Is it easy to wean a breastfed baby at 12 months? Can someone give me a plan to follow?
ByMy baby is 6 months old and is cosleeping and breastfeeding. He likes to nurse, then rolls over and falls asleep (at night and at naps). Is there something I should begin doing to prepare for weaning? Also, how much do babies nurse around 10-12 months old?
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4 Comments
April 9th, 2010 at 11:41 am
This all depends enormously on the baby. Some wean easily whenever mom chooses to initiate it. Others have a harder time. Some 10-12 monthers are only nursing 2-3 times a day and sleeping 10-12 hours at night. Others are still eating every couple of hours, and once or twice at night.
At six months there is nothing you really need to be doing to prepare, except to start offering small amounts of healthy solid foods. You could also start offering water/dilute juice ina sippy cup … though 6 months is still a hair on the early side.
Oh, and if you are willing (and baby is willing, or you want to force it), moving baby out of your bed may make weaning easier. [If the breasts are always 'there', it will be hard for baby to understand why he can't nurse.]
Try to relax about this. Your baby is still a baby. When you feel it’s time to start initiating weaning, whether you choose to begin at around year, or continue for longer, just start the process. (Or wait for baby to initiate it.)
April 9th, 2010 at 12:01 pm
There is no “normal” amount for babies to nurse from 10-12 months. Some nurse 3 times a day and some nurse “like a newborn”
When you choose to start weaning then start weaning. There is no reason to borrow trouble.
However there is no good reason to wean at 1 year and every reason not to.
Extended Breastfeeding Fact Sheet
http://www.kellymom.com/bf/bfextended/ebf-benefits.html
A Natural Age of Weaning
http://www.kathydettwyler.org/detwean.html
Weaning
http://www.kellymom.com/bf/weaning/index.html
April 9th, 2010 at 12:18 pm
Weaning starts when you start giving him food other than breastmilk. So if you have started solids, then you have started weaning.
There’s nothing magic about the 1 year mark, and weaning isn’t a developmental milestone. It’s a process and it’s easiest on your baby and on you if you don’t set artificial timelines in your expectations. Of course, you certainly CAN cut him off at 12mo or plan to be done at 12 mo, but its EASIER if you think of weaning in terms of an age range (ie. between 12mo and 18mo) and let your son adjust slowly.
April 9th, 2010 at 1:09 pm
My second child has just turned two years old and he still breastfeeds at night when he wakes – then rolls over and goes to sleep. We co-sleep so that makes it easier. He hardly feeds during the day now just when he goes down for a nap.
If you and your baby are still enjoying breastfeeding at the 12 month mark then there are lots of benefits for continuing beyond.
The World Health Organization recommends that infants should be exclusively breastfed for the first 6 months of life and breastfeeding should continue to at least 2 years with weaning foods added at 6 months of age.
Don’t be in any hurry to wean off breastmilk – just let it happen when it happens!