Any ideas on weaning a 1 yr old

[Alison Sullivan]

JS is a happy active little man who knows his mind. At the moment he is only on breastmilk and may nibble now and again on finger food but there are several days when he'll go without any solids. This leads to sore nipples, sleepless nights, no time out and a very high strung me. I'm looking for ideas to weaning him and introducing him to regular meals.

[MariaO]

My little one is 8th months and sounds of a similar disposition to your little fellow.
Have you given him a spoon to feed himself while you are feeding him?
Or sometimes I will give Aoife some melon to feed herself while I try and shovel in some 'solids'. Also, I try and give something a little substantial with the finger foods - i.e. avocado on white bread cut into fingers.


sorry I can't be more help. I will watch this thread with interest for tips also.

[JanetF]

Are you sure he's attaching properly? As they get teeth their attachment can alter. If your baby is consciously choosing from instinct to be an exclusively bf baby, weaning him is not only going to be emotionally painful but leave him with no nutrition. At 1 it's quite ok for the vast bulk of their intake to be bm. It is, after the perfect substance for them. If he is feeding very very frequently all the time (every hour say day and night) and you're getting sore nipples, it's more likely that he's not attaching properly or he'd feed less because he'd be getting more. Also, your nipples really shouldn't be hurting at this point unless, as I say, there's some other problem going on. You might find the No Cry Sleep Solution book helpful to help you cut down on night feeds. Going out in the day can often distract even the most committed booby baby too LOL. My son definitely feeds less when we're out because he's more interested in what's around him. You can offer rice milk, oat milk and water during the day in a sippy cup too which will reduce the number of times he's on the boob. You're doing such a great thing for your son by feeding him and weaning him could really traumatise him at such a young age. It will also make your job as a parent that much harder without that constant source of nutrition and comfort. I'd be hardpressed to get my son to sleep without it and I have no desire to struggle over sleep with him ever! An ABA group would be really helpful to you at this point. You've done so wonderfully well to bf a year, why not hang in there, make some small adjustments and allow your son to lead the weaning dance. No trauma at all for him then!
Try this for info on solids and bm in a baby of 1.
http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/index.html

[Alison Sullivan]

Thanks MariaO for the suggestions, some of which I have tried very successfully, JS loves the finger food. He will enjoy anything for a day or two then will not touch it, I just keep trying various things all the time.

JanetF enjoyed your indepth suggestions and advice and will definitely take it on board. Yes I too think weaning him totally would be a big strain and very emotionally draining. JS attaches evry well it's just that now that he has teeth, he tests them on me now and again and the soreness is caused due to the length of time he sucks (more for the comfort rather than nourishment) And yes going out is a big distraction he could skip a couple of feeds when we are out.

I'm going to try anything and everything to make it as easy on both of us and alsospread it over a longer period rather than my initial thoughts of going cold turkey.

Thanks