Breastfeeding can be a real work saver when you can count on it as a surefire way of getting a baby to quiet down or sleep. If you choose to do so, there are many benefits to continuing to breastfeed as your baby grows into toddlerhood.
This is the most natural path to follow. Babies who are allowed to wean at their own pace usually continue to nurse well past their first birthday though this does not mean that you would be unable to wean later on if that is what you wish. As your baby learns to eat other foods and to drink from a cup, breastfeeding becomes more important for comfort and reassurance than for nourishment.
Get the facts about weaning and how to make the process a more positive one for you and your child. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends exclusive breast-feeding for the first six months after birth — and breast-feeding in combination with solids foods until at least age 1. Breast-feeding is recommended as long as you and your baby wish to continue. When to start weaning your child is a personal decision.
It's often easiest to begin weaning when your baby starts the process. Changes in breast-feeding patterns leading to eventual weaning often begin naturally at age 6 months, when solid foods are typically introduced.
Some children begin to seek other forms of nutrition and comfort at around age 1. By this age, children typically eat a variety of solid foods and are able to drink from a cup. Other children might not initiate weaning until they become toddlers, when they're less willing to sit still during breast-feeding. You might also decide when to start the weaning process yourself. This might be more difficult than following your child's lead — but can be done with extra care and sensitivity.
Whenever you start weaning your baby from the breast, focus on your child's needs as well as your own. Resist comparing your situation with that of other families, and consider rethinking any deadlines you might have set for weaning when you were pregnant or when your baby was a newborn. Slowly tapering off how long and how often you breast-feed each day — over the course of weeks or months — will cause your milk supply to gradually diminish and prevent engorgement.
It might be easiest to drop a midday breast-feeding session first. After a lunch of solid food, your child might become interested in an activity and naturally give up this session. Once you've dropped one feeding, you can work on dropping another. Refusing to breast-feed when your child wants to nurse can increase your child's focus on the activity.
If your child wants to nurse, go ahead. Your baby will still be getting most of their energy and nutrients from breast milk or first infant formula. Breast milk or infant formula should be their main drink during the first year.
Do not give them whole cows' or goats' or sheep's milk as a drink until they're 1 year old. Introduce a cup from around 6 months and offer sips of water with meals. Using an open cup or a free-flow cup without a valve will help your baby learn to sip and is better for their teeth. Try mashed or soft cooked sticks of parsnip, broccoli, potato, yam, sweet potato, carrot, apple or pear. This will help your baby get used to a range of flavours rather than just the sweeter ones, like carrots and sweet potato and might help prevent them being fussy eaters as they grow up.
Foods containing allergens such as peanuts, hens' eggs, gluten and fish can be introduced from around 6 months of age, 1 at a time and in small amounts so you can spot any reaction. Cows' milk can be used in cooking or mixed with food from around 6 months of age, but should not be given as a drink until your baby is 1 year old.
Full-fat dairy products, such as pasteurised cheese and plain yoghurt or fromage frais, can be given from around 6 months of age. Choose products with no added sugar. As soon as your baby starts solid foods, encourage them to be involved in mealtimes and have fun touching, holding and exploring food.
Let them feed themselves with their fingers when they want to. This helps develop fine motor skills and hand-eye co-ordination. Your baby can show you how much they want to eat, and it gets them familiar with different types and textures of food. Finger food is food that's cut up into pieces big enough for your baby to hold in their fist with a bit sticking out. Start off with finger foods that break up easily in their mouth and are long enough for them to grip.
Avoid hard food, such as whole nuts or raw carrots and apples, to reduce the risk of choking. There's no right or wrong way.
The most important thing is that your baby eats a wide variety of food and gets all the nutrients they need. There's no more risk of choking when a baby feeds themselves than when they're fed with a spoon. From about 7 months, your baby will gradually move towards eating 3 meals a day breakfast, lunch and tea , in addition to their usual milk feeds, which may be around 4 a day for example, on waking, after lunch, after tea and before bed.
As your baby eats more solid foods, they may want less milk at each feed or even drop a milk feed altogether. If you're breastfeeding, your baby will adapt their feeds according to how much food they're having. Gradually increase the amount and variety of food your baby is offered to ensure they get the energy and nutrients they need.
Try to include food that contains iron, such as meat, fish, fortified breakfast cereals, dark green vegetables, beans and lentils, at each meal. As your baby becomes a more confident eater, remember to offer them more mashed, lumpy and finger foods.
Providing finger foods as part of each meal helps encourage infants to feed themselves, develop hand and eye co-ordination, and learn to bite off, chew and swallow pieces of soft food. From about 10 months, your baby should now be having 3 meals a day breakfast, lunch and tea , in addition to their usual milk feeds.
Around this age, your baby may have about 3 milk feeds a day for instance, after breakfast, after lunch and before bed. Remember that formula-fed babies should take a vitamin D supplement if they're having less than ml of formula a day. They should be able to manage a wider range of finger foods, and be able to pick up small pieces of food and move them to their mouth. They'll use a cup with more confidence. Lunches and teas can include a main course, and a fruit or unsweetened dairy-based dessert, to move eating patterns closer to those of children over 1 year.
From 12 months, your child will be eating 3 meals a day containing a variety of different foods , including:. The World Health Organization recommends that all babies are breastfed for up to 2 years or longer. You can keep breastfeeding for as long as it suits you both, but your child will need less breast milk to make room for more foods.
Once your child is 12 months old, infant formula is not needed and toddler milks, growing-up milks and goodnight milks are also unnecessary. To quote Dr. Both of you will continue to benefit from breastfeeding as long as you like.
Many mothers choose to wean naturally, allowing the child to outgrow the need gradually, in his own time. Breastfeeding an older toddler or child is different from breastfeeding an infant. Most mothers naturally begin to place some restrictions on nursing as their child grows. Sometimes, the mother of an older nursling may become frustrated by other parenting challenges, and think that breastfeeding is causing the difficulty.
A good place to start is by attending La Leche League meetings. There you will meet mothers who have nursed their children including extended nursing mothers and are happy to share information and ideas with you. Find a group near you. It is possible to wean during the day but only nurse at night as the nighttime feeding is usually the last to go.
Or wean at night but still allow nursing during the day. It does not need to be all or nothing. The nap and bedtime nursings are often the last to go and can be more difficult. La Leche League does not advocate for any sleep-training techniques that includes children being left to cry for long periods of time. Staying close to your little one to allow for quick attention before they are fully awake can also help with the overnight times.
If you decide to wean the nighttime feeding, make a bedtime routine not centered around breastfeeding. A good book or two will eventually become more important than a long session at the breast.
Your child may agree to rest his head on your breast instead of feeding.
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