Advice on Weaning Process for 13 Month Old

At 12 months, I started mixing goat's milk with breast milk bottles. I only did an ounce of goats milk to 4 oz of breast milk to start with and gradually worked my way up. There was a point when the mix was around 50/50 when he didn't want it. But, when he got hungry enough, he drank it.

My son though was an awesome eater. He ate (and still does at 20 months) almost anything. You might try refried beans, cut up soft fruits (finger foods), cheese, etc. Good luck!

Be thankful that your daughter doesn't like cow's milk! Some people become addicted to milk and because of their high amount of intake it creates more problems, like major cavities, breathing problems, etc. You will simply have to pump in order to have your breast milk available. As far as other dairy, or making sure that she has enough calcium, there are plenty of other options. Rice milk is very healthy and easily digestable. Higher amounts of calcium than milk can be found in broccoli. So you just have to do a little research to find those replacement foods. Be thankful she has that natural instinct to not want another animal's milk!

have you tried adding a strawbery or chocolate flavor - a little goes a long way if you're concrened about the sugar

Have you tried warming the milk?

She will do fine for those 3 days w/o you, you don't have to wean just for that. Look into the benefits of extended nursing and SELF WEANING.

HI there,
when I was forced to switch to formula, my daughter hated it. Let's say she was drinking 6 oz of breast milk, I started putting 1 ounce of formula (you would use milk) and 5 ounces of breast milk. I did that for about 3 days in a row, then put a little more formula and a little less BM. I did that for about 2 weeks until it was all formua. She got used to it and it wasn't a problem. My daughter took well to whole milk so I didn't have any problem with that. Of course you would have to pump, and your daughter is to old for a bottle.
Don't worry so much about milk, as long as she get calcium from other sources, then she should be ok.
Good luck!

Hi L.,
Both of my daughters weaned on their own around 13-14 months, so I can't really help with that. I was fortunate that they were both great nursers, but just lost interest when they started walking and becoming more independent (if you can call a 1-yr old independent!). But I can relate to the no milk thing. Neither of them would drink it, any variety, out of any feeding device. At first I was concerned, but our pediatrician is not concerned as long as they get their calcium elsewhere. We do fortified OJ, yogurt, broccoli, ice cream, cheese, etc. They are both doing well. Hope this helps. :)

Take away one feeding at a time once every week or so. If she'll eat yoghurt use that. My son wouldn't drink milk until I mixed it with eggnog and then slowly diluted the eggnog more and more until it was just milk. It took me 1 month and then he was fully weaned and he was drinking whole milk just fine. Also, don't use a bottle, go immediately to a sippy cup it will cut out another headache later on.

Kids all wean differently.
Both my kids self weaned. My daughter at about 2.5 years old, and my son at about 1 year old.
They naturally decreased frequency of "feedings" on their own... until they just stopped. And your breasts/milk output will adjust accordingly.

Maybe when you go on your trip, she will stop then. Some kids do that.

But for her it is a taste thing too, and she is rejecting other forms of milk. So that's hard. But just keep trying.... it can take time sometimes for them to adjust to other "milk" types.

All the best,
Susan

Your daughter and mine are like two peas in a pod. She spits out whole milk, though if it's chocolate milk (she has a big sister who likes sharing) she'll drink it. She likes yogurt and (home made) ice cream. But just milk... nothing doing. No soy milk or rice milk for mine, either.

I ended up just keeping the nursing going. You can pump on your trip, or you could see if there's a way you could take her with you. Mine's now 20 months, and still going strong. I keep considering stopping, but she likes it so much, and it really is healthy for her still. For thousands of years, people have nursed their children until they were often 4 or 5, and the WHO recommends at least 24 months, so I don't really feel like the pressure of many people, or the occasional inconvenience mean I really should make her stop when she clearly wants to continue!

My son reused his whole milk until I warmed it.. he is also an extremely picky eater : )

I agree with with SH below. They do all wean differently. My daughter just switched over to milk with no problem. It was different with my son. We were in the same situation but I had to switch my son over to hypoallergenic formula which is disgusting! It was a very slow process with little steps but we finally switched over. I just added a very small amount of the formula (milk in your case) to the the breast milk to start with and then slowly increased it a few days at a time. There were days that I thought that he was ready for an increase but he disagreed so we went back to the prior amount for another day or two. The increments are so small that it was hard for him to notice until one day he was drinking more formula than breast milk and eventually just formula. It isn't fun but thats how we did it at our house. We eventually did the same thing to move him over to organic milk when the pediatrician thought it was ok. He's two now and loves milk! Good luck and hang in there.

Hi L.,

I don't think switching to milk or formula and dropping breastfeeding need to be the same thing. I'm assuming that you started on pureed foods around 6 months or so. So your baby doesn't necessarily need to switch from breastmilk to formula, but can continue learning to eat more table foods. This part of it is something to discuss with your pediatrician. My daughter also wasn't drinking much milk when I tried adding Ovaltine (chocolately, but also has vitamins). My pediatrician recommended Carnation Instant Breakfast, but said Ovaltine was fine too. And yogurt is good too.

