Weaning a baby correctly: methods, rules, myths and what not to do. How to wean a baby from the breast: a step-by-step scheme and when lactation should not be stopped

Sooner or later, every nursing mother thinks about weaning her baby. There can be many reasons for this - approaching the end of lactation, deteriorating health, the need to go to work, serious psychological or physical discomfort from feeding, etc. In any case, the question of how to wean a child from breastfeeding becomes relevant.

Of course, caring mothers want everything to be as “painless” as possible for the baby. Let's look at common ways to end breastfeeding and tips to help make the process easier.

There are differing opinions regarding the age at which weaning will be natural and least traumatic for the child. Some pediatricians and mothers believe that you need to feed your baby until he reaches two years of age.

Others argue that breastfeeding can be completed by one year. Most people agree that weaning should not begin before 1.5 years. WHO recommendations confirm this point of view, calling the optimal childhood age for weaning from the 18th to the 24th month of life.

What time of year is best to do this?

Previously, it was believed that weaning should not be carried out in the summer, since the risk increases during the hot season, and mother's milk provides additional immune support. Now many pediatricians are skeptical about this ban.

If you follow the rules of hygiene, control the freshness and quality of what your baby eats, the chance of catching an intestinal infection is small at any time of the year. Therefore, if the child is already 1.5-2 years old and you see that “the time has come,” you can wean the baby from the breast at any convenient moment, regardless of the weather outside.

Serious reasons for weaning

It is optimal to stop breastfeeding at the moment when both mother and baby are ready for it. But sometimes circumstances arise that require urgent weaning.

Serious medical reasons for stopping breastfeeding include:

• severe infections (tuberculosis, syphilis, etc.);
• purulent mastitis;
• oncological diseases;
• serious abnormalities in the functioning of the cardiovascular system, kidneys, liver and other internal organs.

If the mother’s illness requires taking medications that are incompatible with lactation, the issue of stopping feeding is decided individually. In situations where the treatment period is short, you can preserve milk by pumping regularly and continue feeding the baby after recovery.

Another good reason to stop breastfeeding is involution of lactation. This is a natural process that precedes the cessation of milk production. It usually begins 1.5 years after birth or later, but there are also early cases.

During involution, breast tissue gradually returns to its pre-pregnancy state. Milk production decreases during this period, even if the baby continues to actively suckle. If lactation involution has occurred, then it is time to decide how to wean the baby from the breast.

Weaning methods

There are several ways to end breastfeeding. Let's take a closer look at them.

Mother's departure

There is an opinion that weaning will happen faster if the woman leaves home for 3-7 days and takes measures to stop lactation, and other relatives will look after the child during this time. This method is not popular due to the traumatic situation for the child and mother.

The baby not only loses milk, but also loses contact with his mother, which is fraught with serious stress. A woman who constantly thinks about how her baby is doing is also unlikely to have a good time.

Moreover, the method is not very effective. Many children do not lose interest in breast milk even after a week and, after the mother returns, demand the breast again.

Chest tug

This method of stopping lactation has been known for a long time. It is quite effective, although it is accompanied by physical discomfort and can negatively affect the health of the mammary glands (mastitis, swelling, damage to soft tissues if the bandage is applied incorrectly).

The essence of the method is that the breast, emptied after pumping or feeding, is bandaged with a tight bandage over its entire surface using cotton fabric (diaper, sheet). The area from the armpits to the lower ribs should be covered; there should be no pain. This bandage is worn 2-3 hours a day.

As a result of tugging on an empty breast, milk production decreases and then stops altogether. But this does not happen immediately. It will take at least 7-10 days to achieve the desired result. During this period, you can and should continue to feed the baby, and if weaning is carried out for medical reasons, you should pump regularly when your breasts feel full.

Breast tightening is used to quickly complete breastfeeding. This will become stressful for the child, and besides, mammologists consider this method of stopping lactation unsafe for a woman’s health. It can be used only as a last resort if other methods are impossible, ineffective or contraindicated.

Medication method

Suppressing lactation with medications is also a quick weaning method. In this case, the woman is prescribed hormonal drugs such as Dostinex, Parlodel and others. Taking them may be accompanied by side effects: nausea, vomiting, constipation, dizziness, surges in blood pressure, depression. Therefore, drug suppression of lactation is not suitable for everyone.

After starting to take the medication, the baby should not be put to the breast. The duration of therapy is 2-4 weeks, during which time lactation should stop.

Considering the possible side effects, the negative impact of hormonal treatment on a woman’s health, as well as the traumatic nature of rapid weaning for a child, the method is used only if there are serious reasons. Drug suppression of lactation should occur under the supervision of a physician.

The natural way

If you are wondering how best to wean your child from breastfeeding at 2 years old, the best solution would be to use a natural method. It can be used earlier, but not earlier than after 1 year of feeding and provided that the baby is ready for this.

The natural method is most easily tolerated by children, but requires a lot of time. At the same time, the mother gradually replaces the child’s daily feedings with “adult” food. Of course, the baby may begin to be capricious and ask for the breast, but he needs to be distracted by other activities. You will have to express milk during the day.

Mothers who practice the natural method are often interested in how to wean their baby from falling asleep with the breast and from. If the baby’s daily diet already consists entirely of regular foods, the nightly portion of mother’s milk can also be removed. Pediatricians do not recommend giving formula or sweetened water instead, as this increases the risk of developing caries. If your child needs something to drink at night, it is better to offer him plain water.

First, the duration of latching at night is reduced, allowing the baby to suck only for a couple of minutes. When the child begins to periodically miss these moments, you can simply not give breastfeeding.

