Wean from breastfeeding

Sooner or later, every mother thinks, is not it time to finish breastfeeding. How long should continue breastfeeding is up to the mother, but it is very good if this decision is made consciously, carefully, taking into account the needs of the child. Who recommends continued breastfeeding for up to 2 years and longer, at the request of the mother and child. In the national program of optimization of feeding of children of the first year of life, it is said that breastfeeding should be continued until 1-1.5 years. Throughout the period of breastfeeding milk remains useful. The psychological factor of breastfeeding also remains quite significant.

What should not be done when weaning from breastfeeding:

1. Wean from the chest sharply. Of course, there are situations when it is necessary to excommunicate urgently. We will talk about them later. But if this is not necessary, weaning should be gradually, very smoothly reducing the frequency of attachment. The more natural and gradual the guts end, the safer for the physiological and psychological health of the mother and child.
2. Suppress lactation with medication. These are quite serious drugs with a wide list of side effects and they can only be prescribed by a doctor for good reasons. Lactation is a physiological process and the body has natural mechanisms for its completion.
3. Dragging the chest. This is an old and rather dangerous advice; nevertheless, mothers continue to hear him often. This method disrupts blood circulation in the chest, can cause swelling, injure the breast and lead to lactostasis and even mastitis.
4. Limit drinking. There is no direct relationship between the amount drunk and the amount of milk produced. Restrictions on drinking, especially during hot, dry seasons, can lead to dehydration of a woman’s body. Therefore, a woman should drink for thirst. Just try to avoid hot drinking, as usually hot drinking causes a rush.
5. To smear the breast with something ugly or tasteless. On the one hand, it can cause stress in the child, on the other hand, it can cause burns to the delicate skin of the chest or the mucous membrane of the child’s mouth.

When weaning from breastfeeding should not:

1. During the illness of the baby or immediately after recovery. During this period, the child’s body is weakened and should not be deprived of his support and protection in the form of breast milk.
2. During a global change in a child’s life that may cause stress. Mother’s departure for work, relocation, admission to kindergarten, etc. When such changes are planned, it is better to wean off about 2 months before or after, when the child adapts to the new in his life.
3. In the hot season. Weaning from breastfeeding in summer increases the risk of intestinal disorders, and breast milk is a defense. But it is believed that if the feeding experience is already solid (2 years or more), the time of year is no longer important.

Excommunication from breastfeeding a child up to a year.

It is worthwhile to think very well and weigh the pros and cons, in order to start weaning a baby up to one year old from breastfeeding. Yet up to a year, mother’s milk is the main source of nutrition and supplier of all necessary nutrients for the baby. Complementary feeding is introduced after 6 months and only by the year the volumes of complementary foods become energetically significant. If a child who has not yet reached the age of one, he begins to refuse to feed himself, the mother may get the impression that this is self-radiation, but this is most often still a temporary strike due to some reasons that can be eliminated. The decision is made by the mother, will she continue to feed or stop there.

Usually, a child under one year old is not very difficult to wean. Gradually replace bottle feeding. Finally, it is better to leave the night feedings. Difficulties may arise if the child refuses a bottle. You can resort to the help of relatives. It is possible that the child will refuse to take the bottle out of her mother’s hands categorically, and will eat from the fathers. You can try to give the first time a bottle not in the position in which the child is accustomed to breastfeed. Remember that a child under one year old (according to some sources up to 2x) needs to receive either breast milk or its substitute – an adapted mixture. As well as the child must meet the need for sucking, if not the breast, then the nipple. During this period, the contact between mother and child is especially important. Try to make the child feel his mother’s intimacy, love and affection.

Excommunication from breastfeeding a child older than one year.

