Breastfeeding a newborn baby is the most natural condition for every young mother. Thus, she gives him her love and protection, strengthens the immune system, maintains close tactile and psychological contact, which is very important and necessary for the correct development of the baby. But even with the most successful breastfeeding, the time comes when the mother begins to wonder how to wean her breastfed, already quite grown and stronger baby.
Video: when to wean a baby?
Options, methods and methods of excommunication
You can wait for the natural involution of the breast - a state where the breast itself stops producing milk, the glandular tissue of the breast is gradually replaced by fat and the breast returns to its pre-pregnancy state.
Or, focusing on the state of the sucking needs of the child, wait for his complete self-excommunication from the mother’s breast.
But, not every mom is able to go through this whole long process. Many factors affect this - physical and emotional fatigue from long-term feeding, unpleasant or painful sensations in the chest during feeding of the grown-up baby, its frequent “freezes” on the chest, very similar to the “freezes” of the newborn baby, improper grip or just pampering of the baby near the breast.
Other reasons for stopping breastfeeding may be the need to go to work, business trips, hospitalization or shaky health of the mother and just public opinion. Long-breasted mothers today, unfortunately, often cause bewilderment or even censure among others rather than universal approval.
Depending on the urgency of excommunication, you can choose one of the ways to wean a baby from breastfeeding. They differ from each other both in the rate of excommunication, and in “stress” and trauma for mothers and children.
You can stop breastfeeding by applying:
- Grandma's way;
- Medication method;
- Soft or natural way.
Video: how we completed breastfeeding:
Weaning from the breast “grandmother's way”
How were our mothers, grandmothers and great-grandmothers weaned from the breasts of children? A very simple way, but exceptionally harsh and traumatic for both mother and baby - they dragged the chest with a sheet, while sending the child for some time to relatives.
For the baby, this method was a double shock - there is no beloved breast, no beloved mom.And my mother, in addition to the psychological discomfort of the long absence of the child and the worries for him, added a whole bunch of physical ailments - a terrible pain in a milk-filled chest and high fever, always accompanying severe engorgement and the appearance of lumps in the chest. When using this method, it is possible to bring the breast to inflammation of the glandular tissue - mastitis, often leading to surgery.
Of course, you can wean a baby from the chest in this way. But at what cost ... the risk of health complications for mom and huge stress for the baby. The feeling of regret from this method of stopping the feeding of the baby may remain with the mother for a long time, if not forever.
Weaning "in a medical way"
A medical method of excommunication, as a rule, is offered by doctors (gynecologists or family doctors from the clinic). To do this, they prescribe medications that suppress the production of the hormone prolactin, which is responsible for lactation in the female body. In particular, one such drug is Dostinex. Do not forget about the possible side effects of taking a drug that violates the hormonal background of your body - nausea, headache, dizziness, insomnia.
Also, the drug Dostinex will not work quite effectively without a maximum reduction in the number of attachments to the chest, followed by their final cancellation. This is especially true of night and morning feeding the baby. Mom decides how to cancel feeding herself, but this is not done in one day. The most common tricks to distract a baby from breastfeeding:
- Spreading breasts with brilliant green, mustard, tincture of wormwood or motherwort and other “horror stories and bitters” for a child is psychologically very difficult for a child to trust in such a beloved and dear as mother’s breast;
- To distract the child from the requirement to suckle the breast as much as possible - here the help of grandmothers, nannies, dads and in general all family members who come up with all kinds of entertainment for the child will come in handy;
- Often hug, kiss, carry the child in her arms, providing him with other tactile sensations from contact with her;
- Do not expose the breast in the presence of the baby, do not wear open blouses or a neckline, do not provoke the baby to demand the breast.
In this case, there is no need to bandage the chest - just put on a comfortable and not tight bra without pits.
If you feel full and full in the chest, it must be decanted, but a little bit, only to a sense of relief. This does not allow the painful state of the breast in the mother and does not provoke an increase in lactation. Gradually, the breast ceases to produce milk, and the child ceases to require breast.
Wean a baby to suckle in this way is less problematic for mom and baby. The child continues to communicate with his mother, trusting relationships remain, excommunication occurs more gently and not too quickly, as in the case of the “grandmother's method”. But drug hormonal intervention in the female body should still be used only in exceptional cases.
