Completion of breastfeeding sometimes becomes a serious problem for mom. It is even more complicated when two children. Therefore, we have prepared useful recommendations for you that will help you in this difficult process.
Why do weaning? This is useful, convenient and natural. That's right, but still there are good reasons to finish breastfeeding before the babies themselves refuse mother's milk:
- over 2 years old - according to WHO experts, this is the limit, then you need to complete the GW;
- food allergy at the crumbs - in this case, it’s easier and more effective for the mother to control the diet of the child than to follow a strict diet for years or doom a child to chronic dermatitis;
- mom's pregnancy - during this period, due to hormonal changes in the body, a woman may experience pain or discomfort while feeding an older baby, and taste and composition of breast milk;
- Mom’s disease and exhaustion.
8 rules for weaning twins
Weaning a baby from the chest is not an easy task. Some manage to go through this stage quickly and painlessly, while other mothers, faced with the first difficulties, decide to breastfeed to the victorious end. Sleepless nights await the rest, filled with children's tears, screams and indignation. If you have twins, get ready for the fact that there will be twice as many problems. Everything is complicated due to a chain reaction: as soon as one child starts asking for a chest and crying, the second immediately repeats after him. Here's another complication: when one baby wakes up, he wakes up the second with his cry, but they cannot be laid down at the same time.
Listen to our tips to complete breastfeeding twins quickly and without nerves.
1. Do the same with children.
Clearly observe the rule: if you feed, then both children at once, if you do not feed, then nobody. Let one of the babies initially less attached to the chest, still do not excommunicate him first and do not feed him in front of the second. Otherwise, you will achieve only jealousy, resentment and a feeling of inequality between the crumbs.
It is also not worth it to feed one child quietly, leaving for another room or waiting until the second falls asleep. "Lucky" will begin to seem that you love him more, and this will ruin the relationship between the twins.
Remember: if you have firmly decided that it is time to complete breastfeeding, be unshakable, nothing should confuse you. Even if one of the children is offended, sick, bumps, cannot fall asleep - do not indulge him, but try to find another way to calm him. Otherwise, you only delay the moment of excommunication and make the process painful for both babies.
2. First clean the day feeds
Usually it is easier for crumbs to refuse day feedings, than from night. First, try replacing one feeding with any complementary foods. If your twins already eat cereals, meat and vegetables, give them mixtures or fermented milk products. Gradually completely stop breastfeeding during the day, doing this only before bedtime and, if necessary, at night.
3. Find new ways to calm your children.
Mother’s breast for a baby is not just milk and food, but also a means to soothe it. That is why babies are applied to the chest when they are sick, stressed, upset, fell, banged and feel pain. If you decide to complete breastfeeding, look for other ways to calm your babies. It can be dummies or special rituals to relieve stress: pick up, pat on the head and back, kiss, blow on a sore spot and so on.
We also read: How to calm a crying child (31 tips. Part 2). + 5 steps according to the method of Harvey Carp
4. Invent a ritual to go to bed
After the termination of daytime feeding, you need to teach twins to fall asleep without a chest. Come up with other remedies that will help calm the children and set them to sleep. For example, you can read fairy tales, sing lullabies or listen to them in recordings, turn on a musical night lamp with a projector. Another good way to put babies is to sit by their cots, stroking and hugging them until they fall asleep.
We also read: Bedtime Stories - A Pleasant Bedtime Ritual
Do not rock the peanuts. So you will develop an addiction in children, which you also have to fight, and it is physically very difficult to rock two babies at the same time. Still, in your arms, the children will only ask more strongly for milk, because they will smell it and the proximity of their mother’s breasts.
If your twins begin to be very capricious and can not fall asleep without milk, give them bottles in the crib with a mixture, milk porridge or a sour-milk drink. By the way, it will be easier to wean the peanuts from their breasts if not their mother, but someone else will put them to bed.