There are opinions that giving up night feedings will be easier if the baby is put to bed by grandma or dad. It is not necessary to do this every day, the main thing is that the baby learns to fall asleep without the breast. It is also worth starting evening rituals that help the child get ready for sleep - reading a book, massaging the legs, stroking the back, etc.

Other methods

In addition to the methods recognized by official medicine, there are folk ways to reduce milk production and wean a child from the breast. To reduce lactation, it is suggested to take decoctions of sage, lingonberry leaf, and mint. Before using them, you should consult your doctor and study the list of contraindications.

Women are also advised to limit their fluid intake - drink no more than 1-1.5 liters per day. This drinking regime can indeed reduce milk production, but can be dangerous to health. During the hot season, drinking should not be limited due to the risk of dehydration.

For mothers who want to stop breastfeeding, hot and warm drinks are prohibited, as they can provoke hot flashes. Lactogenic products such as seeds, pine nuts, dates, milk, butter, and carrots should be removed from the menu.

In addition to reducing lactation, it is important to reduce the baby's desire to breastfeed. To do this, folk wisdom recommends smearing the nipples with something repulsive or tasteless, for example, brilliant green, mustard, or wormwood tincture. But the harmlessness of such advice is questionable, since exposure to aggressive substances can cause burns to the skin of the chest or mucous membranes of the baby’s mouth.

The weaning period can be accompanied by physical and psychological discomfort for mother and child. To make the transition from breastfeeding to a bottle or adult feeding easier for your baby, the following tips will help:

• provide the baby with sufficient tactile contact, hug and kiss him more, pick him up more often so that he does not feel abandoned;
• if weaning occurred for medical reasons and the baby still needs artificial feeding, make sure that the nipple of the bottle is of a physiological shape and not too tight;
• You can satisfy the baby's sucking reflex during weaning by giving him a pacifier between feedings;
• find interesting activities for your baby that distract him from thoughts about the breast - walk more, play, go to visit;
• Avoid situations that provoke the baby - do not change clothes in front of him, wear closed clothes.

Often mothers have a question - what to do with the breasts when weaning the child? You can reduce lactation with the help of herbal preparations and daily exercise. If it is necessary to add medications, a preliminary consultation with a mammologist is required.

To avoid mastitis, it is necessary to express during this period. It is better to do this manually, gradually (over the course of a week) reducing the frequency of pumping. Cool compresses on empty breasts will help reduce hot flashes.

What should you not do?

How to properly wean a child from the breast without harm to health? Do not use questionable methods and do not rush things.

You should not resort to the following measures:

1. Smear something frightening or bitter on your chest. This can cause psychological or physical harm to your child.
2. Set specific deadlines for when the baby will be completely weaned. It is unlikely that this will give anything other than disappointment and dissatisfaction, because all children have different reactions and needs, and it is quite difficult to calculate them in advance.
3. Wean the child at any cost. If you see that the baby is not ready yet - anxiety increases, sleep is disturbed, stuttering or tantrums appear, then you need to take a step back and return to the previous feeding schedule.

When should you wean off breastfeeding?

There are situations in which it is better to delay weaning if possible. You should not deny your baby breast milk when he is sick, especially with intestinal infections. The period after, very hot weather, recent stress is also not the best time to stop breastfeeding.

If the mother is planning to go back to work soon or the baby is going to kindergarten, pediatricians do not recommend increasing the negative impact on the baby’s psyche and immune system by weaning. It is better to do this 1-2 months earlier or later than the event.

Pros and cons of quick weaning methods

When choosing how to wean a baby, some mothers prefer quick methods. If there are medical indications for this, such tactics are justified, otherwise you need to carefully weigh the pros and cons of this decision.

There is only one advantage in quickly weaning a child - the mother can quickly do things that were incompatible with feeding (start treatment, go to work, etc.).

There are many more disadvantages:

• the baby does not have time to adapt to changes, his nervous system suffers;
• a woman may experience discomfort from strong milk flows;
• the risk of congestion and inflammatory processes in the chest increases;
• Often it is necessary to take hormonal drugs that are unsafe for health to suppress lactation.

Every mother has the right to independently decide how to wean her child from breastfeeding, but this choice must be conscious. In all cases, except for a threat to the life and health of a woman, the least traumatic will be the natural cessation of lactation, which occurs within the time allotted by nature.

Useful video about common mistakes when weaning a baby

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Weaning a child from breastfeeding can occur at different ages of the baby. In search of suitable methods, nursing mothers part with their babies for several days, tighten their breasts, and smear them with brilliant green or mustard. But regardless of the baby’s age, there are ways to wean him as carefully and calmly as possible.

Breast milk is an important source of energy and nutrients. This judgment is relevant both in the first year of a baby’s life and throughout the entire feeding period.

According to the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO), a child should be fed exclusively with mother's milk for the first six months of his life. Further, natural feeding continues in parallel with the introduction of complementary foods. You can breastfeed your child up to two years of age or older. It depends on the wishes of the woman and the baby.

When is weaning really necessary?

But such an ideal situation does not become the reality of all mothers. Life makes its own adjustments, and sometimes the decision to wean is born contrary to the wishes of the mother and child. There are a number of objective circumstances that prevent the continuation of breastfeeding. If they are neglected, you may face significant risks to the health of the baby and his mother. Such situations include:

• treatment with drugs incompatible with lactation. When it is not possible to choose a safe analogue, it makes sense to temporarily or permanently stop feeding the baby. If short-term medication is required, the woman can, if desired, maintain lactation during the treatment period. This will allow her to continue breastfeeding after recovery;
• long-term therapy involving toxic drugs. If serious and long-term treatment is indicated for a nursing mother, and it is impossible to find a harmless replacement for the prescribed drugs, it is worth stopping feeding;
• long-term hospitalization of mother or child. Separation from the baby due to his or her mother’s illness can drag on for weeks and months. In addition, a woman’s physical and psychological condition does not always allow her to maintain milk production in the absence of a child.

