I breastfeed my baby for 15 months, how can I wean her off?

Question

My 15 month baby hates wholemilk, she never drinks a drop of wholemilk since she was 12 month old. I'm a full time working mom, during the day when I'm at work she refuses milk and tries to make it up at night. She gets up every 3-3.5 hours for breastfeeding. She also seeks the comfort at the breast, she falls asleep easily and quickly when being breastfed. My husband and I try everything we could to force her to drink wholemilk but none of it helps!

We will see her doctor this coming week, I hope I will get some good advise from the doctor. In the meantime I'm so desperate! Do you know or run into anything like this? What should I do?

Answer 1

I weaned my youngest at 21 months (my choice).  I dropped one feeding at a time and used a sippy cup.  Try 2 % milk instead of whole it may work better.  

You really can't force a baby to do anything;  keep offering and do what you can.  I couldn't get my oldest to drink anything but juice from a bottle.  She would drink milk from a cup.  

I suggest extra cuddles when you get home from work.  Some of her nursing need may come from a reassurance that you are there.

Let her sleep with you after she gets up a couple of times.  You can nurse and get back to sleep quicker.

Answer 2

I've heard if you put a little chocolate in the milk, then little by little stop putting chocolate in it.

Answer 3

Breastfeed her first thing in the morning and before she goes to bed and keep trying to feed her milk from a bottle during the day. If she doesn't have a milk drink in the middle of the day it doesn't matter as long as she is getting calcium from yoghurt or custard. if she is eating a fair amount of food during the day her night feeds are more about getting comfort than being hungry. Offer her water from a sippy cup at night only and dont breast feed her overnight. Get your partner or someone to go to her at night to feed her the water. She may refuse the water but again she is probably just wanting your comfort and has been so used to falling asleep from a breast feed that she has developed this as a habit. Frequent night breast feeds can rot their teeth too. Eventually drop the evening breast feed first and then the morning breast feed a week later to wean you off breastfeeding without you being engorged with milk. She will eventually learn to drink the milk or else she goes without. hope this makes sense. PS well done for feeding her for 15 months - Breast is BEST and every month is a bonus for your childs health.

Answer 4

Ok, I'm going to get blasted, but your still breastfeeding at 15 months? Kind of creeps me out. The kid is practically old enough to walk to the frig, open it and get out the milk herself. Ok, sorry alot of that is my own issues, I was never raised around breastfeeding and still am weirded out by it some. YUeah you got a problem here, not so much the breastfeeding as the waking up so often for it. Does she use a pacey? Could you give that to her at one waking at least so she could get herself back to sleep?

  Some people may be horrified, but have you tried putting alittle chocolate in her milk to get her to drink it? I had to do that with my son. Or you could try the vanilla soy milk, which is sweeter and get her started on that.At this stage you want to break her of bottles and paceys, but its alittle ackward, cause you got to break her of the breast first, and transition her onto the bottle, even if she does drink from a cup, she probably won't be able to fall asleep at this point without at least a bottle or pacey. You could try the pacey, then ease it out of her mouth once she's asleep, like you would do with the breast.

Answer 5

First off BRAVO for making it this long. Do you pump any? Try mixing 3oz of breast milk with 1oz of whole milk. The the next week do 2 and 2 and keep doing this until it's just whole milk.  As for her waking up I'm sorry I cant really help I co-sleep and my little girl is only 11 months. I hope things get worked out good luck.

Answer 6

I breastfed my twins until they were 16 months old.  There's NOTHING wrong with breastfeeding until this age, but if she's not drinking regular whole milk and you WANT her to, then there are a few things you could do.  My girls drank whole milk during the day and would get breastmilk at night.  After a while, they started boycotting whole milk altogether.  So, the doctor suggested that I mix their whole milk with a flavored yogurt.  They LOVED it and were able to finish their milk every time I gave it to them.  I wouldn't involve chocolate mix yet as you'll have a hard time getting them to drink anything else if you add sugar to the milk (which is my problem now...argh!)

As for her being comforted while breastfeeding, that's understandable.  However, if you're ready to wean her, it's best to start incorporating other night time routines and move her away from that one.  I used to let the girls watch a special cartoon or pick out a book to read.  After a while, they just dropped that last feeding and started drinking more whole milk during the day.

Good luck to you and congratulations for being able to breastfeed this long!  It's tough, but it's so good for them!

Answer 7

I breastfed my son until he was almost two.  Not by choice.  He used my breast as a comfort tool.  I just said no.  Within 1 week he was off it.  When we would cuddle he would still rub his hands on my b*****s as a relaxation tool but he eventually stopped doing that.  My son Never took a bottle or pacifier. Just stick with it and don't give in.  Try it on a Friday night because each night will get better and this way your job will not suffer do to lack of sleep.  If your child can suck a straw try that.  They make kid cups with straws.  If that does not work try a water bottle.  The type that you lift up.  My son was picky about his cups so I discovered he would drink anything in these types of "cups".  Good luck.

Answer 8

First off if you are still wanting to breastfeed but are frusterated with the amount of times that she gets up during the night to bf there are a few things that you can do. 1. you can cosleep. Bringing her into the bed with you will give both of you more time together allow her to breastfeed and you will both get more sleep. Dr sears has a lot of good information on cosleeping safely. 2. You can try to top her off before she goes to bed by offering her the breast a lot right before bed.  Have you tried pumping breastmilk to give her during the day while you are at work? You could do that and have the babysitter give it to her out of a cup. She is a smart little girl and knows that if she waits until later she will get the good milk and cuddling time with mommy.

If you no longer want to breastfeed then you wean her slowly dropping one feeding at a time. You want to start with the least desired feeding first. It isnt' necessary for a child to have cows milk. Just make sure that she is getting enough vitamin D and calcium from other sources. Good Luck!

It also isn't disgusting that you are breastfeeding a 15 month old. There are benefits of extended breastfeeding and in other cultures it is completly normal to breastfeed over the age of 1. Its actually recommended by the World Heatlh organization to go to 2 years old.

Answer 9

Do you want to wean or just stop nursing at night?  I am a working mom and I nursed both of mine into their toddler years. I loved the quiet, cuddling nursing time when I got home from work.  I loved reconnecting and the hormones released were calming for me.  However, I had to have 8 hours of sleep and once my kids bellies were old enough to make it though the night without nursing,  I never woke up and nursed  them at night...  

If she has enough to eat then she doesn't need to nurse in the middle of the night. Does a 15 month old really need whole milk?  Plenty of toddlers around the world never drink cow's milk.  Why can't you let her eat cheese, almond butter and other sources of protein and calcium?  I worried that my son drank almost no milk and when I told my doctor, she said, "Good!"

She gets real health benefits from nursing, and so do you.  However, she doesn't need to nurse every 3.5 hours and you need to sleep.  Some parents solve this by co-sleeping and others do sleep training/Ferberizing/letting them cry it out.  Pick one that works for you.

Answer 10

Can you get her to drink from a bottle?  What about mixing baby cereal with milk, gradually adding more cereal until she is eventually eating cereal.

Answer 11

From my experience with my children... do not wean your child to wholemilk.... I recommend formula and then gradually to low fat milk.... yes, your 15 month old... need a good deal of fat in her diet but it does not need to be in her milk..

my eldest son breast feed until 11 months old ... when I switched him to whole milk... he became very ill... with the suddent change... he was on 7up for a week the only thing that would stay down... then we had to put him on infant formal and then  canned or powder milk.... so take care when weaning your child...