I thought i should start with a blog about something which i am currently doing adding all the tips and any obstacles i have come across along the way.
Adem turned 2 on the 2nd of august this year but as we were on our holiday so i started the process of slowly weaning him off the boob once we returned home and were settled into a routine again.
We started the process 16 days ago – I have always done baby led everything so i decided to go with my motherly instincts and just go with my gut as no one knows their child better than the mother in most cases and all children are different. I wanted to share my experiences with you all as this might be super helpful to some.
Phase 1 – So to start with i cut out letting him have boob as soon as he woke up – of course he wasn’t happy at the beginning as he LOVES his morning (pre-breakfast milk) but he soon noticed that he was eating more at breakfast time and he didn’t miss it at all. So far so good. I was pleasantly surprised and after a couple of days he stopped asking for it. He still occasionally tells me to get back into bed and then giggles and says boobie… he is very smart. So my top tip here is to always get up and get ready before your little one and hubby. I usually get half a peaceful shower before i hear ‘MUMMY COME HERE!!’
Phase 2 – So for this phase i decided to cut out the ‘mid morning’ feed – To be honest this only really happened if we are at home so this one was easy to cut out as he didn’t need it as he is now 2. It was more of a comfort thing and i replaced it with snack time of an apple or healthy snack if we were at home during this time. I like to be out and about from early and get back for nap times so he can sleep in the car or in his bed. In this phase i also cut out evening feeds pre bed time!!! this i will talk about in phase 3
Phase 3 – I thought this would be the hardest thing in this whole weaning process… but funnily enough it wasn’t!! So a little bit of background info… during Adems 2 years of life he has co slept with us quite a bit as he didn’t like his cot or being alone, but when he turned 18 months old we got him a toddler bed which helped massively…but not for my back as i ended up falling asleep after feeding him quite a bit (yes laying in the toddler bed haha) Everyone does things differently but as i enjoy breast feeding and love all the cuddles i honestly didn’t mind the co sleeping. I then did sleep training with him but after a few weeks of sleepless nights he was eventually sleeping right through the night in his own bed without waking up asking for milk!! Hallelujah!! So getting back to the weaning side of things…during the process of saying no to pre bedtime milk he was fine after the 2nd night but he has to hold my hair (I think the hair holding thing is quite common when breast feeding, but now he is 2 its just as obsession!) Even when we are reading etc he has to hold my hair, he wont settle for just anyones hair, it has to be Mummies hair. So this is where i have struggled because from birth he has only ever had me at bed times and nap times, he is happy with no milk but to make life easier i just lay with him in our bed with him holding my hair until he falls asleep but normally doesn’t take long when he is in our bed as he prefers it. A few times in the last 2 weeks he has asked to go in his bed to sleep and i laid with him until he fell asleep, this was great progress and as i do everything baby led and it showed to me that he was ready to go back to his bed and he knows he isn’t getting any milk anyway. So even though i have struggled with weaning him off ‘mummies hair’ at least along side co-sleeping with us he is happy and we can transfer him into his bed once he falls asleep.
Phase 4 – So if Adem falls asleep whilst in the car (without having boobie) he would wake up and want it desperately so for the first 2 days so i let him have milk once he woke up as he slept whilst we were out. After that i was then making sure we got home in time for his naps to get him into a good routine. So after 2-3 days from starting the weaning-off process he wasn’t having milk for 12 hours at a time. This was great progress and i am so proud of him. During this whole process we have also been potty training so he has developed so much in the last 2 weeks. I will follow up this blog post with a potty training update.
Lots of Love x
Alice's Healthy Lifestyle 