If we talk about specific diseases, absolute contraindications to continued breastfeeding on the part of the mother are:

• HIV infection;
• active form of tuberculosis;
• septic conditions;
• malaria;
• kidney disease and renal failure with azotemia;
• severe depressive states and psychological disorders.

If a mother knows that she has heart disease, hyperthyroidism, purulent mastitis, Rhesus or group blood conflict with her baby, breastfeeding can be carried out only after the approval of her attending physician.

When weaning can be avoided

It happens that a mother wants to stop breastfeeding her baby for other reasons. They are closely related to the child’s behavior disorders and the characteristics of his upbringing. Then, often after weaning, problems in the relationship between the mother and her child do not disappear. On the contrary, the situation may even worsen.

Appetite problems

By the age of one year, the child should already be able to fully eat food from a plate. Breast milk remains an important addition to his diet. It does not lose its value and nutritional properties, even when the baby turns two, three years old and at any other period of his life.

But sometimes the benefits of breast milk are overshadowed by the opinion that feeding after a year is the reason for the poor appetite of the growing baby. Frequent sucking, “hanging” on the breast, partial or complete refusal of adult food worry the mother and make her think about how to stop breastfeeding. After all, the woman sincerely believes that completing lactation will solve the issue of decreased appetite.

However, before such an important step as weaning a child, it is worth understanding the cause of the situation. If an infant almost completely refuses complementary feeding, it is important to evaluate his hemoglobin level. To do this, you should take a general blood test. An obvious decrease in food cravings often accompanies anemia. In this case, weaning is dangerous for the child, because he will completely stop receiving nutrition. He needs treatment and his mother's milk will support him during the recovery process.

With normal hemoglobin levels, loss of appetite may be associated with a lack of interest in food or impaired eating habits. If such a baby is weaned, he may begin to eat out of despair. Or maybe not start. And not because he is being harmful, but because of the absence in his consciousness of the connection: “hunger - food from the plate.” These children need time to learn the rules of eating behavior. Mother's milk will give you confidence that during this period the baby will not remain hungry.

550 ml of mother's milk covers a child's daily need for energy by one third, protein by 38%, vitamin A by 45% and vitamin C by 95%. A growing baby usually receives this amount of nutrition during nap feedings and during the night.

Frequent waking up at night

Sometimes the decision to wean a child at 1 year of age is related to the mother’s desire to finally get a good night’s sleep. There is an opinion that after feeding is completed, the baby will completely stop waking up at night. But that's not true.

Of course, a child can be taught to sleep all night long. And there are many ways to do this, but they are not always useful for the baby. Some parents actually notice an improvement in their baby's nighttime sleep after weaning. And other children continue to wake up at night. But before, the mother had a “magic” way of calming herself down - the breast. Now it will take more effort to rock, sing, and comfort the awakened child.

Night awakenings are the norm for healthy children in the first years of life. They don't wake up because they want to latch on to the breast. The reason lies in the peculiarities of infant sleep cycles.

Mom goes to work

If a child of a working mother is over a year old, in her absence he safely eats regular food. And in the evening, at night and in the morning he is applied to the chest. This significantly enriches his diet and maintains health.

In addition, close contact with the mother during feeding helps the baby make up for the hours of separation. Even in case of a business trip, there is no urgent need to curtail lactation. And if you feel fullness in your breasts, you should simply pump it with your hands until you feel relief.

Child goes to kindergarten

Some kindergartens are reluctant to accept babies who are fed breast milk. It is believed that they are strongly attached to their mother and cannot do without her. And even more so to fall asleep on your own.

However, it is important to understand that breastfeeding a newborn and an older child are significantly different. At 1.5-2 years old, the baby usually already has experience of falling asleep without his mother.

When weaning and entering kindergarten coincide, the baby faces double stress. He may refuse to fall asleep due to distrust of the new place and people. And the lack of breastfeeding will deprive him of the opportunity to calm down in a familiar and accessible way. In this case, the baby needs to be given time and a stable environment created that will support continued breastfeeding.

Weaning Your Baby: 6 Steps

The need to end the baby’s relationship with the mother’s breast can appear at any age of the baby. But, in general, the weaning algorithm will be approximately the same for different stages of a child’s life. How to wean a child from breastfeeding? Consider six steps.

1. Remove intermediate applications during the day. We are talking about sucking when the baby is upset and wants to be comforted. “Pity” feedings are replaced by hugs, kisses and other types of sympathy. This also refers to chaotic attachments out of boredom. It is worth distracting and occupied the child with something exciting. If the mother suspects that sucking is caused by a feeling of hunger or thirst, it is worth promptly offering a suitable alternative to the breast.
2. Remove feedings during the day when you wake up. As soon as the baby shows signs of awakening, you need to distract him from thoughts about his mother's breast. It is convenient if someone other than his mother can be with him at this moment. After all, if she is nearby, it will be difficult for the baby to understand why she suddenly refuses him.
3. Eliminate sucking during daytime sleep. Rituals will help with this. The child must get used to a certain sequence of actions before going to bed. For example: they ate, washed, read a book, kissed, stroked, gave breastfeeding, fell asleep. Gradually, as you get used to it, you can remove one link - breastfeeding.
4. Replace latching with waking up in the morning. The actions will be the same as in the second paragraph.
5. Stop feeding before bedtime. Here rituals will also come to the rescue: evening water treatments, lullaby, rocking, and so on. First, there will be a link in this chain called “sucking”. Gradually it will be possible to reduce its duration, and then completely eliminate it.
6. Say goodbye to night feedings. As a rule, they “go away” in the very last place. In advance, you need to teach the child to calm down differently and fall back into sleep without the breast (kissing, stroking, humming, rocking).

