This will be the summary of all my previous posts on stopping breastfeeding. At the final stages of weaning breastfeeding,
the method I use was to just talk to my baby every day, coupled with the fact that my milk supply was dwindling (since I stopped pumping, and reduced the frequency of nursing), making nursing not very satisfying for my baby. So, in summary, here are the top 5 tips to stop breastfeeding:
- Wean your baby off the breast slowly. Take your time. Why do you need to rush? There is no reason to rush. Well, unless you suddenly find that you need to travel on an urgent business trip, etc. But in this case, your baby will be able to be weaned off naturally completely, since you won’t be around and the baby won’t have any choice but to take from the bottle. Don’t give your baby cold shoulder. You don’t know what the emotional side effects would be. Let him transition slowly so that he won’t feel the sudden ‘emptiness’.
- Wean your baby off the breast in stages. First, from the feeds that are the easiest (eg, day time nap feeds), to the hardest (eg,night time feeds).
- Introduce the milk powder to your baby slowly. If you don’t want (or can’t) mix the milk powder into your breast milk, then you can try letting the baby take a few mouthfuls of the formula milk initially. You might want to try mixing it into his food or something.
- Talk to your child. Convince him that he shouldn’t be nursing anymore. Make him feel that only ’small babies’ take breast milk. ‘Big children’ don’t take breast milk. You can also try giving him rewards when he succeeds to not nurse for that session.
- Reduce your milk supply slowly. By reducing the frequency of breastfeeding or pumping breast milk, you will slowly reduce your milk supply. It is definitely not good to take any drugs to stop your breast milk suddenly. You don’t know what side effects the drug might have.
I am sure you will miss breastfeeding your baby when you wean him off. So, try to wean him off as late as you can. It will be very hard for you to breastfeed your baby again once you wean him off. Treasure those precious breastfeeding moments as much as you can.
* weaning babies *
