Weaning a baby from breastfeeding is quite a difficult task for a mother. It requires a lot of effort and patience not only from mother but also from the other family members too. However, it is essential to wean a baby from breastfeeding at the correct time for overall healthy growth and development of a baby. Since there comes a certain time when only a mother's milk is not sufficient for a growing toddler. So, let us now know some easy ways to wean a baby from breastfeeding.
Pick the perfect time
Breastfeeding up to 6 months is recommended for a baby's healthy growth. However, after the age of 6 months, a baby should also be introduced with semi-solids and liquid diet along with the mother's milk. Having said that, Weaning is ultimately a personal choice because in some cases a mother has to return to her work and she cannot continue breastfeeding up to the recommended age of the baby. Therefore, decide and pick the perfect time for weaning and work accordingly.
The frequency of breastfeeding should be decreased gradually and other solid food intakes should be increased. By doing this, a child does not feel a sudden break of breastfeeding which somewhere gives him a time of comfort.
Sometimes it is a mother who initiates this weaning process, whereas in some case it is a baby who prefers to wean quickly.
Be patient
As already mentioned in this blog, weaning takes a lot of effort and patience from a mother, hence be prepared that the weaning process will take a lot of time to get completed. If it is baby-led weaning, it will complete quickly and easily, however, if it is a mother-led weaning process, it may take some extra time to complete. Take a gradual process, instead of being in hurry to wean your baby off or comparing your baby with others in terms of weaning. Remember, every child is different from other ones.
Take Support of your partner or family member
To wean a breastfeeding baby, family support is very important. Your child may behave stubbornly if you do not give him milk when he is asking for it. He will cry too much and will show resistance to anything which you offer him. But if your family supports your decision too, weaning becomes easy. You can ask your partner to take the baby away from you and give him something else instead of mother's milk. It can his favourite toy to play, or any fresh fruit juice to drink, or even a bottle of milk. The only motto is to distract his attention from his mother's milk.
Encourage your child to pick foods by self
Weaning is an important stage in your child's development. It should be started at the correct time. When you have started giving solid food to your baby, start practising weaning stage too. For doing this, you should always encourage your child to pick up his food by self. This can be any vegetable or fruit slice and any finger snack. The more he eats by himself, the more satiated he will feel. This will make him more attracted to new foods and gradually he will wean off breastfeeding.
As the child grows older, weaning becomes more difficult.
Drop breastfeeding sessions
As your baby starts consuming foods, you reduce breastfeeding time. As earlier you used to breastfeed six times a day, now you reduce it slowly to three times. It is seen that babies forget breastfeeding in the afternoon, as they get a chance to do many other activities during that time. But the real difficulty lies in weaning away the night time. For this, you sleep away from the child, sometimes by doing so the habit of the child will be lost.
Weaning is a long process and it may take your lots of time and energy. But do not be impatient. Never force weaning on your child. Take the help of Bottle feed, or Cup and takes the help of gradual weaning. This will be a slow process but will help both mom and child. Alternatively, partial weaning is also a great alternative. Here, in this case, breastmilk is provided to a baby by expressing it out and feeding it with the help of a bottle.
You may be interested in reading - Top 10 Breastfeeding Tips for every New Moms.
Pin this for later:
Comments