The transition to each subsequent stage occurs smoothly and only after the successful completion of the previous steps. This will ensure the success of the entire event and allow the child and mother to calmly adapt to the new way of life. The duration of weaning depends on many factors, including the age of the baby. On average, this process can take from a couple of weeks to several months.

Until the age of two or three, children really need close physical contact with their mother. It is embodied in hugs, kisses, stroking, rocking in the arms. This need intensifies when babies finish breastfeeding. It is also important to consider that by the age of two, about 50% of children retain the need to suck on something other than to obtain food. Therefore, sometimes during weaning it makes sense to introduce an adequate breast replacement. For example, a pacifier.

Tugging and pills: what mothers should not do

When it comes to how to properly wean a child from breastfeeding, we mean not only the comfort of this process for the baby himself. A nursing woman should also monitor her well-being. It is important to avoid painful sensations in the breast area, its fullness and heaviness.

However, you can still find recommendations about breast tightening. Mothers believe that bandaging the bust can slow down or completely stop milk production. In fact, tight ligation can injure or compress the ducts, thereby causing stagnation of milk. If you do not remove it in time, an inflammatory process will develop in a few days - mastitis.

Milk secretion is associated with hormonal processes in a woman’s body. The more often you latch on or express, the more milk will appear. If just yesterday a mother fed her child several times a day, but today she sharply limited access to the breast, milk production is not interrupted. Therefore, if you suddenly stop emptying the gland as usual, there is a high probability of encountering stagnation. Additional pressure on the chest in the form of a tight bandage increases this risk.

You should not resort to medication to stop lactation. It is believed that after taking the pill, the milk will disappear or become tasteless. And the grown-up child himself will refuse the breast. In reality, the drugs carry risks for a woman’s health and life: nausea, vomiting, headaches, myocardial infarction, seizures, stroke and death. At the same time, milk production does not stop. And the lack of breast drainage can lead to lactostasis and mastitis. WHO does not recommend this method.

What happens to the breasts

As the number of latches and their duration decrease, the mother's body receives less and less stimulus to produce milk. Its amount decreases smoothly and gradually. And eventually, it disappears.

The benefits of mother's milk are undeniable, but sooner or later there comes a time when you have to wean your baby off breastfeeding. For some mothers, this process goes smoothly and is caused by the child growing up, while others are forced to stop breastfeeding due to external circumstances. It is important to set up weaning in such a way that it is painless and gradual. In this case, neither the nursing mother nor her baby will be subjected to psychological stress.

Breastfeeding is a very important process from the point of view of physiology and psychology, so giving it up should be gradual and not cause stress.

Feeding periods

For a painless refusal, it is not enough to simply make a decision and take action. It is necessary to choose the ideal time so that the baby can calmly tolerate the cessation of feeding with mother's milk. The end of lactation depends on how long breastfeeding lasted, since for everyone it proceeds according to an individual scenario. Lactation lasts several stages:

1. The onset of lactation begins during pregnancy, when the female body is reconstructed and prepares for the birth of a baby. After the birth of a child, development does not stop, but continues to gain momentum. Many mothers remember periods of decreased or increased milk production, which indicates the formation of the process.
2. Maturity of lactation is the most harmonious and calm stage, since the volume of breast milk fully meets the baby’s needs (we recommend reading:). The period can last up to 1.5-2.5 years. The duration depends on the emotional state of the mother and her willingness not to give up breastfeeding.
3. The final stage of involution accompanied by a decrease in milk volume and a decrease in its quality. Due to an insufficient amount of important nutrients, the toddler may require the breast more often, but satiety does not come. The feeling of hunger affects the child’s behavior, and the mother feels tired and lethargic. Constantly putting your baby to the breast can be accompanied by nipple pain and irritation, which signals the futility of further breastfeeding.

Optimal periods for stopping natural feeding

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In Soviet times, it was considered the norm to wean a child from the breast at a very early age. Women went to work early, and maternity leave did not last long, so sometimes they had to wean off at 10 months. Popular literature of that era offered recommendations that are unacceptable for modern mothers:

• Breastfeeding should continue for no more than 12 months.
• It was possible to stop lactation using an almost barbaric method by tightly bandaging the mammary glands (we recommend reading:).

Modern experts insist on maintaining mature lactation for two years, and in the absence of discomfort and contraindications - up to 3.

The time for completion of lactation is determined by the mother, and not by the state or others. Ideally, it is easiest to wean a baby off the breast during the final stage of lactation. It usually begins when the little one is a little over a year old, but the optimal period is considered to be 1.5-2 years.

At this time, it is best to wean, since both mother and baby are ready to break the “milk” ties. Regular food has already become firmly established in the children's diet, and the baby received useful immunoglobulins during this period in sufficient quantities. The immune system of a two-year-old child is stable, unlike a one-year-old baby, whom they decided to abruptly wean from the breast.

In reality, it is not always possible to stop breastfeeding during the optimal period. Sometimes you have to do this on an emergency basis due to a sudden illness of a nursing woman. If the course of treatment includes medications that are incompatible with natural feeding, the latter should be abandoned. There are often situations when a woman is forced to go to work in order to ensure that the family budget is filled.

