What did you wean with?

Sumathy · Aug 2, 2007

Need practical suggestion on weaning

Hi,

My 10 month old daughter has taken well to solids but refuses milk. With lot of difficulty, we manage to give her some 60 ml or so daily during the daytime. Any other time or in my presence, she does not take this also. And she frequently wakes up in the night (every 2 hrs or so) for nursing inspite of a heavy meal around 7 pm.

I want to wean her. I am not that worried about her milk intake (doctor has prescribed a calcium suppliment incase I manage to wean her and she does not drink milk). We add milk in the solids that we feed her. It is the emotional part that is turning out to be difficult. She gets up in the night and starts whimpering first , then goes on to cry, then wail, if I dont feed her. It affects the full family's sleep (I also have a 6 yr old daughter). I would be glad to have some practical tips from mothers who have gone through this. Thanks!

Cheers,

Sumathy

sunkan · Aug 2, 2007

Re: Need practical suggestion on weaning

dear sumathy,
i dont know if u r a working mother, otherwise she would slowly get rid of this habit, may be she does not find u around, anyway atleast give her feed in the night, but yes if u really want ur child to wean out then the only thing is to send her to ur mom's place for a month or so, then get her back she would had got out of the habit, and this gap will give u enough time to dry up with malli poo malai pack every night...so that u will not have problem with getting wet or filled...regards sunkan

manjumnair · Aug 2, 2007

Re: Need practical suggestion on weaning

Hi Sumathy,

Even I had your experience with my daughter... Even she wanted to be weaned all the day... I weaned her till she was 2 and a half years... I had stopped weaning her during the day when she became 2 years with great difficulty... Fed her only during night... But as she was very adamant, I had to wake up many times in the night to feed her...

Then without any other choice, I had to stop feeding her by applying bitter tasting ayurvedic items, since I was loosing so much weight at that time and my doctor advised me to stop feeding the baby... She stopped crying and wailing after two days...

This is my experience....But your child is 10 months old only.... You can feed her in the night for some more time.... and try stopping that also after some time... Also, if you want to stop weaning now itself... try sending her to your mother's place as suggested by sunkan.... But will your child stay away from you?

:yes:Cheers
Manju

sunitha · Aug 3, 2007

Re: Need practical suggestion on weaning

Dear Manju

You confused me quite a bit in your first paragraph. I think you used the word 'weaning' instead of 'breast-feeding' by mistake.

Sumathy,I agree with Manju on the 10 mnth factor. The baby is too young to be weaned now.Why not wait atleast until the baby is a yr old.

Induslady · Aug 3, 2007

Re: Need practical suggestion on weaning

Hi Sumathy,

As others have said, you want to feed your baby until 1 yr and then try weaning. Nothin can be equated to breastmilk and your baby is going to eat solids for the rest of the years right?

Regarding weaning, I weaned my little one exactly when she turned one. I weaned her first from the day feeds. I was feeding her only in the nights for about 2 weeks and then slowly weaned her the night feeds too. While weaning in the nights if possible make her sleep with your husband, so that she is not closer to you to find you when she awakes in the night. Give her a feed of bottle milk just before she goes to bed. Though a heavy dinner giving it at 7pm might be making her hungry late night or early morning that she wakes up.

Malathy

Sumathy · Aug 3, 2007

Re: Need practical suggestion on weaning

Hi,

Thanks for all your postings. To clarify on things, I am a working mother (but out only between 10 and 4 pm). I am not comfortable with my kid staying away from me. Though I dont mind nursing till she is one, I strongly get a feeling that more than nutrition, she is getting adamant about suckling (most of the time I can see that she is just suckling and there is no milk - this happens in the night). She is not used to bottle at all and drinks the little bit that she has, from the sipper. Also, practically speaking, it is not good for any of us to keep getting up every 2 hours in the night. Hence this urgency for weaning.

I think I will start with making my husband get up and pacify her when she wakes up. I hope I dont have to go to the extent of applying things to stop her from nursing !

Thanks again,

Cheers,

Sumathy

babyraji · Aug 3, 2007

Re: Need practical suggestion on weaning

hi sumathy
one best way 2 weaning at night is start feeding her with water n this must b done by any other person than u.when the baby realises tht it is not milk then they start refusing 2 drink water n slowly stop waking up at nts,when they know tht they will not get milk.
i tried this for my baby n it worked.
all the best
raji

sunitha · Aug 3, 2007

Re: Need practical suggestion on weaning

Dear Sumathy

I was also a working mother till my son was 2 yrs old.I can understand that it is difficult to get up and keep feeding your baby in the nights,but we do this in the best interests of the baby.Like Malathy said,a bottle of milk just before going to bed will surely help.Since your baby prefers the sipper more,you can try giving her milk in the sipper itself.

In my case,I never tried weaning,my son kind of weaned all by himself,when I joined back work after 7 months of delivery. I used to feed him in the mornings and from the evening onwards after I returned from work and all thru' night till he was around 15 months.It was frankly not easy,my working hrs were from 9.45 am to 5.30 pm but I still had to get up at 6 am to do household chores before going for work and could go to bed only at around 10 pm. I can tell you one thing,as long as you breastfeed,you will loose weight,once you stop,you will put on quite an amount of weight.

vidhukumar · Oct 19, 2007

weaning suggestion pls

ladies,
My baby is 1 yr old.he is almost weaned...except that during his afternoon nap&at night he want to nurse......he will never sleep without nursing&even when he wakes up in the middle of the night,inorder to go back to sleep he wants to nurse!!!!its not nutirtion or hunger but is more of the comfort factor.....dont know how to kick this habit.......suggestions pls:-(