Weaning from the breast “in a soft or natural way”
Soft weaning is a fairly lengthy process, which takes time up to six months or more. This is not involution or self-excommunication, but a conscious gradual cessation of feeding, depending on the child’s readiness for this process. What is required for this or what steps need to be completed:
- Gradually cancel all the messy and not so necessary daily feedings for the child - when the child is simply tired, bored, requires comfort or communication, trying instead to devote more time to other activities - games, walks, entertainment;
- Gradually cancel daytime feeding of the baby “in a dream” and “near sleep”, replacing them with reading fairy tales, songs or motion sickness;
- Gradually cancel the morning feeding “to wake up”, waking up earlier than the child and making him porridge for breakfast;
- gradually cancel the evening feeding “before bedtime”, feeding the child a hearty dinner and continuing to distract him with fairy tales, tactile contact and motion sickness;
- Gradually cancel the remaining night feedings, moving to stroking the baby and hugging in a dream.
The emphasis in these stages is placed on the word “gradually” ... that is, until the first stage is fully mastered, it does not make sense to go on to the next. Therefore, natural weaning is the most optimal way, allowing the child to calmly adapt to new, changing conditions for him to communicate with his mother, mother's breast and the world around him.
Mom also gradually moves to a new level of communication with the child, without experiencing physical discomfort from pain in the chest and not undergoing a sharp change in hormonal levels.
Lactation decreases slowly and correctly, the amount of milk decreases, responding to a decrease in the number of applications per day. This method is the least traumatic for all of its participants, but it requires a lot of calm and patience from the mother, as she is quite stretched in time.
Choosing from all existing and currently practicing methods of weaning, it is much easier to complete breastfeeding, focusing on the readiness of the baby for this.
Mom’s emotional attitude to stop feeding is also important.
If the mother doubts whether to stop feeding, then the mother herself is not yet ready enough for this process.
Everything should be ready for the completion of breastfeeding - both the baby, and the mother, and even mother's breast. The psychological comfort and physical health of the mother and the child depend on how we wean our baby from breastfeeding.
Related Articles:
- How to complete breastfeeding with maximum comfort?
- How to wean a baby from night feedings
- 8 tips for weaning twins
- Bad Tips for Weaning
- How to stop lactation and milk production
- The first lure - when and where to start?
What you should not do
What can not be done with excommunication? Myths, folk methods and other harmful tips:
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 article is very relevant to me now! Thanks for the detailed briefing !!!! We will try.
Thank you. I have already beaten the baby from the breast. But it was very difficult. The baby cried at first. But then stopped. But it was not easy for me, it is very painful. Now everything is fine.
Thank you very nice article. My baby and I just hung on stage 2 of 3 ways, but we will try.
Very interesting, I’ll definitely try, my son is 2.6 years old. In the afternoon he is in the kindergarten, but upon his return he immediately asks for a chest, and so on all night. It is very painful and painful. And most importantly, I do not get enough sleep, and therefore all day on pins and needles.
I was not particularly puzzled about this. Arriving once again to my grandmother, when my son was 1.5 years old, they agreed that you can try to excommunicate. For a week, the son slept with her grandmother in her room: he fell asleep and woke up next to her. A couple of sobs and the matter is settled.
2.6 ... I fed the older 2.8 until the milk was gone, but then there were good reasons for him to disappear, but how can I not wean my daughter for 2 years now, they already smeared everyone, to no avail, when did he have time to go to the abyss?
I quickly weaned, but not by my own will, but according to the doctor’s prescription. I immediately transferred to the mixture (if you are interested, to the nuppi mixture, this is an Estonian manufacturer - we studied everything before buying). The child, it seems to me, quickly relearned and did not particularly worry, unlike me. I was very worried about the emotional connection - but in the end I realized that the emotional connection in any case remains and only intensifies)) so thank God, the consequences are positive!
