HEY! Happy birthday to your little star!

As far as i was told (by GP) from 12 months onwards if they are eating a good varied diet cows milk is fine for them (unless there are allergies obviously) and there are no nutritional defecits caused. I switched DD to cowsmilk in her 12th month (mixed it half and half - can't do that if you're BFing unless you express i suppose...) and she's not had formula since about a week after her birthday. I phased the bottle out with the formula - she's a thumb-sucker so she can suck for comfort anytime and she likes that the milk comes out faster with the cup.

I think if you WANT to wean you can start to offer a cup of EBM, and then gradually mix it with cowsmilk, at times when she'd usually be on the boobie. The comfort sucks are the last to go, so you'd need to be sure of not wanting to BF anymore to be firm in the middle of the night when she's sad.

NOw, the question is do you WANT to wean? Breastmilk goes on offering benefits as long as you feed it and is the easiest thing for babies to digest until well into their third year (when some of the BM-specific enzymes start to decrease as they digest solids better and better). Even beyond the third year the benefits go on stacking up (in China children are sometimes fed as long as 7 or 8 years) all the time. There are no downsides from bubs point of view! There is even evidence to suggest that the mothers of babies who are not eating solids well have more calorific BM! Incredible!

Basically there is no dire need to go on if you feel you WANT to wean, and certainly absolutely no reason to wean if you don't want to. Most kids eventually wean on their own, some at 9 months, some at 15 months, some at 30 months. If i were you, and i hope one day to be in your 1-year-boobie-feedin' shoes , i'd go on as you are and see how it goes. She might self-wean when she's ready, or you might come to the conclusion that you'd rather not BF anymore. Just going with things has worked so well for you both, why not go on and see?

HTH

Bec