Expert: ruth kraft - 4/12/2010

Question
ok so my son just turned a year. he is a nursing baby and at 10 months the doctor thought he might be alergic to milk. well come to find out he is not and now I am trying to ween him off of nursing and it has been impossible cause it has been his comfort. I started by giving him milk in a bottle but he will not take it from me he is constantley pulling on my shirt. what do I do? I finally broke him off of his midnight waking up to feed now it is first thing that he wants in the morning. help

Answer
You have to wean slowly. the morning feeding and the right before bed feedings are often the ones that take the longest. He really should be getting breastmilk until he is a year old anyway so give him a pat on the back for being so smart :) Pick the time he nurses that he doesnt seem to need the most and wean that one first, then pick another one once that one is weaned.

When he picks up your shirt, you say to him, when you want to nurse, you can... ( fill in the blank, touch mommys arm, use your words ( come up with a sign like sign language for nursing so he ASKS. this is about boundaries, if he is old enough to know to lift your shirt, he is old enough to know that there is a right way, but ONLY if you teach him to ask. )  This should curb that problem.

I hope that helped !