Termination of lactation and possible consequences

The decision to wean can be influenced by various external factors and life circumstances. Before making a final conclusion, it will be useful for mom to learn about the upcoming risks:

1. The child is up to six months old. During this period, you cannot do without breastfeeding, since the baby’s body is not able to perceive and assimilate other foods. Mother's milk provides all the necessary substances and microelements. Termination of lactation should not be motivated only by the woman’s personal whim due to serious harm to the baby’s health (we recommend reading:). A significant reason may be medical indications: the mother’s illness and her treatment with certain medications, the child’s illness, accompanied by separation from the mother. However, even in these cases, experts recommend practicing pumping and then continuing natural feeding.
2. The child is from 6 to 12 months. A one-year-old baby receives ¾ of the important substances for normal development through mother’s milk. Complementary feeding can still hardly be called a complete diet, because it is a complement to breastfeeding (see also:).
3. The baby is between one and a half years old. From this point on, the mother may think about stopping feeding if the amount of milk has decreased or discomfort has arisen. There are practically no risks to the health of the baby.
4. Children two years old and older. There is a natural completion of lactation, so weaning will be painless.

Breastfeeding experts recommend maintaining lactation until the baby is at least one and a half years old. Mothers need to take into account that as they approach 3 years of age, it becomes more difficult to wean their baby.

If a woman wants and can feed her child for a long time, then by about the age of two, the milk will begin to dry up naturally, and weaning will be easy

How to determine a child's readiness for change?

All the factors considered were more related to the optimal time for mother’s physiology, but it is also necessary to take into account the desires of the little one. Many signs may indicate this:

• age one and a half years and older;
• the main baby teeth have already appeared;
• the diet consists of complementary foods, and mother’s milk is more like a treat or dessert;
• the baby does not throw tantrums if the mother refuses to breastfeed;
• going to bed is accompanied by a melodious lullaby or reading a fairy tale, and not by breastfeeding.

If these signs are present, weaning will take place without stress and psychological trauma. However, there is also a number of contraindications to start breast refusal, as Komarovsky warns about:

1. In the spring-summer period, it is better to postpone changes in eating habits. In the spring, influenza viruses are rampant, and ARVI is easy to make money on a walk. In the summer, intestinal infections are considered the main danger, and only mother’s milk can protect a child from these troubles. The only exception may be a child two years old or older.
2. Before weaning your baby from breastfeeding, you need to make sure that he is not cutting new teeth. The best remedy for stress, pain and reduced immunity is the mother's breast.
3. On the eve of moving, traveling and long trips, you should also not plan to leave.
4. You should not experiment with refusal even if the baby has been in a bad mood for a long time.
5. Less than a month has passed since the end of the illness.

You should not rely on the experience of friends and the advice of relatives: some feed their children very little, others prefer to do it as long as possible. The health and mental balance of the child should come first.

Popular refusal methods

There are two options for weaning your baby from breastfeeding:

• gradually;
• fast.

Smooth cancellation up to a year includes a mandatory step-by-step replacement of milk with an adapted formula:

1. The baby may refuse to take the bottle, demanding the breast when the mother is nearby. It is advisable to ask your grandmother or spouse to feed the baby for the first time until he gets used to it.
2. The number of meals should be gradually reduced. First you need to remove the daytime “snack”, and evening and night feedings go last.
3. The child will probably perceive weaning at such an early period painfully, so one should not deprive him of communication and contact with his mother. You can pick him up more often, but the clothes should be closed so that the baby cannot reach the breast.
4. There is a good reason why it is better to avoid weaning for a while. If the baby does not receive the breast during the day, he begins to ask for it more often at night. Such behavior signals that the child is not morally ready to accept refusal and tolerates it painfully.

Weaning after a year should also proceed smoothly using the “don’t offer, but don’t refuse” technique. Feeding follows the usual scenario, breasts are given on demand. If the baby does not ask for breastfeeding, then there is no need to force milk on him. Every day the baby will be put to the breast less and less, which will allow lactation to end naturally.

A gentle weaning method involves the absence of harsh measures: if the baby asks for the breast, it is given, but no initiative is shown

It is much easier to wean a child from breastfeeding if you change his habits. Surely feeding has become a ritual over many months, so innovations will only benefit the mother:

1. The child perceives many of the mother’s actions as a signal to feed. For example, breastfeeding was given when the mother was sitting in a chair. It is necessary to avoid habitual places that encourage the toddler to demand the breast.
2. During the day, you can offer juice or cookies instead of breasts, but at night it is advisable not to experiment with such a replacement.
3. One and a half year old babies prefer to play outside with the rest of the children, without being distracted by the chest (we recommend reading:). You should be away from home more often so as not to provoke new requests.
4. The question of how to wean a child from breastfeeding at night has its own nuances. Stopping night feedings is the hardest thing to do. It is advisable to offer an alternative option in the form of reading a book or light stroking.

It is important to show the baby that mother’s love has not gone away so that the weaning process goes smoothly. Haste will only interfere with the correct strategy, no matter at what stage they try to wean the child from breastfeeding.

Komarovsky warns against the desire to start abrupt weaning, which is fraught with negative consequences. Traditional methods will not help at all, they will only cause harm. For this reason, you should immediately refuse the offer to leave the child with your parents or spouse and leave for a few days. Abrupt weaning will lead to severe stress in the baby and possible psychological problems in the future. He not only parts with the main source of food, but also with the person most dear to him, and this loss can deal an irreparable blow to the fragile child’s psyche.

