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How To Stop Breastfeeding?
How to stop breastfeeding may be on your mind if
When it's time to stop breastfeeding, many moms wonder how to most gently and safely do it. Are you sure about weaning? Before you consider how to stop breastfeeding, think about whether you really need and really want to wean. Under most circumstances, you can continue to breastfeed. For example, most medical problems, medications, work schedules, etc, can be compatible with breastfeeding. If you have a desire to continue breastfeeding and would like to get a professional opinion on whether or not it's possible in your particular situation, be sure to contact an international board certified lactation consultant (IBCLC). These professionals will be able to provide you with up-to-date information on whether or not continuing to breastfeed in your special circumstances is possible, and then they will help you develop a plan to achieve it. When to stop breastfeeding Breastfeeding is the recommended mode of feeding for babies and toddlers. The American Association of Pediatricians recommends breastfeeding up to a year of age. The World Health Organization and UNICEF recommend breastfeeding up to 2 years of age and beyond. Breastmilk continues to have the same wondrous health benefits for both you and your baby beyond the first year of life. It continues to be the most easily digested, perfect food for your child that is full of vitamins and minerals. Each time you breastfeed your child, regardless of how old they are, you are practically giving them immunization against all the illnesses that are in your shared environment. When do babies wean naturally? One option is to allow your child to wean him- or herself when they are ready. For most children, this falls somewhere between 2.5 and 7 years of age. Historically, and around the world today, that is the natural age of weaning. Alternatives to breastfeeding If the reason you are considering how to stop breastfeeding is that putting your baby to the breast is not feasible, then consider breastmilk feeding instead of breastfeeding. Feeding a baby expressed breastmilk from a bottle is not the same as breastfeeding, with all of the wonderful hormonal benefits, but at least your baby will be getting the nutritional benefits of breastmilk. If your reasons have to do with your breastmilk not being sufficient or suitable for your baby, consider using donor breastmilk from either a milk bank or from milksharing networks such as Human Milk 4 Human Babies. How to stop breastfeeding an infant If you have a newborn or a young baby under 6 months old that you need to wean, your main concern is making sure you can replace breastmilk with a suitable substitute that your baby will accept. Your secondary concern is making sure that you decrease your milk supply gradually in order to avoid engorgement or other painful complications. As for suitable substitute, for a baby under 6 months old, that would be donor breastmilk or formula. Both have risks. But breastmilk or a suitable breastmilk substitute is the recommended exclusive food for babies up to 6 months of age. Donor breastmilk is more suitable in all regards than formula for your baby's health and digestion. But you have to make sure that the mother you receive it from is healthy and trustworthy. The risk of using breastmilk from someone you don't know is that they may have an illness that is transmitted through breastmilk, or if they are not trustworthy, they may dilute the breastmilk with water or cow's milk. Formula is made either from cow's milk or from soy. Both are highly allergenic and less easy to digest than breastmilk. While most babies who are formula-fed do fine, a substantial minority develop allergic symptoms to it. These are the issues you need to consider when choosing what to substitute for your own breastmilk. You also need to consider what you will substitute for your breasts. If your baby is still young, you will probably not have any problems transitioning him or her to a bottle. However, babies who have been exclusively breastfed for 3-4 months may refuse the bottle in favor of the breast. You may need to experiment with different nipples and different liquids and different temperatures from those nipples to figure out what is acceptable to your baby. One common piece of advice is to have someone else bottle-feed your baby because they may associate you with breastfeeding and be more reluctant to accept a bottle from you than from someone else. Click here to read more about how to get a breastfed baby to accept a bottle. How to stop breastfeeding an older baby If your baby is older and already taking some solid foods, your main concern will probably be how to stop breastfeeding without upsetting them too much. Especially at night. You should still consider finding an adequate substitute for your breastmilk as well as making sure that you decrease your supply slowly so that you don't run into problems of engorgement, plugged ducts or mastitis. Here are some strategies and ideas for how to stop breastfeeding an older baby:
How to stop breastfeeding at night This is a tough one. My personal feeling is that nighttime nursing is an absolutely age-appropriate thing for babies to do up to a year of age, and even beyond. While co-sleeping makes this easier, it is still tiring and some moms are not willing to put up with it beyond a certain age. In my experience as a breastfeeding counselor and mommy-baby group leader for the past 4 years is that there really isn't a very good way to night wean. Some moms get lucky and their babies just drop their night nursing sessions and start sleeping through the night at some point during their first year of life. Most of us are not that lucky and we have to devise plans for how to get our older nurslings to leave us alone at night. For an older child, you may be able to reason with them and set limits like no breastfeeding when it's dark outside. For me, personally, my daughter was 2 and a half before she accepted my excuse of "the boobies are asleep" and went back to sleep without nursing. Not without grumbling about it though. For some moms, putting band-aids on their nipples and claiming they had a boo-boo worked, but I know that pretending that breastfeeding would cause pain is not acceptable to all. If your baby is somewhere between 6 months and 3 years, I'm afraid to say that night weaning them will probably involve some crying. Whatever you choose, do it gently, lovingly, and with consideration for everybody's needs - including your own. Click here to read more in depth about how to stop breastfeeding.
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