So, let’s take the source data for a mother and a child older than a year. Keep in mind that the older the child, the easier it is to wean him. First of all, the mother should tune in to weaning from breastfeeding. Mom’s confidence in the correctness of their actions is very important in this period. Mother’s doubts will be passed on to the child, and weaning can go hard. In addition, the mother must enlist the support of loved ones. If, for example, the grandmother will lament “oh you my little, bad mother does not give you titia, oh you poor thing,” you know that this can complicate the weaning process. So, the decision is made, Family members are ready to support and help you. Getting started.

How to start weaning?
Usually begin weaning from breastfeeding with reduced daily feedings. Here every mother finds her own approach to her child. Often children often suck during the day from boredom. Therefore, we try to spend more time on interesting activities. Moreover, it is not necessary to engage in children’s activities. You can involve the kid in household chores, it is even more interesting for him. Go visit, interesting places, walk a lot, invite guests to your place. You can captivate a child with something unusual that you have never done before. Try to avoid situations where the child remembers about the breast and wants to suck. Do not change clothes with him, wear closed clothes. Try not to sit idle. Moreover, for the child, if the mother is sitting at the computer or talking on the phone, it can mean that the mother is not busy with anything. A sitting not busy mom is an object for attacking a child to suck. If your child is used to getting breasts in certain places or situations, try to avoid them.

If the child asks for a breast, pretend that you did not hear or did not understand. Try something to interest the child, distract. With an older child, the contract method works well. “I will give titia when we sleep”, “Suck, when we clean and wash the dishes” Just be sure to keep your promises. Then the child will agree to wait and postpone feeding. If the baby switches easily, then the need for attachment was not so great. If the baby insists, you have to give the breast. So at this moment for him it is really important.

Weaning from daytime feeding is quite simple. The next step is to clean the feed to sleep. First, daytime feeding is removed. Here you may need the help of relatives. For example, a grandmother can take on a nap. After all, children are very smart. They understand that dad and grandmother ask for breast useless, they do not have milk. Do not have to do it every day. The main thing is to teach your baby to fall asleep without a breast. Develop a special bedtime ritual. For example, washing – dressing up pajamas – reading a book – chest – stroking heels – sleep. Gradually try to eliminate the chest from this row. Or another option. Mom reads a book, gives suck on the chest, suddenly remembers some important business, speaks about it out loud (“Oh, I urgently need to turn off the kettle / call / go to the toilet, you lie down a minute, I’ll be right back”) and leaves. Gradually, the time of absences can be lengthened and once again, upon returning, you will find your crumbs peacefully sleeping. But one condition is that if you left, citing the fact that you need to wash your hands, and the child wants to get up and go look for you, he must find you in the bathroom of the washing hand, otherwise the child will not have confidence in your words. You do not scold the child for getting up, just return him to bed and gently ask the next time not to get up, but to wait for you.

It is important to remember that at this time tactile contact is very important. Try to touch the child more: hug, massage, tickle, fight, squeeze it. Talk more often about how you go. The child must understand that he is still loved, just this love is manifested in other ways.

At the stage when daytime feedings are gone and only nighttime feedings for sleeping and nighttime are left, many mothers prefer to stop and feed in this mode for some time. If the daily feedings were removed gently, the number of night feedings does not increase. If the child began to wake up much more often at night, in order to attach himself, he became restless, capricious, anxious, began to suck his fingers or other objects, probably you are in too much of a hurry, it is better to take a step back and wait some time before moving on .

The latest, usually cleaned night feedings. First, the duration of night feedings is reduced. Mom takes the breast after the baby sucked a little. Gradually, the attachments become quite short, rather symbolic, and over time the child will simply wake them up. From this point on, the chest can simply not give. At night, you can use the wording: “it is night on the street, mom sleeps, dad sleeps and titia sleeps, and Masha will also sleep” The clothes in which moms sleep should make it difficult to access the chest. Mom can pretend to be asleep. You can put the child to bed on the father’s side, and then dad wakes up, gives the child some water and puts the child back. Mom can go to sleep at night in another room. Each mother will find her words and tricks that will suit her child.