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Weaning from breastfeeding is an important stage in the life of mother and baby. The World Health Organization recommends feeding children up to 1.5-2 years. But longer feeding is not considered something seditious if it suits mother and child. It is not recommended to wean children until they are one year old; during this period, they really need mother’s milk. It is still one of the main sources of nutrition, even if the baby already eats all types of complementary foods.

Emergency weaning of a baby

Weaning children under one year of age from their mother's breast is permitted only under strict indications. These include:

• Purulent mastitis or inflammation of the mammary glands
• Open forms of tuberculosis
• Syphilis
• Oncological pathologies requiring immediate treatment
• Decompensation of chronic diseases of the kidneys, liver, or cardiovascular system, in which breastfeeding can threaten the life and health of the mother
• Diabetes.

Breastfeeding should not be started if you have HIV infection, as the virus is transmitted through milk. Emergency weaning can be temporary or permanent. If the mother is acutely ill and cannot feed the child due to the medications she is taking or the danger of infecting him, she can express milk during the period of illness. Expressing will allow you to maintain lactation and resume feeding in the future. It also reduces milk stagnation and serves to prevent mastitis and lactostasis.

To reduce lactation during emergency weaning, doctors recommend that mothers limit drinking to 500-700 grams per day, if this does not harm their health. For many infections, fluids should not be restricted because they help remove toxins from the body. If the mother does not intend to resume breastfeeding, milk should not be expressed completely, only to relieve tension in the chest. It is not recommended to tie the breasts; this interferes with blood circulation, leads to stagnation of milk, and increases the risk of inflammation.

If lactation cannot be stopped using natural methods, special medications are prescribed. After all, gradual weaning in an emergency situation is unacceptable. Before weaning your baby from breastfeeding for urgent reasons, consult your doctor. Ask: “Can I resume feeding, or should I stop completely.” In many cases, there is a chance to maintain lactation. The main thing is to make the right decision together with the doctor, which will benefit the baby.

Rules for natural weaning

Many mothers wonder how to wean their baby from breastfeeding after a year or two. There is debate online about whether this should be done abruptly, or whether it is better to do it gradually. Will weaning from mother's breast be stressful for the baby, or will he bear it calmly? For example, Dr. Komarovsky advises weaning children abruptly, without delaying the process for several months. Many mothers find this cruel. Some women find the process of abrupt weaning difficult also because milk stagnates in their breasts, which causes discomfort.

If the mother decides to wean the baby gradually, it is necessary to systematically reduce the number of feedings. The process can be broken down into several stages:

• We remove daytime feeding that does not depend on sleep
• Removing feeding after nap
• Remove feeding before nap
• Remove feeding before bedtime
• We remove feeding after a night's sleep.

In order for weaning to be correct and not drag on for many months, each stage should be short. The most difficult thing to do is remove daytime feedings, especially when the baby is used to calming down near his mother’s breast. This period may take 1-2 weeks, depending on the age at which weaning begins. The remaining stages can be completed in a few days. If you feel fullness in your breasts, you can express milk.

How to wean your baby off breastfeeding during the day

For many mothers, it becomes a problem how to wean a child from breastfeeding at 1 year old, since he often asks for the breast during the day. If there are no special indications to wean the baby urgently, you can continue to breastfeed him. After a year, gradually teach your baby that milk is food; you should not ask for the breast for any reason. At this age, a child can easily be distracted by an interesting activity, game, conversation or song. Communication with him should be more varied. Then the baby will no longer be so dependent on the breast, and further weaning will be painless.

You can try to wean your baby off from daytime feedings quickly. One day decide that the baby eats milk only before and after bedtime. If a child asks for breastfeeding, try to distract him by playing or talking. Show that you are busy and don’t have time to feed the baby. After one and a half years, many children easily forget about their requirements and get distracted. If the child insists on his own, try to be firm. It is advisable that the baby does not fall into hysterics, then it will be difficult to calm him down.

Issue 7. HOW TO WEAN A CHILD? Breast-feeding

Weaning - Dr. Komarovsky, Ksenia Solovey

Issue 8. What not to do when weaning? Breast-feeding

Weaning. SIMPLY AND EASILY!!!

Try to walk more with your baby, teach him that you don’t feed him outside. Take your child’s favorite treats with you – cookies, fruit, juice or compote in a bottle. On a walk, the baby is more impressed, so he is more easily distracted. Some mothers practice going away for a few days or leaving home. For children who willingly stay with their fathers and grandmothers, this method is quite suitable. They gradually unlearn the fact that for any reason they need to run to their mother and ask for the breast. But babies, who are rarely without their mother, will experience separation hard. After returning, they will become even more attached to the breast, because they calm down near it.

If you manage to distract your baby several times a day and the baby forgets about his request, then you are close to success. Soon the baby will stop asking for the breast during the day and will be satisfied with just milk before bed. And complete self-exclusion is not far off. If difficulties arise, postpone weaning for a while, do not reduce the number of feedings. Perhaps your baby is not yet completely ready to part with the breast. An abrupt separation will upset him, and you will have to listen to his hysterics for several weeks.

Weaning before and after naps

A month has passed and your baby no longer asks for breastfeeding during the day. But he cannot fall asleep without her. How to wean your baby off breastfeeding before nap time? Try to use other ways to sprinkle the baby. Read a book to him, turn on music or sing a song yourself, watch a video together. If your baby's desire to suckle is caused only by your presence, leave him for a while. Say that you urgently need to do something, you will be back in a couple of minutes. At first, absences should be short so that the baby does not have time to cry. Then time lengthens. One day, the mother will return and find her baby sleeping peacefully.

