Weaning from breastfeeding- Rested Mommy, Happy mommy, Happy home
Undoubtedly MOTHERHOOD is a blessing and a great pleasure. But the toughest time in the life of a mother and baby is when you mentally prepare yourself, the time when you decide that no more breastfeeding and baby is more of independent. This is not easy, but this is possible,
Time to be tough and strong. It took almost 2 weeks week for us to wean her off. I couldn’t feed my first child, my son, as I was working fulltime. So this time I didn’t want to lose any chance of feeding my daughter who just turned 15 months. Since she is the 2nd child and no more plan for another, so emotionally it was tough. The thought of “I will never be able to feed my baby anymore was making me emotional”. But trust me once you are successful end result is- Well rested mommy happy mommy Happy home.
Here are few tricks and tips we followed:
- Weaning day time: I reduced day feedings gradually by offering her some new foods and snacks, taking her out for walk when she wants milk. I tried not to tackle day and night feedings at the same time. So worked on day feedings first. When it reduced to 2-3 feeds then I worked on night weaning.
- Home remedies: I applied asafoetida paste on my nipples, she somehow she didn’t mind the flavor and started sucking milk. Then I applied coffee paste, turmeric paste, nothing worked. Finally I applied red blood color nail paint and acted like I was in deep pain.
Mumma has OUCHY. The milk is sour and bitter. And I showed her the new sippy cup and told see “The milk is in here now. She smelled and tried again and again and refused. This was like a magic trick. I was wondering that don’t know if she will ever stop taking breast milk. She kept checking again and again and I was also particular about the nail paint application.
- Sleep pattern: I made sure she sleeps with her dad in separate bed rooms. We started this process over the weekend so that we can play around when she cries for milk. She woke up 4-5 times the very first night. She cried and cried hard. We were having hard time putting her to sleep without nursing. We were firm not to feed. This gradually decreased in 3-4 days. We also took her for a drive or a walk for It’s been a week now. Patience and calmness is the key here.
- Introduce new food: We introduced whole milk to her when she turned 1. Earlier she doesn’t used to take too much quantity but after weaning she asks for her sippy cup first thing in the morning and drinks in her cup.
- She sleeps well throughout the night, wakes up 2-3 times we pat her and the sleeps.
We are still following same patterns sleeping with DEEDA- daddys girl,