My baby is turning eight months old in a week. My issue is this: I'm still breastfeeding in the morning and the last feeding of the evening (doing formula inbetween meals). Personally, I am ready to wean her off now, but my conscience is not. I want to try to get back into shape and lose some weight, and I've heard trying to lose weight while breastfeeding is not recommended. Also, I know it is the best form of nutrition for a baby, so I'm afraid I will be depriving her of that. I'm not concerened about the bonding part of it, because we bond every day in so many other ways. Any suggestions?

By Sunny on Sunday, June 29, 2003 - 05:56 pm:

You can lose weight while breastfeeding, but it's recommended that you only lose a pound a week. The fear is that any toxins stored in the fat will enter the blood stream and cross over into the breastmilk. Once you do stop nursing altogether, you'll find you lose a few pounds of water weight too.

I would start to introduce a cup (or bottle) when she wakes up in the morning. How has reacted during the day to the formula? If she doesn't have too much of a problem with it, she may take it in the morning without any problems. It might be tougher if you are like me and bring her into bed to nurse in the morning so you can get a little extra sleep. If there is someone else who could give her the formula, it might make the transition easier. You should give her at least a week to get used to the new routine and you may have to nurse her for the first few days (but only if she absolutely refuses the formula.)

I always left the night nursing as the last session to give up. You don't have to stop right away, but start a new routine (after she's established in a morning routine) where you give her a bath, storytime, cuddle time, etc. and offer formula first. You want her to fall asleep on her own without having to nurse herself to sleep. I've never weaned before a year and I didn't let them cry it out, but always established a routine before weaning. I hope the transition is easy for your DD and you. You're right, they're are other ways of bonding, so be sure you do a lot of cuddling! You might find it's harder for you to give it up than it is for her.

By Sunny on Sunday, June 29, 2003 - 06:07 pm:

Oh, and one more thing.

You are not depriving her of anything! While I am a strong advocate for breastfeeding, I know there are some women who are of the mindset that there is something wrong with formula. There isn't. Besides, you've shared your body with another human for around 17 months. There is nothing wrong with wanting it back.

By Bobbie on Sunday, June 29, 2003 - 09:17 pm:

I agree with Sunny. And just wanted to give you a hug. Been there done that. You have done well.

By Dawnk777 on Sunday, July 6, 2003 - 09:45 pm:

I worked full-time with the first one and 32 hours/week with the second one. Besides that, I worked 2 weeks of day shift and 2 weeks of night shift, always alternating. I manged to nurse the first one for about 6 months before I basically had no more milk and I got to almost 7 months with the second one. I was very sad when it was about time to give up breastfeeding, but both of my kids transitioned to formula and are just fine right now. They are almost 14 and 11.

Exclusive breastfeeding would have been nice, but with me working so much, it was a challenge, although, my workplace did provide a Medela electric breast pump and a private room for all the nursing moms. We just all used our sets of tubing that we hooked up to it.

It is hard emotionally to give up breastfeeding, but your dd will be fine!