I want to stop breastfeeding :
I have a one year old son who has refused a bottle and dummy from birth. He dosnt sleep very well so most days and nights I am feeding him- nearly every hour throughout the night. As much as I would like the sleep, even if I could get him to have a bottle during the day a bit so I can get some things done, socialise for once or clean the house , I would be grateful! At the moment I can't tidy up without him crying and screaming, wanting to be held, if he feeds to sleep it's never more than an hour, he is happy in the car but I can't be driving around constantly , I would love to go back to work 2 days a week so I can have a bit of money but it just seems impossible and it's getting me down . My husband works all different hours so I can't set a routine of him helping with dinner, bath time so I can have a break ! I don't want to do controlled crying , I just want some ideas on how I can wean him so he can go to Nannies house or a friends house one night or for a few hours , Thankyou ladies xx
4 Replies
will he drink from a sippy cup? I found with my boy he didn't take to a dummy straight away or the bottle, it took work and perseverance. Basically with the dummy I had to gently hold it in his mouth consistently. I'd also discuss what is happening with your GP. Has he been checked for lactose intolerance etc? Also check things like reflux. Mylanta changed my sons feeding habits hugely because he wasn't trying to eat to ease the burning which then created more burning (viscous cycle). Could your mum do a sleep over with you and see if she can get him to settle for e few hours without you? Sometimes being away from the smell of breast milk makes a huge difference to how they settle.
It's a long time ago, but my oldest went straight from boob to cup at age one - I remember just washing the cup in the dishwasher - the chlorine disinfectant taste would put any kid off moving from the boob :) I introduced a sippy cup with water - never tried to get him to replace the boob and milk at the same time - too much change at once... He also found straw cups fun, but they do require a slightly different sucking motion that they have to learn... The other thing that worked well once we got to milk in a sippy cup was 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla in the milk - seems to taste nicer without resorting to sugar. As far as getting sleep at night - get dad to settle him at the first wakeup mark - your milky smell is probably triggering a desire for feed when maybe he's just unsettled, cold, whatever. Gradually replace more and more of those night interruptions with dad and not food and he'll start sleeping better - generally they start to sleep through by one. I'm not saying it's easy but it's doable :)
Get Hubby to take him through the night for a few days. He'll scream. He'll be super upset. But it's honestly the only way without killing yourself. My hubby took my son for 3 nights (on his days off) as I was the same as you. He was 15months and waking every single hour to feed. He didn't need it at all. Purely habit. After the three days he was only waking twice a night. When I took him back, he did try it on with me because he smelt the milk, but I stood my ground. In a couple of weeks he was sleeping through.
I've weaned 2 breastfeeding babies & I'm currently feeding my third. The best advice is to do it gradually. It's kinder for bub & kinder on your body. Once you get some time without constant feeding you'll probably find you could still feed until bub is older (until 2 & beyond as recommended by WHO) just morning & night around your work. Start by nightweaning (it sounds as though you co-sleep which is great) using the Jay Gordon method http://drjaygordon.com/attachment/sleeppattern.html - I offer water in a sippy cup between the hours of midnight and 6am & then stretch this until it's a feed before bed & a feed at waking. Then see if you can reduce your day demand feeds by offering solids & water. Good luck, breastfeeding is such an amazing gift for you & your bubs health - you're doing a great job!