MotherBreastFeeding.com

It's time to wean your baby off? If you believe it's time to stop breastfeeding, be ready to have several weeks of hard work and patience on your part. Every stage of weaning may take from 1 to 2 weeks - but be sure to succeed in it!

1. Reduce times of breastfeeding. It will look as if you are becoming a nun . Try to cut out one feed at a time. Do not provoke your baby - do not walk around in a gown or underwear in front of him/her. Do not wear blouses which can easily unbutton, make your breasts inaccessible for the baby. Be occupied with something, as an idling mom is the best victim for a baby who wants to suck. You may give up - then the weaning will be put off whereas the decision has already been taken!
2. Distract your baby. The baby got used to nursing and will often ask for feeds. In such cases you shouldn't ignore the baby, try to place some sort of distraction, try different activities (playing with toys, calling father, looking at the window, etc.). Different games often help to substitute the baby's favorite occupation. Be sincere, otherwise, the child will feel vulnerable. Do not scold the baby and do not say No - you are the best mom ever, aren't you? If you did not manage to distract the baby at once - don't be in despair, you will succeed later.
3. Set a specific place for breastfeeding. You are producing less milk, it's time to enforce a new rule - nurse the baby in a specific place (like on the sofa, for instance) or in the same position. Thus your baby will learn about restrictions.
4. Do not latch on at a day time. Let the baby sleep during the day, but do not latch on. It is very important to teach the baby sleep without mother's breast when she is around. Promise to be back in a while, leave the child alone for a minute, then come back and put the baby down for bed. Increase the average length of time of your absence. Explain the baby where you go and what you are going to do there. If the baby tries to find you - make sure he/she finds you doing the things you've promised. Be patient - once returning to your baby's room, you will find the baby in a sweet sleep.
5. Reduce breastfeeding at night. Wean the baby off gradually, do not rush and he/she will reject the breast even before the night sleep. Watch your baby - if you moved to a new stage of weaning off too early, the baby will heavily play up, will suck its thumb and a favorite toy. In this case go back to the previous stage and take your time. If you did everything right, start to wean off at night. In about a week the baby won't get frustrated because of reduced feedings. If the baby is full - take off the breast, if he/she does not resist - you won. With time, breastfeeding at night will take several minutes.
6. Wake up earlier than your baby. Now it's your turn to wake him/her up. Congratulations, you've done a great job! The baby will soon forget about your breast.

As a rule, mothers stop breastfeeding because of two reasons – either it is right time or mothers are reluctant to breastfeed any longer. A baby can be fed mother’s milk for a long time, but not forever. As for getting tired of breastfeeding – I can say nothing about it, as personally I am against such treatment of a baby. I prefer to talk here about how to know if it is right time for stopping breastfeeding or not.

Is mom ready? To detect if mother’s body is ready to stop lactating is quite easy. Watch closely for changes in your breasts when you stop breastfeeding for a while (12-24 h). Are you producing much milk? If there is no uncomfortable feeling, and there is no need to pump – it is ok then.

Is baby ready? It is only you who can understand if the child is ready or not to stop breastfeeding, as there is the bond between a mother and a child. Most women feel when their child needs to be weaned off. Still, there are specific signs apart mere feelings. If your baby needs nursing no more than 3 times a day, when it does not suckle a bottle, thumb or something else, you are welcome to wean it off the breast. Otherwise, try gradual decrease in time at the breast, nurse no more than 1-3 times and only then stop breastfeeding.

You may stop breastfeeding anytime you need and want to, season does not make difference. There exist certain risks at any season. Still, most doctors and lactation consultants recommend to avoid stopping breastfeeding in summer. Why that?

1. Loss of liquid. A child might need much liquid to fill in the loss. Meanwhile, not every child will start drinking from a mug.
2. Mother's breast milk is best in the heat. With breast milk, a child gets the substances that increase its immunity. In the heat, the amount of gastric juice and enzymes goes down, dyspepsia can develop easily, so, it is desirable to prolong breastfeeding till autumn.
3. Intestinal diseases. There are high risks of enteroideas in summer. Mother's breast milk can help to avoid any intestinal disorders. If your child has fallen ill and you are feeding it with a formula, resort to breast milk only, unless the child recovers.
4. Breast infections. In summer, there are also high breast risks related to milk stagnation in breasts, i.e. mastitis.
5. Extra stress. Stopping breastfeeding is stressful in itself which adds to the infections above.
6. Summer is the time for trips. People plan their summer vacations, meanwhile stopping breastfeeding far from home is not the best variant to choose.

Though we all know that there is nothing better for a child than breastfeeding, but sometimes it happens that a lady has to stop nursing her child with her breast because of some certain reasons and as a result the baby has to start using breastfeeding bottle.

So, the process of changing your breast for a breastfeeding bottle is seldom easy for a baby and for his mother as well. So, try to make this innovation be smooth and not stressful for your baby.

1. If you are stopping breastfeeding a baby because of returning back to work, you should try to let him get used to the breastfeeding bottle in advance. You should see what difficulties the child faces with breastfeeding bottle and try to help him with overcoming them.
2. In order not to make a baby be confused, it is better if you do not take part in the first experience of your baby trying bottle feeding. If you are present, a baby will feel your smell and will rather wish to be breastfed by you and not by breastfeeding bottle. So, let someone else feed your baby with a bottle.

Sometimes there can be a situation when you have to stop breastfeeding immediately. The reason of such situation can be the immediate hospitalization of the mother, the necessity to take some medical treatment which is prohibited while breastfeeding, some situation in the family which demands mother’s leaving her baby and going to some other place, or some other unexpectable situations.

Very often the situation which seems to have only one way out - to stop breastfeeding, appears to have opportunity for some other solutions. For example, you can postpone the medical operation for some period of time and to use this time for making the weaning to be more gradual for your baby and not to stop breastfeeding very sharply. You can also ask your doctor to prescribe you some other medicines which can be compatible with baby breastfeeding. If you have to go somewhere for some period of time, take a nurse and your baby together with you so that you could continue breastfeeding. Always try to find such variants as it will be useful for your baby and for you as well.