Keep in mind weaning is a very personal and unique process to each mama, with that said, this is mine.
I exclusively breastfed my first child till he was 12 months, he actually weaned himself the week of his first birthday. So, technically he did all the work and I just followed his lead.
Baby number two rolls around and I’m literally counting on my fingers and toes how many months I have left with this breastfeeding gig. It’s not that I hate breastfeeding, I just want to be done. (Read more about that here) My little dude is 8 months and he has a dairy intolerance, so I’ve been dairy free for 6 months and it’s not awful but I give up and in.
I tried a couple hypoallergenic formulas and to my surprise they are still made with cows milk. Who knew?! He actually didn’t like the taste of them either. After a couple days I noticed his face started to rash again so onto the next. I tried Holle stage 2 (for babies 6 months and up) goats milk formula. He loved it.
Finding the formula that works for your baby, your budget, thats accessible to you and works for you and your family is a tough job and then you have to wean. As if motherhood isn’t already hard enough.
I started with the taste test and he liked it and I didn’t notice any rashing, so I knew it was time to let the weaning games begin. I replaced half of his nursing sessions with the nuk cup, the ones that weren’t as important to him which was after naps. With first babe I went from boob to cup so the goal was to do the same with him. Once he was comfortable drinking water from this cup I was comfortable to also start weaning.
At first he didn’t take a lot from the cup but over time the amount he drank increased, so if this happens to you don’t worry and don’t give up. As for your boobs mine weren’t really full at this point because I noticed he took a bigger feed before naps and this was a snack. I was still nursing him the other half of the sessions to help with engorgement. Then I started taking away one of those sessions each day for the following week and replacing with the formula feeds. I noticed the most push back from him for the first feed when he woke up and the one right before bed. He would cry a little but eventually take the cup, and again, sometimes not much, but I would not give the boob.
After he took formula only for almost 24 hours I noticed my boobs would fill up and be terribly uncomfortable and I was scared to get mastitis or another abscess. That’s when I would nurse. I tried to push it as long as possible between feeds. First wean the baby and then it’s about you. It seemed that each passing day I could go for an extra 6-8 hours. One of the nights I had to have my husband relieve the pressure. We were not staying in our home and it was at 4am, I didn’t have a pump or anything. I was not about to wake the baby I finally have sleeping through the night. I bought a haakaa but I can’t figure it out, squeezing out in the sink just felt easier for me.
I noticed my slacker boob, the right side, gave up much sooner than the left side. So when I did nurse, I would just use the side that was uncomfortable to not encourage any extra milk to come in.
Depending on how long you’ve nursed and how much will determine how long it’ll take your milk supply to dry up. Every woman is going to experience this process differently. I did use cabbage for one afternoon, I’m not sure if it helped or not. I also have been drinking this “No Flow Tea” by Pink Stork – also, no clue if it’s doing anything but I like to try to help this process along.
Some women suggested Sudafed but I also wasn’t sure the last time I would nurse him, I was just going with the flow. No pun intended.
The big turning point for me to quit for sure and start squirting in the sink was pizza. I ate a cream cheese bagel and cheese pizza, since he has that dairy intolerance it would possibly hurt his little tummy.
Let me know if you have any questions! Write them below and I will be more than happy to respond with examples from my personal experience of weaning. I’m not a lactation consultant or anything, just another mama bestie looking out for any mama going through a similar experience.
