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Leisa21
22-08-2008, 08:48
I know this is the bottlefeeding thread but I thought I'll probably get better advice from ladies who have weaned before than the current breastfeeders! Hey I'm breastfeeding and I have no idea lol.




So my girlfriend is after some advice her daughter who is 9 months old and she's returning to work soon. Her original plan was to breastfeed until 6 months and then slowly wean until 8 months. She's already had to delay work as she cant get her DD off the breast. She is happy to keep the first thing in the morning feed and the feed before bed going but its the 11:30 and 4pm feeds she cant shake. i gave her the best advice I had (wasnt very good lol) but nothing has worked.

Her daughter will only use a cheap and nasty sippy cup lol and sometimes she will only drink if the lids off lol my DS is like that too - I dont know if its a breastfeeding thing lol. Anyway any tips, she's a softy like all of us and cant let her bubs cry, besides her DD is quite stubborn too I've seen her work lol and she would rather starve than take a cup some days:eek:. Yet some days she gobbles up 120ml! So this is what she's tried already - all the formulas lol and they only one her DD likes is the Karicare(sp) one. She's tried bottles, diff teats, sippy cups and of coarse the throw away ones which she uses for water and now formula. She's tried letting me feed her the cup hoping that if it was from someone else she might take it:no:, she's tried refusing breast and her daughter just goes to sleep without it. Her DD is on 3 solid meals a day but still needs her milk. She has tried expressing but doesnt really want to do it at work as it takes at least 30mins at a time and she's a bit too uncomfotable to do it at work anyway.

Sorry for the long post but I just got off the phone from her and she is so stressed and just doesnt know what to do about it all. Any advice is welcomed :) Thank you ladies. Oh and the CHN havent been much help either they told her that her DD doesnt want to give up so she should keep going blah blah blah! I did too and she yelled at me lol, she has a mortgage to pay off, she's a single Mum and in order to keep things going she'd have to borrow money and she doesnt want that so staying home really isnt an option! Poor thing. Also how much should they be having, we saw the tin said 200ml but do they have to drink the whole thing???

Leisa21
22-08-2008, 10:36
Gosh that's a tough one for your friend! Ive heard the longer you don't offer a bottle the harder it is to change them. The breast is all her daughter knows!!! The only thing I can suggest is just downright refusing to give the breast. It will be hard, the crying will be hard but if she absolutely has to this may be the only option, I had to do it when changing my daughter over. Once she learned it would give her milk to fill her belly she started taking it, you really have to persist, it's hard to start with but each day will get a little bit easier.
Thanks, thats what I thought too, I cant get my boy to take even EBM as I dont think he realises milk doesnt only come from breats. I think she's realising the only way to do it is to persist. Just hoping there would be another way. I'm going there tomorrow to see what I can do!

Leisa21
22-08-2008, 10:44
Well if she's only trying for one feed a day or something, it's not going to work, you wait till bub is hungry, offer the bottle and keep offering it. You don't give in and give the breast because then the child will learn if they cry and refuse the bottle they'll get the boob. If bub don't take the bottle, leave it for a while then try again.
Sounds tricky lol, not looking forward to weaning myself, lets hope DS gives up before I'm ready to lol.

I'll pass that on too :)