Weaning from BM

DD just turned 11 months today and I've decided to start transitioning her to cow's milk. She's been EBF. I've started to make the pumped bags slightly smaller so we can start off with just adding in a little cow's milk- 1 oz cow's milk to 4 oz. BM and then if she does well after a week, we'll increase it a little. My question is, what about nursing? Do I keep nursing her? I don't mind since I only really nurse her first thing in the AM and before bed and on the weekends. Also, once she is fully transitioned, should I continue with bottles or switch to a sippy cup? She does well with water in her sippy cup, but she's never drank milk out of a sippy cup. Am I thinking about this way too much? I just feel so out of my element! Help!

Weaning from BM

You can keep nursing as little or as much as you want. Both my girls continued nursing and drank milk from a straw cup. My youngest I didn't introduce milk until later, maybe 18 months and she nursed on demand until almost 2. I never gave milk in a bottle other than bm.

Message edited 3/28/2017 11:04:55 AM.

Re: Weaning from BM

Thank you! I wasn't sure if I would just dry up completely or what. And I mentioned to my mom that I planned not to give her cow's milk in a bottle and she kinda laughed and said "Good luck!" I thought maybe I was being dumb. I haven't tried giving her a straw cup yet, she had a little difficulty getting used to the sippy cups. Can you recommend the one you started with?

Weaning from BM

I had luck with both the Playtex lil gripper and the munchkin one with the weighed straw.

Weaning from BM

Your body will adjust! I'm in the same boat--I just started mixing BM and milk this week. I swore I was going to quick nursing at 1 year but he is still attached and I love nursing him so I think I'm going to keep it going. I'm definitely retiring the pump though! He will eventually get no more BM during the day at day care.

As for sippy cup, I'm sort of lost with that. He does well with water out of a sippy cup too, and can drink out of a straw but not a straw cup, apparently those are too advanced .

Re: Weaning from BM

Posted by racheK

Your body will adjust! I'm in the same boat--I just started mixing BM and milk this week. I swore I was going to quick nursing at 1 year but he is still attached and I love nursing him so I think I'm going to keep it going. I'm definitely retiring the pump though! He will eventually get no more BM during the day at day care.

As for sippy cup, I'm sort of lost with that. He does well with water out of a sippy cup too, and can drink out of a straw but not a straw cup, apparently those are too advanced .

Re: Weaning from BM

Message edited 3/28/2017 1:39:12 PM.

Re: Weaning from BM

My DS nursed till 2.5. He never transitioned to bottles, just straw cups with water since I wanna say 7 or 8 months or so. You're probably overthinking it, but we're mom's and that's what we do.

Message edited 3/28/2017 4:55:15 PM.

Weaning from BM

I pumped until my DS was 14 months. My DS is now 2 years 11 months and still nurses so don't worry, even if you don't pump, you can still nurse. I've been trying to wean him forever, but he's so attached. We actually have a calendar counting down til his birthday cause I told him that's the last day. I can't wait!!

As for transitioning to a cup, my DS gave up the bottle at 8 months. I would suggested transitioning my to a cup now - I think it'll make your life easier.

Re: Weaning from BM

DD is 16 months, but I actually would mix BM and cow's milk in a sippy cup and give that to her. I didn't even warm it up, just gave it to her cold. She never really took to a bottle well anyway, so I didn't mix it in her bottle. Eventually I just lessened the BM and just gave her the milk in a sippy and she loved it. At that point we just eliminated all bottles and went straight to sippy cups. We used the Playtex straw cups and the munchkin 360 cups. She did well with both.

Re: Weaning from BM

Thanks everyone! I gave her some BM/cow's milk in a sippy cup and she was great with it. She doesn't seem to want to sit down and drink her bottles during the day anymore, so she just kind of walked around and took sips from it for a bit. It gave me hope that I can ditch the bottles completely, especially if I continue to nurse first thing in the AM and at night.