I am getting ready in the next month to start weaning my 11 month old dd from breast milk to whole milk. What is the best way to go about this? She still wakes up once or twice in the night for a feeding too. I've heard several different ways, but what works the best? Some say mix half and half, others say slowly take a way one feeding with the other. And what happens if she won't drink the whole milk or a mixture? Please help!

By Ladypeacek on Thursday, April 8, 2004 - 08:01 am:

I mixed the two and slowly added more milk each day. I started mixing 1/4 milk and each day added a little more. My ds was fine with it and really liked the milk. I would try it that way before giving dd an all milk meal. See how she takes it. Even though she may like it, switching too quickly may upset her tummy. Also you may want to get some of the gas drops to have on hand in case she does seem to get a little tummy ache, that will help her adjust better.

By Cat on Thursday, April 8, 2004 - 08:04 am:

Both of mine were brestfed only. What I did was started giving a sippy cup of milk with meals and snacks. They wouldn't normally be nursed at that time anyway. Then I just elimated one feeding at a time. Easier for them AND me! lol Of course the bedtime and night time feedings were the last to go. For the bedtime feeding, I put some warm milk in a cup. The night time ones I just tried to figure out if they were hungry (most of the time not) or just wanted to be cuddled. My oldest was a LOT easier to wean than my youngest. Robin took the cup and milk no problem at 13 months (started elimating one feeding at a time around 11 1/2 months). Randy didn't mind drinking milk with meals, but didn't want to give up nursing either. I had him down to just a few feedings by 20 months and tried to wean him then, but after listening to him scream for an hour I gave in. I tried again at about 22 months and he gave it up no problem. Guess he just wasn't ready two months earlier. This is what worked for us. I'm sure others will have different stories, and that's okay. Everyone's different. You have to find what works best for you. Good luck and let us know how it's going.

By Sunny on Thursday, April 8, 2004 - 12:53 pm:

I never replaced a nursing session with milk until I knew whether they would actually drink the milk or not. I never thought of mixing breast milk and regular milk, I just put some milk in a cup and let them have it. At first, they made faces and spit it out, but I kept trying until they eventually started drinking it. Once they passed their first birthday, I would start reducing the number of times they nursed and gave them milk instead. One of my kids didn't like regular milk at first, so I mixed a little chocolate milk with regualr milk and they drank it up! LOL
Sometimes, my kids would have milk with meals but still want to nurse, usually to go to sleep. I didn't refuse them and by the time they were 13 - 14 months, they stopped nursing after meals.
I'm still nursing my 20 month old, but we are down to once before bed. We skip some nights and within the next couple of months, he should be completely weaned.