Help... I have loved BF but....

Before my DS was born I was so so afraid that BFing wouldn't work - he was a pirahna from day 1 :D Fantastic. We have had a brilliant BF relationship. DS is now nearly 14 months and I have absolutely loved BFing up until yesterday LOL. I am finding he is really 'scrapping' my nipple with his teeth or something he isn't doing it on purpose but it is getting sore. He also does baby yoga whilst attached which can be annoying etc. I also plan to work full time next year so want to start weaning him now. Only problem is HE LOVES HIS BOOM BOOM - as he calls it. He just loves feeding and I love that he loves it too...but how can I encourage him to feed less. He eats really well and if I am not home he doesn't seem to miss it too much. He will take a bottle of cows milk no worries - but again when I am not there. I am afraid if I start the bottle then I just have to wean him off this aswell. Any thoughts/suggestions please?:D
My goal was always a year... also TBH some people around me are asking me when I will make him wean - a bit of pressure maybe? Not sure- I think I feel it is coming up to time aswell...
Rach

Go straight to a cup honey :)

My ds started on a cup at one year and now this week we have weaned I'm at 22 months , my original plan was one year too but I got a boobie boy like you lol

Recently I told him it was time to say goodbye and now he just drinks from a cup or less messy I have a collection of pop top juice bottles ready to go :)

Goodluck it's certainly a longer process than I thought but definitely don't bother with a bottle...

Go straight to a cup :-) That is what i did with my little one the same age :-) she's been weaned for a week, it was a bit of self weaning and gentle weaning... I just started to offer her the cup for the middle feeds, then got rid of the morning one and the night was last to go... She still graps at the boobs, but doesn't try to suck she just wants to make sure they are still there lol. I am lucky tho because there was no crying or screaming for it, if she really wanted it I gave it to her, by the end she just wasnt getting what she wanted out of them.

thanks so much girls.... I like the idea of going striaght to a cup - do you still warm the milk? And is just a regular sippy cup okay? DS uses one for water very happily.

Don't worry about bottles. Also don't try to replace every feed with milk - better to go for solids from this age if he eats well.
The gymnastics are annoying, also kinda cute sometimes. It can be a short-lived phase, so that might settle down in a bit anyway. As for teeth scraping, try and pay closer attention to good attachment (gymnastics allowing) - don't let him feed if it's hurting you. He's old enough to understand that.

Try not to worry about what others think - it's nothing to do with them anyway. If you're weaning, or even just cutting back, try to take it slow to make it easier on him and reduce the risk of blockages etc. You can also call the ABA for more specific advice. It's hard to know where to start when you're cutting back but you may find that it actually works out easier than yuo first expected. It's also possible that if you cut back a bit, you might feel happier about continuing on a bit longer. I guess just see how you go.

Good luck!

thank marcellus, yep he definately understands 'no, that hurts mummy' when doing the yoga - and yes secretly I think it is completely adorable the way he twists and turns - but still loving that boom boom LOL. I have to be completely honest here....I think there is a part of me wanting it to go on as long as he wants cause I am scared we won't have another succesful PG. I hope and pray we do and we'll give a red hot go, I guess it is just in teh back of my mind - if this is my only chance I don't want to rush it etc. I will take it slow I don't want him to stress too much adn BBs are still quite full really. Very tricky indeed.....

Totally understand. That's why I didn't want to wean before going back to IVF.
Slow is good - easier on both of you and more room to change your mind if you want to :D

I'm in the same boat Tippytoes! My DS loves his booby too - he gets sooooo excited :) and I love it too, but he is starting to bite more - he thinks its funny and he doesn'y feed for long unless its the middle of the night :wall: I'm also pregnant and tired which probably isn't helping. My problem is he won't drink cows milk! He'll happily eat yoghurt, cheese, icecream...but spits the cows milk out :( We're going away for the weekend in two weeks for a wedding and leaving my DS with my mum (the first time we will ever be apart overnight) for two nights so I think maybe that will end it? I'll have to unearth my breastpump though to avoid engorgement.

