Weaning From Breast Milk??

[tattlebaby]

Hi guys, THANK YOU FOR CLICKING AND READING

So I'm bummed that LO seems to be self-weaning off the breast milk at this point (but only from the bottle). She is currently 16 months old and my plan is to continue BF until her 2nd bday, but now I don't know. She still enjoyably feeds from my breast throughout the day, however sessions are not as long as they use to be I'm noticing. The two times I have stepped out and left her with the nanny this week, she has refused to drink her two bottles that I usually leave for her. Her nanny says she continued to eat the solids that I left for her however, but just didn't seem interested in her bottle feeds. Is this a sign that she's ready to wean off of BM??? Or perhaps she's just been getting very use to sucking away at the source , since I'm currently not working and have been BF her at home, on demand, for the past 2 months. My question is..how do you know for sure when baby is weaning? I should note that I do not plan on starting her on cows milk either, atleast not in bottles. I just don't find it necessary, when she's eating very nutrient dense foods and is drinking plenty of water. She is however consuming dairy products that comes from cows (yogurt, cottage cheese, cheese..etc) Her nanny is concerned however about this and wants to know if I will substitute cow milk for breast milk, and if I don't what will she drink besides water. But I'm not sure what answer to give her when I'm not sure myself. Advice Please…...

 

[Lindsay109]

No experience here, but I would guess she's not ready to wean if she's still nursing when you're home with her. I went back to work when my little guy was 12 months, and at first I was sending EBM with to my MIL's, but he rarely took it from her, so I stopped and he just drank water there and nursed when he got home. We had no issues.

Anyway, I'm stalking because I'm interested to hear what others say on what else to give them to drink besides water. My little guy is 16 months as well, and still BF - but I am pregnant again and am pretty sure my milk is gone, or almost gone and he's mostly dry nursing. We started offering him cows milk, but he doesn't really seem to like it and requests water instead. I'm not overly concerned, as he is also eating a variety of other dairy products, but I'm just curious as to what others do.

 

[justmeinlove]

I think just keep offering refusing expressed milk doesn't strike me as a weaning sign

 

[amelia26]

I don't think refusing the bottles are a sign of weaning. I know plenty of bf toddlers of working mums who bf when mum is there but don't want expressed milk when she's not.

I bf my son til 14 months. I did offer cows milk but, to be honest, he never drank much of it. He gets plenty of dairy in his diet and just drinks water. Why would you need anything in addition to water?
He still has cows milk at bedtime in a cup but really is just routine. He barely drinks it so we only put a drop in it.

 

[misspriss]

My son (2.5) stopped drinking expressed milk around 18 months. By that age I think it is pretty normal to stop expressed milk but not be ready to wean. Consider it nice to not have to worry about pumping and bottles, lol. Also I got pregnant around there and my milk gradually went away, during that time he just dry nursed and drank water. Now I have milk again, he nurses again.

We just did water during the day, not cow milk. My son eats yogurt like it is the only thing in the world though. We did nothing but water and breastmilk until very recently, he has occasional very diluted juice.

 

[Lizzybee]

My 16m LO has water in the day and cows milk in cereal and in a cup at bedtime (not loads, just 50ml or so) he never had bottles even expressed milk was in a cup. I don't give him juice, he sometimes wants a taste of mine but will then go back to his water! There is nothing wrong with just water. Babies and toddlers get lots of taste variation from food!

 

[tattlebaby]

Thank you to all who have replied with advice and personal experiences. Exactly..going back to work now I've been really stressing about how I will pump again at work, when conditions to do so last yr were horrific, but somehow I made it possible. So in that sense I am quite relieved. I guess I still like to think that a lot of her daily calories and vitamins come from my breast milk, especially on those days where she just won't eat what I've made for her, or is under the weather and looses her appetite, I know she's always up for a suckle. I've found comfort knowing that my breast milk helps to fill those gaps when necessary. I also forgot to mention that I have tried leaving her my expressed milk in her sippy cup which she has recently learned to drink water from, but that she refuses even more. Two months ago I was working full time and she was not giving me any problems drinking my expressed milk from her bottles. I strongly feel she might just have gotten use to, and enjoys drinking better from my breast. Wonderful, but this sucks now . For those of you who mentioned "dry nursing" what is that like? for you and baby? and did have you had to stop it or, they decide when to stop? I've never heard of this. Whatever the case, did you substitute a new morning/bedtime ritual to compensate for what use to be? How did it go?

 

[AK89]

Mine stopped drinking expressed milk at about 5 months! I went back to work when she was 8 months and she just eats solids and drinks water while I'm not there and bf when I am. We tried everything but she just isn't interested unless it's direct from the source I only work part time anyway and we bedshare and she still feeds every couple of hours through the night.

 

[tattlebaby]

Mine stopped drinking expressed milk at about 5 months! I went back to work when she was 8 months and she just eats solids and drinks water while I'm not there and bf when I am. We tried everything but she just isn't interested unless it's direct from the source I only work part time anyway and we bedshare and she still feeds every couple of hours through the night.

Thank you. Wow! And you haven't experienced milk shortage as a result of this?