A child on March 24, 2015 will be a year old ... I urgently need to quickly wean it from the breast in the near future .. due to health conditions .. allergy on hand .. I’ve been treating for 3 months and to no avail .. all the medications that can help are contraindicated ... I would feed and fed yet, but in the near future it is necessary to wean ... my breast sucks in the morning (roughly speaking, while I sleep) and before bedtime .. at night I’m going to put everything near me automatically and give this chest I don’t remember .. help quickly wean from the chest
I weaned my little one in 1.5 years after he began to fall asleep with tit in his mouth, holding it between his teeth. It was terribly painful. My husband and I agreed that during the day we spend time with the whole family, and at night I went to my parents, that is, the child fell asleep without dad and dad - they read books, put their favorite toys with them, and drank some water. So we endured 3 nights and EVERYTHING! The child began to fall asleep under reading, and I covered my chest with a diaper or sheet with the words “bo-bo”. For both months, both of us have been comfortable and comfortable) The milk gradually disappeared, decanted the first three days. True, the child is now gladly stroking his chest with his hand before bedtime, but this is only joy)
My child is 2 years old, there is no grandmother or dad who would not sit with the child, And day and night we only have a “tit” and can eat poorly because of that. Yes, I feel sorry for her to tears. I don’t know what to do on I became nervous on this soil, and in the summer I want to give it to the garden. What to do, but she is not going to leave it by her mood.
Hello! Maria, I have the same problem as you, our dad is always at work, but I myself can’t do it! Please advise us
Hello Maria and Jeanne. I have the same problem. To daughter 1.4 and I don’t know how to wean her from a breast. She herself is throwing and is not going to. Pain is a nightmare. So I suffer, I do not know what to do.
Hello, dear “friends in misfortune” (Maria, Jeanne, Anna)! I have the same problem as you, soon in the kindergarten, and without the "titi" we can not. If I don’t give, then the son gives out such tantrums that my patience is not enough and I have to give in.
My Grishutke 2.5. We have been going to the garden for a week, but only before lunch - because he falls asleep only with tit. We decided to excommunicate.I’ll drink sage, and try to wean it according to the advice given in the article: enhanced feeding before bedtime and fairy tales-toys ... While we are set up for a daytime sleep without tit, we’ll already consider how to completely stop the hepatitis B from the baby’s reaction.
Mommies are dear, patience to all and strength, we have a year and a month and a third day without tee, just smeared with green and I say bo-bo, wept for two days at night, but all the time I think it makes me feel better all the same.
Thank you very much for the article! Daughter 1.2. Sucks both day and night. There is milk, but sometimes it just tires. Puzzled by gradual weaning from the chest. I'll try to use the third method of excommunication 🙂
Greetings to all mummies and just readers!) Give advice. My son is a year and a month old, I want to wean sissy?. Well, firstly there is nothing useful in milk, secondly a big boy, thirdly I want to go to the sea to relax, so to speak, I’m going without him for a week. Sucks around the clock, sleeps with me, but sometimes sleeps without me only with dad. I quietly send my husband and son to my parents, with the night so that at least weary, he sleeps normally, is naughty at night but not much. Comes again sucks . I smeared it with a lemon, at first I didn’t take it, then I thought it over and wiped it off again. It eats everything and it’s good. it’s convenient and painless to transfer.) Yes, and even cow’s milk and the mixture finally can’t take ((((Thank you very much in advance! ??
My daughter 1.8 still can not decide to excommunicate. All day we are together. Day did not want to give her a breast. So she comes up, looks at me with sad eyes. Well, how not to give ?. So I don’t know what to do.
My daughter will be in March 3, I also can’t wean it, there are such tantrums at night, I don’t have patience
I generally have twins, they are 1.6, I also want to wean from the chest, but I will not dare. On the one hand, it’s necessary, there’s no strength left, I’ve become thin, I want to restore my kg even by the summer, and I’m ashamed to go out to people))) On the other hand, I feel sorry for the children, it happens that they fight because of sissy, they just can't do it without it))
I read you, and I want to cry ..? Since I know that it will be a huge stress for me, and for my child, my son, two years old, I never ate art. With a mixture, only my milk, and now I have to go somewhere, for 10 days, I can’t pick up the child, I don’t know what to do, and I want him to give up, because she’s morally and physically tired of his feeding, she sucks like a nipple several times until the morning, well, I don’t want to give up, it’s very hard ((I feel sorry for him, I adore the tit, you it happened that right to tears sorry for them? ((((due to the fact that breasts are thrown
Thank you, everything is very informative. At 4 months, my eldest son threw his chest himself when the pediatrician advised to express, to feed from the bottle - after the nipple the child was no longer applied, the stupidity came out of ignorance. The second son grew up without dummies and bottles, he is already 2.2, we are preparing for the kindergarten, we agree not to suck with him, slowly, without hurrying. Relatives criticize, so my son and I, as conspirators, began to feed at night, "quietly." I hope that we will soon switch to replacing with something no less pleasant and interesting - a dream!