As for weaning, I dropped one feeding at a time, and it really worked great for us. I also breastfeed to 12-13 months. At that time I think we had 6am, 9am bottle (of bmilk at daycare, I pumped), 12pm bottle, 3pm bottle, 6pm. The first two feedings that got dropped were 10pm and 2am, when she slept through the night (wow, I already can't remember when, but I'm pretty sure it was well before she reached a year). She had started drinking less of her bottles at school, so I started by dropping the pumping sessions one per month. You may or may not have time to go this slowly. After dropping those, I dropped the bedtime feeding... this was very much a case of just not offering, and staying away from our "spot" at that time. We got in a bedtime routine (or strengthened it) of reading and rocking - so that she still got important cuddle time. For the final morning feeding, it took daddy getting her up in the morning and us relocating to the kitchen table instead of hanging out in our bed during coffee (darn, lost the coffee in bed!). Overall I had no problems physically, and she seemed to do really well with it too. Stopping slowly helped us hang onto that special time just that little bit longer, and I think we were both ready by the time we dropped the last one.

Hi, I'm also a first time mother of a wonderful 25 month old, and we are still breastfeeding, but on a reduced schedule since I started going back to school. Have you considered just pumping a couple times a day on your trip and going to a reduced schedule? I just suggest this because you say you enjoy breastfeeding, and I know for myself sometimes these things seem like all or nothing, when they may not be. While I often relate to the feeling that I'll be breastfeeding forever, and personally would be willing to wean my daughter soon, I appreciate the bonding it gives us in the face of my longer absences. She seems to still take a lot of comfort from breastfeeding only twice or three times a day, and doesn't seem to be traumatized by not breastfeeding as often as she used to. I still make enough milk for late afternoon (when I first get home), bedtime and first thing in the morning feeds without having to pump. For times when I was away for longer, I got a Medula hand pump, which is only about $30, and used it once or twice, to relieve engorgement, but not enough to actually stimulate more flow. Good luck weaning if that's what you decide to do, and way to stick with it until now!!!!

Hi L.,

Congrats on nursing your little girl this long! I just weaned my son last month after he turned 15 months. He doesn't care for whole milk either. After trying for the last few months, I can finally get him to drink four oz a day. It's not much, but he also eats 8oz of yogurt a day, and I also give him cottage cheese pretty much every day. He also eats peanut butter so i know he's getting a good amount of protein and calcium each day.
Horizon's Organics makes flavored milks, strawberry, vanilla, and chocolate and my son really loves those. They are on the expensive side though. I have also added a little bit of chocolate to his milk. Another way I get him to drink milk is to put some graham crackers in a bowl and add milk to make them soggy. He loves to scoop up the crackers and then drinks the milk after they are gone. He also does this with cereal, cornflakes, cheerios, etc.
I think milk is a much different taste then what they are use to and I think some kids either love it or hate it, or just learn to tolerate it.
You didn't ask specifically for weaning advice, so if you ever want a more detailed story about how I did it, just let me know.
Good luck!

S.

The gentlest way to wean is the "don't offer, don't refuse" method. try that and see how it goes! It will take a while, but it will be more child led and that is best for baby. Also try Almond milk!!! You can talk to your ped about it, but I think it is a great substitute for Cow's milk! Good luck!

My 14 month old son is still breastfeeding (i am all about child led weaning) and when he decides he's done we will switch to almond milk. He does eat 1-2 organic whole milk yogurts/day for the fat content in the milk and the probiotics. My almost 3 year old loves her almond milk! :)

I did a very gradual weaning for my son who was 13 months also. I picked one nursing session of the day (dinner) and gave him vanilla soy milk in a cup with a straw. He was really intrigued by the straw and forgot about the nursing. Then a week later I dropped the lunch feeding and gave him the soy milk again. A week later I dropped the bedtime session (he was ok taking a bottle of formula) and then I dropped the breakfast nursing last, giving him the soy milk with the straw at every meal and a bottle at bedtime. He did really well with this. He refused to take a sippy cup with milk in it, so I tried the straw and he was able to do it with no problem. He has never had whole milk, only vanilla soy. He likes the vanilla flavor. Now that he's 3 I give him a little chocolate syrup to flavor it even more, and he loves it. Hope this helps!

Since your daughter likes yogurt, I would try making her a simple smoothie of 2/3 milk and 1/3 yogurt. Then later on you can reduce the amount of yogurt. It might be just the thing she needs. I also second Jamey Z's advice of just a little strawberry Nestle quick - that is what my firend did when she faced the same situation as you and it worked great. I weaned my son right at the same age. My advice is to slowly get to only one breast feeding per day if you are not there yet. Then just go cold turkey and remove the last breast feeding. There may be one or two days of adjustment but I believe that quicker is better. It worked great for my son and I.

I weaned my first at 14 months, easily, and my second at 22 months, forcibly. You just offer them less and less and talk them through it. I would explain that we no longer nurse when it's dark outside then went from there. My first son was reasonable and understanding and my second son screamed at me, willfully. LOL!
I did not give a lot of milk to drink with my first. He didn't want it and I had read a lot of bad things about milk so I just didn't push it. I still gave him yogurt, cheese, butter and other dairy products. The second one came along once the older one had discovered chocolate milk (we had to move in with grandma in this wretched economy) so the little one drank that too. I've recently quit the chocolate milk and so we're back down to less milk intake again.
I think the bottom line is this, if you are any sort of reasonably concerned parent two things will always be present: you will worry at the threshold of every new phase and likewise, your child will be fine and thrive. :)