrot batons, aubergine, courgette, peppers, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, spring onions, parsnips, mushrooms, onions, and potatoes (as I'm Irish and potatoes are as stable.) This is on top of a similar list of fruit with a few cuts of meat and chicken mean I'm doing my best which just has to be enough!
I would have loved to have continue to nurse for longer; I fed on demand and only stopped when my baby wanted to so I guess I trusted him and was led by him in this too ifkwim?
BTW -He's never taken cow's milk from a cup, so when he stopped BF I upped his diary intake of cheese, yoghurt etc to compensate. Again, that's all I could do as he still won't drink milk!
