The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends nursing your baby exclusively for six months, nursing while supplementing with solids until your baby's first birthday and continuing to nurse as mutually desired into and beyond the second year of life. At some point, you may wish to wean your baby, or you may want to nudge your toddler or preschooler to self-wean. Keep some tips in mind to reduce the emotional and physical difficulties that may accompany sudden weaning.
Skip One Feeding At A Time
If you can help it, avoid weaning cold-turkey. This can cause engorgement, blocked milk ducts and possibly mastitis in you and a lot of crying in your baby. Try skipping one feeding at a time, suggests BabyCenter. Depending on your baby's age, you can substitute the nursing with a bottle of pumped breast milk or formula, cow's milk or solid food. Slowly eliminate one feeding at a time over a period of a few weeks to give your body and your baby time to adjust to the change.
Call in Reinforcements
Many nursing babies will refuse to take a bottle from their mothers. This is the time to call in dad, grandma, an older sibling or a babysitter to help you to wean your baby. Have someone else give the baby her bottle while you wait in another room, suggests "Parents" magazine. This will prevent her from associating your smell with nursing and getting frustrated by the bottle. After you are further into the weaning process, she should take the bottle from you more easily.
Keep Engorgement at Bay
Weaning your baby will most likely cause at least some engorgement. Your body makes milk on demand, so it will take a few days for it to realize that the demand has gone down and reduce the supply accordingly. If you are very engorged, try hand-expressing just enough milk to relieve some of the pressure, but not enough to stimulate more milk production. Take acetaminophen to relieve some of the discomfort and wear a snug, but not tight, bra. Be aware of the signs of mastitis, which include intense pain, redness, swelling, flu-like symptoms, fever and chills, and see your doctor right away if you suspect an infection.
Don't Offer, Don't Refuse
If your toddler is still nursing and you do not need to wean him quickly, try the "don't offer, don't refuse" method, as described by KellyMom. Simply don't offer your breast to him; wait for him to ask to nurse. As he grows, he may begin forgetting to ask to nurse, and as you "forget" to offer to nurse him, weaning happens naturally and non-traumatically. You can combine this with shortening each nursing session to half the time that it usually is, which will help you to gradually make less milk, and may make nursing less important to your child.
