Babble

First time mom here, my son will be one any minute now and I'm trying to sort out the whole weaning thing.

He eats tons of table food- everything really- and eats a lot of plain full-fat yogurt.  He doesn't take a bottle and he loves to drink water out of his sippy cup.  I don't really want to give him milk (family allergies and tendency to be congested) and my pediatrician doesn't seem to think it's necessary because of all the food he eats.

He is down to two feedings a day, morning and night, and I'm not in any particular hurry to wean him (nor does he seem to be in any particular hurry to stop nursing) but it's clear that it's not really for his nutritional needs at this point.

 I know this can be hotly debated and I'm not interested in that at all.  I'd just like to hear some of your experiences and your reasons for making the choices you did in regards to weaning.  Thanks in advance for sharing your experiences.

We weaned at 14 months of age. It wasn't a decision so much as it was that the feedings got fewer and fewer and shorter and shorter until I decided that one night would be the last night. My daughter never asked to nurse after that so I feel like she was ready, too. I felt a little engorged for a few weeks, but it wasn't too bad since my supply had dwindled down so much.

I had several reasons for wanting to stop, but one of them was that my sex drive was almost nonexistent when I was nursing. After weaning things got back to normal.

 Good luck!
 

Our Lads weaned themselves, probably at about 18 months.  My wife was crushed by it; she'd wanted the experience to go on longer.  But they were ready to move on, and since it was motivated by them, we respected it.  They're healthy, happy, good eaters.  One of my guys has a bit of a dairy allergy, so calcium is an issue, but you can get calcium so many places now -- we get the calcium orange juice, which is also useful for me as a slowly falling-apart super-busy dad.

I weaned slowly around 13-14 month. I'd gone back to work at 9 months, so was doing the on-demand thing mornings, evenings and on weekends and holidays.

I stopped because we'd decided to have another baby and I didn't want to have to nurse and be pregnant at the same time (I'm not saying this is the way to go, just that it was the right way for me). The baby would have preferred to keep going and I felt bad for making her stop, but since we did it really slowly, I had few engorgement issues and she was fine with it, too.

Resources? Nothing really, just other mothers I talked to.

I tried weaning right after my son turned one. It was working well. I had him down to one feeding a day (first thing in the morning) but then we were struck with a very bad stomach flu and the only fluid he could keep down was breast milk. So we went back up to 4 feedings a day and had to start the weaning process all over again, only this time he was more resistent to weaning. I finally weaned him fully at 19 months.

To be honest, I would have nursed him longer, but we also wanted to start trying for another child and thought tandem nursing would not be ideal. I also felt a bit of pressure from my family. My mother felt it was time to wean, my husband felt it was time to wean and at times I also felt it was time to wean (but I'm unsure if that was totally me or if I was being influenced.)

As far as resources go, I found the best resources are other moms.

I too am a first time mom and also have a son who turned one today!  We're down to on-demand feedings (when he grabs on to my leg and won't let go) and feed in the morning, around lunch time, if I'm home, and when I come home from work.  We're on vacation for the holidays and hope to eliminate the lunch time feeding so I can stop pumping at work.  We don't plan on forcing him to stop the other two feedings as he's dropped all others on his own so far and think the same will happen over time.  My main goal for the end of his first year was to be able to stop feeding in the middle of the night and stop pumping at work and I think we will have those accomplished in a week or so.

Thanks everyone, for sharing your experiences.  I really appreciate it.  We're just going to play it by ear.  He was sick with the flu yesterday and I was glad he's still nursing as it was all the nourishment he could keep down.