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my dd is 15 months she is my second! My ds was 12 months when I got the okay to start whole milk and I weaned him to cup no problems. Well she is not going for it. I stay at home so it's not a real issue. But I don't want her to be that kid that walks over and say hey mom can I have a drink. I always offer her a cup, she refuses to drink plain milk, so I put strawberry or chocolate quik in it.(ds was the same way)I have offered juice too. She still wants to nurse an average of 3x a day. I usually distract her and can get her to give up one. But she is a real crab, she pulls at my shirt and wines, and fusses and gets so mad. Well I guess the question is this~Do they ever decide for themselves they are done, or do they have to be weaned? Any suggestions?
Answer:
I don't really have much advice but I was in your shoes a couple of months ago. I cut her off on the weekend when DH was around to distract her. She's still not fond of real milk yet either, you should see her face.
Good luck, hang in there!
Answer:
I just completely weaned my 17 month old over the weekend. We were down to one breastfeeding a day, but still, it was kind of hard for me (my son handled it fine!).
I pretty much handled it the way you have. When he turned one year old, I started offering him milk in a cup at lunchtime, which he didn't like at first, but eventually got used to. At this point he was still nursing in the morning and the evening. He cut out his evening feeding pretty much on his own right at 15 months. I probably wouldn't have given up the morning feeding yet, but I'm going on a women's retreat this weekend, so I don't have much of a choice. He was already used to drinking milk out of a cup, so it was pretty easy to just offer him a sippy cup of milk instead of me. But I also think he reached a point in the last few weeks where he was ready to stop...it was just a matter of me actually choosing not to nurse him anymore.
I think most kids will decide on their own when they want to wean, it's just a matter of whether or not you want to wait that long. There certainly isn't any harm in deciding that YOU are ready to wean and then doing so. Your daughter will adjust.
I don't really think I have any suggestions that you haven't already tried though. Obviously, don't cut out all the feedings at once. I would start with the feeding in the middle of the day. Continue to offer her milk in the sippy cup instead of your breast. After a week or two, try cutting out another one. Most people would cut out the morning feeding next, leaving the evening feeding for last, but my son actually cut out his evening feeding first. In my opinion, the key is consistency. Keep offering her the milk in the cup even if she doesn't want it.
Also, you might try holding her while she drinks the milk out of the cup. It may be that she wants to be close to you more than anything. Also, have you tried pumping and giving her breastmilk in a cup? If she'll do that, you can eventually start cutting the breastmilk with cows milk and then gradually decrease the amount of breastmilk you mix in until she is completely on cows milk. Just a thought.
Whatever you decide to do - good luck!
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I think most babies eventually learn on there own, and pull away themselves. I planned on nursing my son until he is close to 2 years old. But thats just me, we are practicing attachment parenting, so thats one of the reasoning. But I bet you start slowing her feedings down, she will eventually stop.. Good luck.
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my dd was alost 2 when she quit nursing!! (I had to keep nursing her since she would not even eat solids yet! she would gag on things!! ~still not a god eater and she is 5 now~
the thing thatfinally helped with getting her to stop nursing was an ideas a friend gave me!!
She told me to Give her Breast milk in a sippy cup and then slowy add Milk to it with the BBreast milk!! it got her used to it better!! now she rarely drinks juice and drinks almost all milk or water!!!
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Another tip I always give moms that I counsel is (if you aren't in a hurry to wean) wait until spring. Toddlers wean much better in the spring when they can go out and play during regular feeding times (distractions) - anything that takes her mind off the feeding.
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DS has those same fits at times. He has been doing really well, but it seems like when he gets tired in the afternoon he wants to nurse more.
He been refusing all milk until a friend suggested I flavor it. I added 1/2 tsp sugar and also gave it to him in a bottle instead of a cup and that did the trick. He has been willing to drink it for a week now and will drink it out of a cup now too. I am working on weaning him from his bedtime feeding now. I am giving him a bottle for this even though he is over one. I figure what's the differance between a bottle and nusing? We are just starting so I hope that in a couple of weeks he will be willing to take a cup at bedtime and then we can be done with bottles all together.
I was pretty hardlined on off the bottle by 12m, but when he went on a sippy cup strike and wasn't drinking more then 3oz or water or juice a day I decided that it was more important for him to drink then to be done with his bottle. I think that is why he started to like the milk, because he could have it in a bottle and it became a treat for him.
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My DD weaned herself. She was 20 months old. I wanted to continue but she lost interest.