Help with Weaning off the Breast

At his age he should be able to go straight to a sippy cup. You can try giving him the cup, but it might be easier to have someone else give it to him while you are out of the house.

I agree with Revisha that you should just go straight to a cup. I had two that didn't take bottles and refused to wean. One liked the Nuby trainer cups and the Avent trainer cups, both with handles. My other likes the Born Free 6 month cups. She's 13 months and still doesn't like the older nipples. With her I just had to refuse to nurse and go cold turkey. She did just fine on the second day. If you go that route, cold cabbage leaves instantly cure engorgement pain. I've used them with 2 of my 3. GL!

In my opinion you should start with a cuppie, not a bottle. It is recommended that you wean the bottle @12 months so you would be having to fight another battle too soon. They have such a great variety from rubber spouts to straw spouts. The character sport bottle all that are leakproof. To start you may have to pump the breast and put it in the cuppie. So to get him to taste it you may need the nuby brand (@walmart ) it has a rubber spout in assorted shapes. Check ____@____.com
does he eat food yet. Do you give him water? If he is getting the nutrients from food then he will need less liquid. It will take alot of patience and full commitment to stay consistant. He may not drink anything for a couple days and that is ok. As long as he is eating. For instance if he eats cereal (rice, oatmeal) rather than mixing it with water you could mix it with breat milk. Good luck and god bless

I started weaning my daughter at 12 months and she was completely weaned at almost 15 months. We cut one feeding out at a time until we were just nursing early morning and early afternoon (those two feedings seemed the most important to her so I decided to get rid of those last). Taking it slow made sense for us but there were still times she really wanted to nurse. I learned that if we went to the park or to run an errand instead of staying at home during a time she would normally nurse, she didn't seem to miss it as much. Good luck!

You can always try a sippy cup for breast milk/formula until he is 1 and can have whole milk. For weaning I found the easiest and most effective to be a don't offer don't refuse method. Also, offer a drink with his meals to replace the nursing. For biting take him off immediately at tell him no, then wait a good five minutes until you allow him to resume, should work after 1 to 2 times.

Cheers,

Jess

Going back to work will be a hard transition if your son is not used to being without you all day and may want to nurse even more, so you're doing a good thing by starting as early as possible.

I'm sure you know your son needs breastmilk or formula at least until he is 12 months, so you'll need to pump a lot or switch to formula. It may take some trial and error to find a formula your baby will eat.

You can try going to a sippy cup - there is no reason to introduce a bottle at 10 months. Other options are to have him drink water, pumped breastmilk or diluted juice during the day and nurse him in the morning and evening. If he will be 11 months old when he goes to daycare, that's only a month of pumping (or less if you can pump a bunch to store).

Good luck going back to work!

I just saw your request, and wanted to put in my two cents. I think Ashriel's advice was very good. I eliminated one nursing session at a time, and it was pretty easy. We still had early morning and bedtime until my guy was 18 months. Adding water at mealtimes is a good way to start on a cup. I would also like to chime in on the whole "sippy cup" issue. I started with a real cup when my boy was just 10 months old. It was a tiny little cup that held only about 1/4 cup of fluid. I started with water in it. I helped him hold the cup while he drank from it. So, from 10 months on he had only the breast and a real cup. He learned quite easily to use a real cup, and we have never even owned any sippy cups. My boy uses sippy cups at day care, but has absolutely no problem with using the real cup at home. Remember, your parents and your grandparents didn't have sippy cups, and they turned out fine. I believe that sippy cups are more of a convenience to parents and day care providers than an advantage to the child.

Good luck.

I am still breastfeeding my 15 month old in the morning and at night after taking her to day care a few months ago, so I don't have any great suggestions for that. If you can get him drinking breast milk or formula out of the cup, that is a good first step. My girl wouldn't accept anything but water or juice from her cup (she never took a bottle either), even though I kept pumping for her at first. I had good luck with the playtex cups that have the handle and soft spout. I was worried about her calorie intake at first, but she finally bumped up her solid foods.

One thing to keep in mind is babies usually get sick while they are transitioning to daycare, so if you keep breastfeeding in the morning and at night for a little while you may cut down on sick days. My little one seems to get sick less than the formula fed babies, but of course every baby is different. Best of luck to you! I just went through the work/day care transition a few months ago. While the first couple of weeks was difficult, now she loves it and I am quite happy with having time to work.