Seeking Advice for Weening from Breast to Bottle in Albuquerque, NM

To ween my daughter from breastfeeding I had to have my husband give her the bottle and put her to bed for a few nights. If I was anywhere near her she would start crying and wanted to be with me. This worked for us in about 3 nights.

Hope this helps!

M. G

Hi C.,

I had the same problem, but my daughter was only 3 months when I returned to work. I'd say to you, take your time going back to work because it is so hard to be without your little one all day especially if you are breastfeeding. I had such a hard time breaking her from breast to formula. She would just not take the bottle, whether breast milk or formula. I ended having to leave work and feed her because hours would pass and she'd be hungry but wouldn't give in. Finally, after 3 visits to emergency (my worries of her not getting enough nutrition), and 2 months of breaking she suddenly just started taking the bottle with a large soft nipple. She still uses that same nipple and with the right temperature, doesn't matter where she is, she will take it just fine.

Sorry for such a long response, but I guess 3 points to your concern:
1. Definately take your sweet time going back to work, it is worth to stay home if you can.
2. Right nipple
3. Perfect temperature

Best of luck to you and your little one.

C.

I had to go back to work so she had to learn to take the bottle. She would wait the 10-12 hours until I got home from work and would just scream, because she was so hungry and would not take the bottle. My doctor told me that I just had to stop feeding on the days when I worked. She screamed for two weeks straight and then finally took the bottle for my husband. I still continued to nurse her on the days that I did not work until she was eight months old. By then she was so into food that she did not really care. Hopefully that is helpful! -A.

C.,
You should check out the book, Good Night Sleep Tight, by Kim West, "the sleeplady". I hired her as a consultant a couple of years ago to help me ween my daughter and help me to train her to go to sleep in her crib and stay asleep. I could not do the "cry it out" method, and Kim's approach is much more gentle.

I'll give you a summary of the steps, but first a few thoughts if you decide to keep nursing a while longer. I nursed my daughter for 18 months and my son for 15 months. I pumped at work for the first 9 months or so, but then I weened them from nursing during the day (so I could quit pumping) and just nursed them first thing in the morning and at night. If you did this, you could go back to work, and still enjoy the close bond of nursing your daughter at night and in the morning. Your body adjusts pretty quickly to the new nursing schedule.

When you decide to ween her completely, first, get her used to taking a bottle during the day and just nurse at night. Then time your night nursings. If you are nursing her for 20 minutes before bed, decrease it by 2 minutes every night. In addition, separate the nursing from falling asleep. I would nurse Kate with the lights on, sitting in a rocking chair, then, when she is sleepy, but not asleep, put her in her crib. Kate was sleeping in our bed, so I was also training her to sleep in her crib during this time. The Sleep Lady "shuffle" is outlined in her book if you are doing this, too. Basically, you stay right by the crib the first 3 nights and sooth her until she goes to sleep, then you move your chair 1-2 feet away and sooth her with your voice until she goes to sleep for 3 more nights, then you move closer to the door...for 3 more nights, then outside the door for 3 nights, then for the next 3 nights, you put her down and slowly leave the room and go away for 5 minutes at a time. This process worked great with both of my kids and surprisingly, there was only minimal crying.

Also -- once the kids were weened, I'd keep a bottle of water in their cribs so they could get a drink if they needed one. Water is much better for their teeth.

Anyway, hope this helps!
L.

I weened aroung the same time too. Don't listen to what others think you should do. You SHOULD do whatever is right for you and your baby. My daughter would never take a bottle at all so we went straight to the sippy cup. I started by knocking out her mid-day nursings one at a time and switching to the cup. Then I got rid of the morning nursing which was the hardest physically for me. Then I switched the night time feeding. She actually did really well. I was surprised since I thought she would put up much more of a fight. I think the key was the order and taking our time in between switches. Good luck!

C.,

Weaning is successful when it is done gradually. Depending on how often you are nursing, start by eliminating the feeding that she is LEAST interested in for a few days to a week. Then eliminate the next feeding of LEAST interest. FYI - it will not be the early morning or bedtime feeding - those are the last to go. I also would not worry about her falling asleep at the breast, however, I DO WORRY about her falling asleep at the bottle. The reason is that when she falls asleep at the breast, your breast is not producing/transferring milk unless she is actively sucking. However, with bottle feeding, the milk comes out of the bottle no matter if there is a sucking stimulus or not (just turn the bottle upside down). Since the milk comes out and is present in her mouth, it is more likely to contribute to dental problems/tooth decay.

