So what do I do now....

[Jennifer13]

Jasp, it's wonderful that you've been EE for nearly 12 mths!! And look at the quantity you get in three expressions - wow!

If you want to wean, the best way would be to drop the expressions and amounts gradually, so you aren't in any discomfort or risk mastitis. Rather than quantity, how long do you express for? Pick the time you'd like to drop and perhaps only express off half of what you would normally do the first day and decrease from there. Once you've gotten that one down to only needing to perhaps express off a little by hand for comfort, go to the next feed you want to drop and follow the same process. Then you've only got the last one to go. I wouldn't rush it, our bodies are designed to go through this process much more gradually than we are led to believe!

Call the ABA - they'll have more advice! 1800 mum 2 mum

[~Kaz~]

Oh hun well done you That is such an awesome effort to have EE for almost 12 months. I have done a (very) little expressing in my feeding of DS and it is HARD work. You should be so proud of yourself.

Just wanted to pop in to also say that I found DS dropped a number of feeds on his own right around the time he turned 1. Within a two week period he'd dropped the lunchtime feed, the after dinner feed and then the late evening (10-11pm) feed as well. We actively night weaned him because I was returning to work and he was waking very frequently for quick feeds and we felt it was for comfort more than nutrition. We followed (loosely) the Jay Gordon method of doing this. I do kind of regret doing that as it hasn't stopped the night waking and now we give him cuddles (and if they don't work) cow's milk to help him resettle (only once or twice a night but still I would rather it be bm).


He wasn't that keen on cow's milk initially and I wasn't either to be honest but he gradually drank more (offered with meals usually). I don't think he has that much a day really and he would much prefer cheese, salmon, broccoli and yoghurt. They are some of his favourite foods. We are down to one morning feed per day now.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

ETA - in terms of how much she "needs" I was told by my CFHN that at 12 months old, babies "need" the equivalent of 600ml - either milk or equivalent calcium from other foods. I personally think that every kid is different and I would prefer to be guided by DS as to how much he wants to drink/eat. It was a bit of a moot point really because I can't tell how much he has in his one feed per day but thought I'd come back and add it in because you can measure what your DD drinks.

[Miss E]

Fleur you have done such a fabulous job, you should be incredibly proud of yourself!

I'm also toying with whether or not I want to wean and can't quite make up my mind so I figure we'll just keep going for the time being and when the time is right I'll know it is iykwim?

I have been trying to do a bit of research on weaning and introducing cows milk, but there really seems to be very little out there which is a bit frustrating... However, one thing I did come across is that like the others have said, cows milk isn't a necessary part of their diet, but it is a good source of calcium. Apparently BM actually has very low levels of calcium (this was a surprise to me), so encorporating whatever forms of calcium is really important whether your giving BM or not... But the thing that stuck in my mind is that there is now minimum amount of cows milk you should give, but you shouldn't give anymore than 500mls in a day.

TBH I don't know very much about the rice milk and soy milk etc, other than I personally like it, but I am pretty sure it is not recommended for infants. In fact I remember seeing a thread around here about why you shouldn't give it to them, I'll have a dig around and see if I can find it.

HTH

[Baby Dreamtime]

Hi Jasp,
I am just browsing and had to stop and say what and amazing effort to have ee for so long, and what incredible amounts you express lol, I am in awe and totally jealous. I am doing as Jennifer says to wean my twins (want to try for number 3) was getting up at 2am each night to express but the girls were sleeping through (crazy i know) and when expressing just cut down expression time by 2 minutes each time until I was at about 6 minutes I stopped expressing. This works really well congratulations once again you should be so proud for going so long best off luck xx

[Fleur]

Thanks everyone for your replies, I really do appreciate them

Yesterday DS1 had football in the middle of the day & it was going to be a bit tricky to manage the pump, so I just skipped it. I expressed a bit earlier last night & got loads but I wasn't too uncomfortable in the meantime.
So I said to DH I am thinking about dropping the midday pump & just seeing where we go from there. We still have a month to go until she's one ... I might have more of a leaning one way or the other then.

She's sick ATM & a bit off her food & she had almost 300ml overnight... so I still reluctant to drop it altogether just yet.

But as I said, I'll give it a bit longer until I have to decide, and in the meantime things will get a bit easier again if I drop the midday pump (although I think maybeI will still express for comfort if I have to, until it reduces a bit).

was getting up at 2am each night to express but the girls were sleeping through (crazy i know)

Lol, I did the same until 6 months & that was enough! I think that's just amazxing of you to do with twins! well done