Weaning off breast/lack of sleep

[danielle_K]

Hi Ladies,

I am desperately seeking advice on how to wean my 10mth old daughter, Brianna, off the breast.

I have been trying for a couple of months now to get her to drink formula, from bottles or cups, unsuccessfully. She will drink water or juice from a cup, but as soon as I put expressed breast milk or formula in it, she won't have anything to do with it.

Also, from about 4 months of age, Brianna started waking through the night, sometimes every 1-2 hours for a bf. She starts off the night in her bed, but after she wakes for her first feed won't go back into her bed. She started on solids about 5 1/2 mths.

If anyone has any good advice, please let me know.

Thanks again.

[alicesmum]

Hi Danielle
I really feel for you...sounds like you're sleep deprived!!
I am no expert as my 8 month old sleeps about 10 hours at night nowadays, thank god! BUT...here's my tip. One of the playgroup mums said she fed her DD HEAPS of solids btw 5-8pm and that really helped get her through, so now our routine btw 5-8pm goes like this:

5pm - ~100-200g of mashed vegies (jar or home cooked depending)

play for 1/2 hour

6pm - 1-2 pieces of vegemite toast and as much pureed fruit as I can get into her!!!

7pm - a jar of custard

8pmish - both breasts and to bed (usually with 5-10 mins of grizzling :)

If it doesn't let up soon, you could always call a Centre like Riverton is Brisbane (where are you?) and speak at length with a CHN or a sleep expert for some advice.

BTW - if it helps at all, I got alice used to formula (which she has when I'm away coz I'm SO over expressing) by mising in a bit of sugar in the bottle and by mixing it with her cereal in the mornings and with fruit sometimes.

Best of luck!!!

P.S. If you have any luck weaning her off the breast, let me know your tips as I will need to wean Alice when she's about 12 months. A friend has been trying to wean her 11 mth old with NO success (she's pretty hooked on that boob!! :o

rachel

[danielle_K]

Thank you Alicesmum,

You are so lucky, I wish Brianna still slept like that. I appreciate your advice, I will definitely give it a try starting from tomorrow.

Yes, I am slightly sleep deprived!! I will also try the sugar in the formula, I have tried putting formula in her cereal and she was fine with that, but not in the cup or bottle.

I will let you know how it goes.

[Christophersmum]

Hi all

I just read Danielle K's message about weaning/lack of sleep with interest, and would really like to get some advice about the same topic.

Christopher is now 12 months and has never slept through the night - he generally wakes twice, once at about 12 and again at 3 before getting up any time between 5.30 and 7. He will only fall asleep by feeding, so although he will settle himself between those times, I am the only one who can get him back to sleep. He was slow to take to solids (around 8 months) but is now having three meals per day, although the amount he eats varies quite a lot. He has water from a cup but doesn't really drink a significant amount, preferring to play with (and teethe on) the cup. I give him three breastfeeds during the day on the advice of the early childhood nurse but this is on top of the night feeds.

I would like to wean him now but am already dreading getting him off to sleep and then settling him when he wakes (day and night). Also, should I be weaning him onto cow's milk now rather than formula? Any advice appreciated - thanks in advance.

[draught]

Hi Christopher's mum
I weaned my daughter onto cow's milk at 12 months - by that stage apparently there is no need for formula.
Before you can wean him though you are going to need to do something about his sleep (which you already know of course!) I have used controlled crying with both my girls with great success but if it is not something you want to try then what you need to work out is what you are prepared to do to help him re-settle, as you will need to teach him to sleep by using something other than the breast. It may be that you are happy to pat him to sleep, or sing, or play music - whatever it is you will need to teach him to associate that with sleeping, rather than the breast, before you can wean him. (Or you can bite the bullet and let him go to sleep with no aids - it is up to you entirely). There are lots of books on the subject - I read "How to solve your child's sleep problems" by Richard Ferber and found it useful. Other people on here may have other suggestions.

Once you have the sleep sorted out then you need to work out what he will drink from in order to give him the milk replacement. My daughter wouldn't take a bottle at all and in the end I found that she would drink from a straw so we bought the Mag Mag straw cups and 18 months later she still likes her milk in them.
Good luck with it all