How To Wean Day Feeds

Breastfeeding Q&A

Question:

My baby is turning 1 soon and has been exclusively breastfed. After he turns one, I want to continue to breastfeed but I was hoping to scale back some of the breastfeeding sessions so he is more hungry for solid foods and also to give me a little more freedom. He still feeds very frequently (every hour or two) and I think many times it is for comfort or he is just “snacking”. I would like to scale back so that we’re doing one morning feed and one evening feed and less daytime feedings. How do I go about scaling back breastfeeding? 

How to scale back breastfeeding and wean day feeds

Answer:

First, congrats on making it to a year of breastfeeding. I want to say first that this behavior is totally normal. So many mom’s find that their one-year-olds are still breastfeeding very frequently. It may be for snacking and also for comfort. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t cut back, if that’s something that you would like. It’s always best to take it slow, so that you and your little one have time to adjust. So dropping one feeding every few days is best. There are several ways to do this, and it depends on what works for you. Some things to try include reducing the time at the breast for a feeding by singing a song and telling your baby that when the song ends, the feeding is over. Then, you decrease the length of the song each day until the feeding disappears. You can also try offering your baby substitutions. So if he asks to nurse, you can instead offer to read him a book, play with toys, or offer a snack. It should be things that he likes and that allow him to stay close and engaged with you, because that’s what he’s after when he wants to nurse. Other parents find that distractions work best. So that might mean being out of the house more than usual and filling your days with activities that involve fewer opportunities to nurse. Hope these ideas help, and good luck!