My son 2.9 I want to wean him from the chest I know what will suit me tantrums !!! What to do? How to wean him? He breasts and strokes and regrets and kisses. I say let's hug and kiss, there’s no tits and that's it !!!
I will share my experience. I was about to wean my daughter (one and a half years) from the chest. I read a lot. And a hundred times about the way where you need to smear your breast with green, and, they say, all the problems are solved. So they write: ... and my child forgot about his chest at once, and he slept all night, just a fairy tale! I didn’t believe it, I think if it were so simple, so all mothers would not consider excommunication as a problem. I decided to leave home and leave my daughter to my grandmother and husband. They appointed a day, and on our last night together decided: what if I’m not losing anything. I spread it, I go and I don’t know what to do later, what to say, my daughter is waiting for a tit on the bed. I am showing her, and she will light up! Shows a finger and laughs.And then awareness came, roared! She was afraid even to approach her, so this green frightened her. I tell her that tita is like, and I gave it to her little little girl, because Ksyusha is big, Ksyusha knows how to chew her teeth with this and that, etc. etc…. I look, and she sleeps. She believed me and agreed to refuse for the sake of Lyalechka! I woke up at night and cried quietly, but I am the same text in a circle affectionately, but persistently, as a fait accompli. Mom is nearby, just there is no titi. Fell asleep on me. And so 3 nights. And then everything is OK. And now we sleep with our daughters in an embrace all night. No tears, no tantrums, no stress. She was ready, and I was determined to go to the end, which I also wish for you!
I really liked the video about excommunication from g.v. Very real tips !!!
I have always been for the natural termination of breastfeeding - because this process really turned out to be very mild and painless. I fed the child up to 3 years old, and was ready for a longer period, but my immune system began to malfunction (especially since I was already far from 25) - the doctor said: urgently stop! She informed the child that I was ill and couldn’t feed him anymore - and he, surprisingly, didn’t act up, didn’t insist, only remembered sometimes (about a month). Although I used to prepare for this process, and fed it occasionally - but such a smooth completion was a pleasant surprise for me! )
My baby is one year old and I’ve been pregnant for two months, I decided to wean my non-injured son, gave less breasts every day, although he depended on them, but we managed, now he just walks up and runs away and I'm glad that it was so calm for me , we don’t have anyone nearby who would look after our son and here we have managed on our own and he is comfortable and I feel calm
My son is 3.6 I don’t know how to wean it will be just awful. Tell me how
I can’t wean my child 2.3 years from the chest! I don’t know what to do? Help?
My daughter is 2.6 years old. The daughter never fell asleep without a breast in 2.6 and did not stay with anyone longer than 4 hours. Sissy dependence is very large. At night she looks for and sucks 2-3 times. We have been going to the garden for a week now and the teachers call me an hour later so that I will pick up the child who cries without interruption and asks for a pussy. Today is the first time I do not give breasts. She punished her with green and said that the boobs had deteriorated, disappeared, which hurt to touch. The daughter understood, until the evening she asked if she had gone through, whether it hurts or not. Before night sleep, she cried for 40 minutes. I rocked my daughter in my arms under Aibolit. I fell asleep on my shoulder. Then I woke up at one in the morning from hellish chest pain, got up and felt that I was dizzy and I was losing consciousness. My husband gave me water and I moved to another room to open the window. It became better when my chest was puzzled and put on an elastic topic. (Slept in a T-shirt). Daughter woke up with a cry, 20min asked Sissy: mom, please give Mom! “I read it, took it in my hands and rocked while sitting until it fell asleep. I feel discomfort in my chest and feel nauseous. I'm worried about the chest. We need to express tomorrow. I also dream that in 3 days my daughter will forget about pussies ...
Personally, it was very difficult for me to wean my daughter from her chest for a year. She threw me tantrums, refused other food. More difficulties arose because she didn’t suck either a nipple or a bottle at all. I watered and fed her from a spoon. I had to smear my breasts with a little not sharp mustard or saline, only that way they were saved. But after a couple of days, she had already stopped so eagerly demanding her breasts and gradually forgot about her.