As a lactation consultant and a pediatric dietitian, I do not recommend putting infants to sleep with a bottle. If feeding her a bottle before bed, it is recommended that you hold her while feeding her and when she is done, to take the bottle away.

If you have further concerns, I would recommend calling your pediatrician and/or a lactation consultant.

L. Kandell, MS, RD, IBCLC/RLC
Registered Dietitian/Pediatric Specialist
International Board Certified Lactation Consultant/Registered
AFFILIATED NUTRITION CONSULTANTS, LLC
Scottsdale, AZ 85258
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I'm not sure about the weaning part, but I have a suggestion for the daycare. You could get babysitter to watch the baby if you really wanted to go back to work. I am a stay at home mom I work 2 days a wk at a church nursery but am lucky I can take my son with me. I was just interviewed for a babysitting job for a mom who wanted to go back to work. I think as for the breast feeding it's your own personal decion on how long you want to do it. My son is 2yrs old and still breast feeding. Let me know if I that was any help.

C.,
I weaned my son when he was 14 months old and what I used was the Soy Vanilla Silk milk. It has a sweet taste and has the same consistancy as breast milk, not as thick as whole milk or formula. Your son is younger, so you may want to make sure that he will be getting the same nutrients as formula...if not you can always add them to the soy also. Rock her when trying to get her to sleep...or just lay there w/ her. I found that when I set a routine for my son, he was a lot easier to put down. I had to be patient and put up w/ a lot of crying for about a week, but it was all worth it in the end.... Good Luck!!! :)

C.
I'm wondering why exactly you want to wean your daughter. If you can possibly stay home and nurse on-demand for the first year- i would do it, personally. There's plenty of time to work in this life, but not many "first years" with your baby. I had to go back to work full time, unfortunately, when my daughter was 3 months, and we're still nursing, (i pump twice a day at work) and yes she pretty much still has to fall asleep with the breast or the bottle (10 months now) - we're gradually working on other ways to get her to sleep. Your local La Leche League chapter probably has great advice- you can go to their meetings for free, call their leaders anytime, etc. I highly recommend them. Good luck!

Hello

She will cry, but ask somebody else to put her down and give her the bottle. My husband helped me a lot. He sang a little bit or read a little bit and he made a wonderful routine for her. The first days she cried a lot almost 1 hour, but he went to the nursery every 5 minues then evey 10 or 15, etc. and finally she understood and acepted her new routine. It'll work but be patient... Have a nice evening! Sylvia

A couple of weeks ago I went back to work. After some resistance my 3 month old daughter now takes bottles of my pumped breast milk. It's also comforting to her to nurse to sleep. Obviously your care provider can't do that in your absence. Your daughter's only association with bedtime may just be with nursing to sleep. Hard to change old behaviors and start new (desirable) ones. If your daughter's taking a bottle to bed need to make sure she isn't falling asleep with the the bottle because any liquid with sugar can cause her some tooth decay. Dim the lights, soothing music, structuring activites so she'll be tired by bedtime, and arranging naps, and a relaxing bath before bed...there's a book out there by a very well known and respected pediatrician (and parent) Dr. Sears http://www.askdrsears.com/html/7/T070300.asp
with some balanced non biased advice for whatever approach you adopt. Offers some pros and cons with different approaches.

You can still lay with her while she falls asleep. Make sure that she's fed and that you have a bra and shirt on. In fact, cuddling with her will help the transition. If you stop the physical bonding as well as the breast at the same time, she may feel really let down.

Just go slow. Crying it out isn't the only option and it's rarely a good one. The correct result doesn't imply that you got it in a healthy fasion.

Dr Ferber, the guy who started the cry it out method, was on the Today show a year or so ago and finaly admitted that his method is not good for all babies and that it can be damaging.

Hold your daughter, look into her eyes with confidence about your decicion and read her signs. Good things rarely happen overnight.