Many children wake up crying and calm down only when they suckle at the breast. You can try to immediately pick up the baby in your arms and carry it into the kitchen. It is advisable that the mother does not lie next to the child when he opens his eyes. It's okay if he whines and mom will come when he calls. Hungry children can be offered something to eat or drink milk from a bottle immediately after their nap. Some babies sleep well outside in the summer. If they wake up during a walk, they have time to get distracted by looking at their surroundings. Try to put your child to sleep during a walk at least once a day. This method of weaning after a nap is also acceptable.

Weaning at night

It is most difficult to wean your baby from mother's milk at night. Children from one to two years old still wake up often. Many women find it easier to feed and calm them than to look for ways to wean them from this habit. As a result, children eat at night until they are 2-3 years old. If it doesn't bother anyone, there's no need to worry. But often mothers become overtired, and night feedings become torture for them. A radical way of weaning is to leave the baby with dad or grandma for several nights, and sleep in another room. But most mothers prefer a gentler weaning. You can distract your child at night and fall asleep with the help of water, milk or consistent baby formula.

To prevent your baby from asking for mother's milk before bed, you can replace it with a bottle of baby formula or water. It is best if the father gives it, because the mother is associated with the breast. Be sure to read a book to your baby before going to bed and carry it in your arms. When children have trouble falling asleep, it is advised not to play with them too actively in the afternoon. In the evening, it’s a good idea to bathe your baby in a warm bath with chamomile and lemon balm, which have a calming effect on the nervous system. A short walk promotes sound sleep.

Children eat mother's milk for the longest time in the morning, immediately after falling asleep. If all other stages have been completed, do not rush to remove this feeding. Let the baby better adapt to the new conditions of his life. Another month will pass, and he will show less interest in sucking. If you are determined to wean, try to caress the baby in the morning, carry him in your arms, and give him milk to drink. Perhaps he is just a morning person and does not like to sleep for a long time. Then you can wake up with him, feed him porridge in the kitchen and start the game. Most likely, the child will fall asleep closer to noon. Fall asleep with him to rest.

What not to do when weaning your baby

Among the many tips on how to wean off breastfeeding at 2 years of age or earlier, you can hear some downright stupid ones. For example, lubricate the nipples with brilliant green, mustard or pepper. This will not only upset the baby and burn his mouth, but will also harm the mother. Do not bandage your chest tightly. Doctors have long agreed that such manipulation only increases the likelihood of lactostasis without affecting the amount of milk at all. You should not stop breastfeeding before one year unless there are clear medical indications for this.

Is it right to wean your baby in the summer? There is an established opinion that during this period the risk of intestinal infections increases, and mother's milk protects the baby from them. If the baby is less than two years old, this situation is relevant. After all, maternal antibodies will not reach the baby if you replace milk with formula. The immune system of older children is already well formed and the timing of gradual weaning does not play such a big role.

You should not stop breastfeeding when your baby is sick. Health problems in themselves are stressful for a child; it is not worth exposing him to additional worries. In addition, maternal antibodies will help the baby cope with the disease faster. It is also not recommended to stop feeding when moving, on vacation or in the country. Children in infancy feel insecure in a new environment; maternal warmth helps them cope with an unusual situation.

A few words in conclusion

There are many recommendations on how to wean children from breastfeeding. Each mother must choose her own way. Before taking such a step, you need to listen to yourself and understand whether mother and baby need this. After all, women often decide to wean at the insistence of relatives and friends, who assure that the baby is already too big. First of all, you need to listen to yourself and do as you see fit. There is no single rule for how many years or months you can breastfeed a child. Every mother should tell herself: “I can feed my child as much as he and I want.”

It happens that it’s time for mom to go to work. In this regard, she is worried about how to wean her child from breastfeeding. Don’t worry, your grown-up baby will manage without milk during the day, and night feedings will help him better adapt to his mother’s absence for a long time. Some mothers feel tired and attribute this to breastfeeding. Try to just relax, sleep with your child during the day. You can’t redo all the things at home, and the moments of closeness with your baby that breastfeeding gives you won’t be repeated. These are the ones you will remember many years from now, when your child grows up.

Breastfeeding was pretty easy for me. And during the first year of my life, I was firmly convinced: I would begin weaning no earlier than 1.5-2 years, in the gentlest possible way, and only when the child himself stopped constantly suckling at the breast... But... My plans were not destined to come true , and already at one year old (read about us in the article “”) I was faced with a difficult task... How to wean a child from breastfeeding if he sucks the breast all night?

Why did I decide to wean my baby?

In fact, there were many reasons that made me break my principle. I won't list all of them. I will name only the main ones.
1) After 11 months, my daughter began to use her breasts as a teeth sharpener. And each new tooth was accompanied by gnawing on the chest until it bled. As soon as I tried to fight it! Yes, my daughter understood that this could not be done, and she did it very rarely... But one unsuccessful feeding was enough to make it difficult for me to breastfeed for a week or two. And such wounds healed very slowly.
2) My daughter is used to hanging on her chest at night. She was sleeping, and half asleep she was sucking her breast. Often she applied to the breast every hour. I thought this was normal when the child was 3 months, six months, 9 months... But when the baby is already a year old... It begins to be very annoying.
3) During the day, my daughter also loved to constantly nurse. About once every hour and a half. At the same time, she already ate all the adult food very well... (More about this - “”) And if I left home, leaving the baby with dad... My daughter could easily go without breasts for at least a whole day.
4) If I left home for more than three hours, my breasts began to ache and become hard from the flow of milk. This didn’t happen often, but about once or twice a month.

