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You body will adapt very quickly!
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My daughter is 11 1/2 months old. Currently I breast feed her each morning when she wakes and then again once or twice during the day. At night she gets a bottle (usually formula). I pump every night around 9pm. When I pump I get almost no milk, 1-1 1/2 ounces total (even if it has been many hours since I last nursed). I plan on weening my daughter when she turns one in a few weeks. My plan is to nurse her only in the morning and then give her cow's milk the rest of the time and to eliminate pumping. We will be going away for a week, the day after my daughter turns 1 and I DO NOT want to bring the pump with me.
My question is whether or not my body will adapt and continue to produce milk for 1 feeding a day. I know every woman's body is different. Just wondering if anyone can shed light on what I may experience.
Thanks or sharing your weening experiences.
You body will adapt very quickly!
I would say you should start the weaning process now so you are both done by her birthday. You could switch her to part cows milk part formula for her day time feedings. Do them in a cup if you want to help get her off bottles too. Then gradually increase the amount of cows milk until the formula is all gone. Do this with both the day and then the night feedings. Once your body has adjusted to not producing milk during the day (about a week) you can drop the morning feeding. This is what I did when I weaned my kids and there were no problems for them or me. Good luck.
I produced milk for up to a year after I weaned my son. I actually had gotten a clogged duct that I thought was a breast cancer lump 4 months after I weaned him. He was only nursing for 5 min once a day and then just stopped. I didn't experience any discomfort right away, but did 4 or so months later.
Your body WILL adapt after a few days. I continued to breast feed my daughter for ONE feeding a day (bedtime) until she was 30 months. I never leaked or felt uncomfortable during the day at all. My body knew to only produce the milk for that one feeding.
Hi W.,
Yes, at a year, you should be able to BF once a day. At that stage, nursing isn't about feedings anymore, she will get her nutrition from food. I would eliminate the pumpings one at a time, give your body about 5 days to readjust after eliminating each feeding or pumping, so that you dont' end up overengorged, with plugged ducts or an infection.
I agree, I would start now. I am in the same process with my 3rd child. I am eliminating one feeding at a time, and I go straight to sippy cups. The last feeding to go for us will be the 5am, that is the hardest one to kick! The only time I got engorged was when he was sick and I went from nursing 3 times a day to once.
Good luck!
from my experience with breast feeding, you will produce less and less milk.
<sigh> your body will make the milk. start now if you plan on weaning her cold turkey on her birthday (and I wouldn't use cow's milk!) it will be kinder on her if you start now.
Go to a La Leche League meeting, or contact someone online for soft gentle weaning ideas. If your daughter is like my son - cold turkey willNOT WORK and you will both be sad and mad and a lot of other avoidable feelings.
good luck.
and PS: she doesn't have to wean at a year: TheWorld Health Organization recommends a minimum 2 years before weaning - and it hasNOTHING to do with third world countries (sweden? Germany? anyone?) or bad/poor water supplies.