We also read: An ingenious trick - how to put a child to sleep in 1 minute
5. Stop night feeds last
When babies can fall asleep without mother's milk, you can stop night feeding. One must act decisively: just abruptly stop giving them breasts at night. Let grandmother or dad better come to awakening little ones, because when they see their mother, they will ask for more breasts.
If one of the twins is more restless and often wakes the second with his cry, try temporarily placing their cots in different rooms. Just do not put them next to the parent bed.
But to leave babies at night with relatives in order to wean them from feeding at night is inhumane. This will only result in double stress: there is no mom and her breasts nearby, and an unfamiliar environment around. It’s dishonest to leave to rest, leaving the peanuts to dad or grandmother: refusal from breastfeeding is the common thing of mother and children, so it’s better to go through this stage together.
We also read: How to wean a baby from night feedings
6. Do not tease the kids
While the children are still asking for breasts, do not undress with them, do not wear clothes with a deep neckline and always wear underwear. So you will not provoke a desire to attach to the chest.
[sc name = ”rsa”]
7. Act Consistently, Decisively, and Patiently
Weaning is necessary gently, gradually and systematically. Do not rush to extremes, either running away from home from crying babies, then starting to feed them again, unable to withstand screams and swallowing tears.If you behave this way, the children will understand that you can beg your mother for a breast - you just need to louder and ask for longer. As a result, they will roll up even louder and longer tantrums, stop sleeping at night and begin to manipulate you.
The only right decision is to act gently but decisively. Children should understand: since mom decided that now they sleep without breastfeeding, it will be so. If the kids were told that there was no milk before breakfast, then they never drink it before breakfast again, and under no circumstances.
Statistics show that it is most difficult to wean children to require breasts at night - it usually takes from 2 to 7 nights. If it seems to you that you can’t endure the cries of the twins for so long and come up with different ways to calm them down, if there is no one to help you pack up the tots and get up to them at night, if the children themselves are difficult to excommunicate - perhaps, in your case, there’s another It’s time to continue breastfeeding.
8. Talk to the children if they are already grown
Weaning babies older than 1.5–2 years from the breast, be sure to talk to them about it. Be sure to tell them that you decided to stop feeding them breast milk. To make it easier for kids to understand why you are doing this, you can create a legend - for example, that they grew up, so mom’s milk runs out. Big ones are not breast-fed. Then give the little ones a little time to understand the essence of what is happening and prepare for change. Feed them another 1-2 weeks so they enjoy mom's milk. Then stop feeding once and for all.
We also read:
- Weaning the baby from the breast correctly: methods, rules, myths and what you should not do
- How to complete breastfeeding with maximum comfort?
- Weaning a baby: how not to do
- How to wean a baby from night feedings
- Folk ways to stop lactation and a list of drugs to quickly stop lactation
[sc name = ”ads”]
How to wean a baby? Narrated by Nina Zaichenko
The most detailed guide - how to wean a baby from the chest. How to wean a baby up to a year? How to wean a baby after a year? How to wean a baby after two years? What do you face when weaning? What you need to know when weaning a baby from the breast? How to prevent stagnation of milk during excommunication?
My experience twice, my advice! Alla Dvoretskova
Mom’s school. Advises Olesya Kochina. GV Specialist
The most important thing applies to children the same way, my girlfriend already has twins, she understood this rule right away! And before bedtime, she always read fairy tales, and did not stop until both fell asleep, although if one fell asleep, the second woke him up immediately, so there were no problems).
Our “weaning” process went as smoothly and painlessly as possible, I just told the children that they became big and strong, after that their desire to feed from their breasts was gone, the most important thing is to find the right approach to the baby.
A method of weaning works flawlessly - to leave for a week to visit, and leave the babies with someone from their relatives. This time is enough for them to break the habit of breastfeeding. The main thing is that relatives agree to stay with the children. So my sister did, and when she arrived home, the children did not ask for breasts, and did not even act up.
They are so cute in the photo, I wanted twins right away ... ..