However, the main reason was still gnawing on the breast with teeth. If not for this, I would still have fed for at least a few more months.

And so, when our miracle turned one year old, I began to interrogate all the mothers I knew with a typical question - how to wean a child from breastfeeding?

My main problem was sleep at night. How to manage without breasts at night? How to stop night feedings? It all seemed very complicated and unlikely...

How to wean a child from breastfeeding?

I quickly learned that there are only two main approaches to weaning. You can stop breastfeeding abruptly, in a few days, by simply stopping breastfeeding your baby... Or you can do it gradually. Slowly reduce the number of feedings. Of course, the second method is preferable. This method is ideal for both mother and baby. However, reducing feedings was very difficult. I fought to stretch the interval between applications to 3 hours... But then I finally gave up, and we returned to the breast again every hour and a half. I could hold the line for several days, constantly distracting the child... But no more. And when I thought about the need to increase the interval again to at least 4-5 hours... Depression came over me.

At night the situation turned out to be especially bad. Yes, I forgot to say that our daughter could easily fall asleep in the evening without a breast if I was not in sight. My husband rocked her safely in his arms within a few minutes. However, this performance took place only in the evening, not at night! For several nights we tried “breastfeeding less often,” rocking the baby in our arms in shifts. These attempts turned out to be a complete failure. For the first ten minutes my daughter was just screaming. And then I finally woke up and didn’t want to sleep anymore. What to do? How to wean a child from breastfeeding in such a situation?

How I weaned my baby from breastfeeding

But a way out was found! Moreover, our weaning turned out to be quite simple! No crying, no serious problems... The tactics were simple. Many authors advise to first get rid of night feedings... But for us this was unrealistic. Therefore, we got rid of the daytime ones, leaving all the nighttime ones. Moreover, they got rid of it abruptly... Taking advantage of a short vacation trip.

We went to rest at a boarding house. For a week. This is an optional item in the program, but it helped us a lot. It is quite possible to do the same thing at home if there is another person nearby - a husband, grandmother or someone else. At the boarding house, we decided to breastfeed the baby only when I felt that I definitely needed to pump. I couldn’t express myself at all. So on the first day I fed three times.

The first day was unpleasant for me. Pain in the chest, overflowing with milk... But it had to be endured. We only had a week. During this week, my daughter should have gotten out of the habit of breastfeeding during the day. What did we do when she wanted to taste milk? They simply distracted her. Both my husband and my mother were on vacation. They took turns taking the child somewhere... The boarding house had so many new and interesting things for the baby that the daughter did not throw hysterics. Although, of course, the first few days could not be called very easy.

On the second day, I already better understood how to wean my baby from breastfeeding. That day my daughter received milk only twice. On the third day - also twice. On the fourth and fifth days - just once each... And then I didn’t feed at all during the day. Surprisingly, night feedings also decreased on their own. Only 2-4 times per night. Instead of 5-7...

However, how to stop feeding at night? How to wean your baby from night feedings?

A week later, when we returned home, my daughter completely stopped asking for the breast during the day. Even if I was alone at home with her. I remember how worried I was before the first night in which we decided to go without breasts... But everything went quite calmly. Yes, I got up 5 times, but there were no hysterics, my daughter fell asleep again when I carried her in my arms or rocked her in the crib... Each time I gave her a little water to drink. Apparently, it was due to the fact that the child had already lost the habit of sucking the breast constantly. And he began to be much more loyal to other means of calming.

After a few nights, the baby learned to fall asleep without rocking. She just lay on top of me and soon fell asleep. For some time (3-4 days), she slept well only in our bed, cuddled up to me. But it was still better than constant feeding. And then my daughter began to wake up less and less often... A week after weaning, she was already sleeping well in her crib. And now he wakes up no more than 1-2 times...

How to wean a baby from breastfeeding if he nurses all night?

1) First stop feeding during the day. If you can’t do it smoothly, stop abruptly.
2) If possible, seek help from your husband or someone else.
3) Monitor your sensations in your chest! Express when you feel hardening.
4) If you can’t pump, give your baby your breast at night. Even if you have already gone through one night without feeding... The next night you can give the baby one time from both breasts. In my experience, a sleepy child does not remember this event... At least that’s what I gave it, and it did not worsen our situation. But you definitely shouldn’t give breastfeeding during the day... Only in extreme cases.
5) Try different ways to calm your child. Carry him in your arms, give him water or compote, rock him in his crib, put him on you... Remember, these are all temporary measures! The main thing is to wean.
6) Remember, you only need to be patient for a few days. Maximum - a week.

Of course, all children are individual. Of course, this strategy will not suit everyone... I'm just talking about my experience. When you're thinking about how to wean your baby off breastfeeding, it's important to find out how other mothers have gone through it...

How has weaning changed our lives?

— We began to sleep at night!! Hooray!!!
— My daughter has become more affectionate. Previously, the need for contact with the mother was completely satisfied through the breast, but now this is expressed in hugs, kisses and other tenderness. This was not the case before!
“It became easier for me to be at home with her.” My daughter has become less capricious, and I am free of the discomfort associated with constant feeding.

But, of course, if you can feed longer, feed longer! After all, children receive our immunity through milk even after a year. Breastfeeding is convenient when visiting, on trips... Using the breast, you can instantly calm the baby. It helps with painful teething... Breastfeeding is great! And, to be honest, sometimes I miss a little the time when my daughter was peacefully hanging on my chest... But now these moments are replaced by other pleasant moments. When my daughter climbs on top of me, hugs me around the neck and falls asleep.

How to wean a child from breastfeeding? Tell us about your experience in the comments! At least very briefly!