While writing this I just realised I didn't BF him tonight! I thought the girls were feeling a bit fuller than usual!

Hey ControlFreak congrats on your new PG! Very exciting indeed. I thought babies were meant to 'go off' our milk when PG or with AF. Seems like our boys love it too much hey? I have AF now and DS could care less - he never misses an opportunity to get boob LOL. Bummer about spitting the cows milk out. Make sure you try to get as much rest as you can - wayyyyy easier said than done I know - take care of yourself hun. Will be interesting to see how he goes when you are at the wedding, xx

14 mnths is a great age, they have so much enthusiasm (sp?) for life and especially 'boo' (as it is in our house) I agree with the others we totally skipped the bottle stage and use only a cup or pop-top drink bottle.

DS would often do the scraping/biting thing mostly when he was teething and yes they are old enough to learn not to do it, I would take DS off when he was mucking around too much and as he loved his 'boo' he would either stop or have to wait for the next feed. I would be ready with a pinky to break the suction when it was happening. We had some 'rules' that worked for us so if he mucked around too much (either biting or pulling off or twisting himself too much) then I would break the suction and tell him no. If he still seemed interested I would offer again. We only ever went through this process once or twice and if he kept it up that was the end of the feed until next time.

It definitely does pass and even when you go back to work you will probably find the feeds would cut back naturally themself and you are able to work and continue to feed if you want to. As for other peoples opinion a) it get's to a point where I wasn't needing to feed outside the home (unless he was sick and then I would still feed) so no-one really needs to know b) I would always ask people why they thought cow's milk was better then my milk (usually shut them up)

CF they don't 'have' to have cow's milk if they are having lot's of other diary and getting calcium from other food. DS very rarely has cow's milk but like your DS loves cheese, yoghurt, brocoli etc...

Hey hun, I totally understand the conundrum of when to wean... I've recently gone through it myself, but have decided to keep going until he's at least two or self weans (at least that's where we are at now). But over the last couple of months we have cut down to just two feeds a day (one first thing in the morning in bed and then one right before he goes to bed at night). When DS turned one, I went back to work one or two days a week. At first I kept up his day feeds when we were at home and he just went without when he was a CC or I wasn't home. Then one week he had a couple of days in a row at CC and then the day after I was out and he was home with DH, so it had been 3 days without a day feed. I just continued on from there and it really hasn't fussed him at all not having the day feeds, which was a bit of a suprise to me, I thought dropping them would be a bit of a battle...

Anyway, I'm rambling, but I guess what I'm trying to say is that if you want to keep feeding when you go back to work it is very workable to just do a morning and night feed. But at the same time, if you feel it's time to wean there's nothing wrong with that either, 14 months is a great effort and one which you should be very proud of :hug:

As Kelebek says, you don't need to worry about cows milk if he's getting calcium some other way. DS refuses to drink it also.
At this point, I dont' think you don't need to replace the breast milk with other milk at all. BM gives them nutrition and a whole bunch of other thigns, but he nutritional element is less and less substantial as they eat more, because even if they continue to feed frequently, they will naturally take less and less milk volume-wise as they eat more solids. Once eating well, there's nothing in cows milk or formula that they need that they can't get from their food already, if that makes sense. Of course there are lots of other goodies in breastmilk that make it worthwhile continuing if you do (and it's very handy when they're sick).
The point of all this was that you don't need to worry if they won't take bottles of milk to replace BM at this age.

By the time we started back on IVF DS was only feeding infrequently and the drugs quickly dried up my milk. DS continued 'feeding' until maybe 2 months into the pregnancy when he finally gave up. Sometimes they go off it - partly due to frustration at the drop in supply - but sometimes they will continue happily. It really just depends on the child I think. My DS also never seemed bothered by AF.

All the best figuring this out :)