Need help with weaning

I need to wean my 11 month old, unfortunately my health is not the best & the medication i need to take doesn't agree with her.
I've had to change back to my old meds while we breastfeed but i can't stay on them as they aren't helping a great deal anymore & I've been told that if i don't get my condition under control it will lead cancer.
So unless my old meds start helping me again i don't have any choice.

At the moment she feeds regularly through the day & still feeds overnight.
I'm not sure how to start the weaning process, so any help will be great.
My Dr is happy to give me a month or so to wean her so i'd like to do it slowly.

Thank-you :)

:hug: aww hun I have no advice sorry but i hope the process is smooth for you both :hug: x

Call the ABA and get them to walk you through it. They can give you good advice on doing it slowly to avoid problems and offer great support to you in the process.

It's hard to know where to start when they don't have set feed times. Here's what I did - figure out how many you'll cut to this week (best to aim to cut one feed (maybe two) per week or there's a bigger risk of blockages). then figure out a rough interval - ie, 5 feeds at 3-hrly intervals.
Distract her if she asks more frequently and offer something else - water/food. She will protest vehemently at first (can't be avoided) but it won't take too long before she gets used to the idea of being refused. Is she eating well? You may not need to introduce formula at this age, but up to you.

You may want to cut night feeds first, or last.... it depends how dependant she is on them. Try getting your partner to resettle at night when cutting night feeds. You can also offer water or a bottle instead.

Do you take the meds once per day? do you think if you took it first thing then fed during the night her tummy might be ok with that...?


All the best~~

Marcellus has made some great points - the best one being call the ABA! Their number is 1800 MUM 2 MUM.

My 12mth old went from regular day feeds (but none overnight) to only first and last thing (7am, 7pm) because I returned to work and the things the worked for us were:
- Substituting cow's milk or water during the day
- Cutting back gradually (I expressed for a little while so she had a bottle during the day)
- Distraction! Being with her grandparents, DD was able to be distracted from the thought of BBs as I wasn't there! Do you have anyone that could help out on that front?

When we stopped night feeds, basically I noticed she was waking later and later for a feed overnight and one night I just decided to resettle without a feed. It was really painful at first - I've now got a bottle of water in her room (not a milk bottle, a Tupperware water bottle so she doesn't get confused) which I offer to her if she wakes at night time. Took her a while to realise that if she woke at night she wasn't getting BB but we got there!

GL - it may be a bit difficult at first but you will get there. It can't have been an easy decision for you and I hope you have a good support network around you to help you out!

If you can get longer than a month to wean I think that will make it easier on you both. It can be gard on bubs emotionally if weaning happens too fast (and can make them rebel & want it more).

Things that worked for us when we weaned at 24-26 months were: not sitting down where he was used to feeding, staying busy, getting out of bed before the morning feed (we co-slept), and seperation (via babysitters).

Goodluck!

Thanks for all the info ladies, I've spoken to my specialist & he said to wait till she's 12 months & see how i go back on my old meds. Hopefully we wont need to wean till she's older :)
He's very pro b/fing which is great.