Is My Baby Weaning?

Yes. And its ok to do it now when they choose since it will be MUCH easier for you both. Get the spill proof sippy cups and don't even do bottles at all. My best friend did this with all 3 of her kids and it worked great. Plus you never have the bottle separation issue.I wish my kids did that. They never wanted to give it up. :)

Jess T

Excellent that you are trying to get him back on course instead of throwing in the towel. My goal for my baby was to make it to his second birthday. (I got that from recommendations from the World Health Organization) Anyway, we made it, but we had help from an IBCLC, Kellymom, and articles by Dr. Newman (you can find em online.)

Your problem is a "nursing strike" and it's fairly common.
If your supply has dropped, the baby may become less interested, and less nursing can further drop supply, so you may need to pump to keep up supply until you can get him back on track. Take steps to increase your supply. Offer nursing BEFORE solid foods. Solid food should never become more important than breastmilk in the first year. Limit (or eliminate) bottles, pacifiers, and sippy cups. Offer nursing freely, don't wait until he "demands" to nurse - the "don't offer, don't refuse" method is a weaning technique. (One you might consider later on, as it is one of the more child-friendly weaning techniques)

He might just be too distracted, though. Have you heard of a "nursing necklace"? Or any beaded necklace that's STRONG enough that the baby won't break it. The mom wears it, and it gives the baby something interesting to play with or explore while nursing. Or a small toy to play with shile nursing (but if it's not attached to mom, he may just take it and crawl away with it.) Here are some more tips on nursing strikes and weaning from the Kellymom website:
http://www.kellymom.com/bf/weaning/babyselfwean.html#tips

"The Distractable Baby"
http://www.kellymom.com/babyconcerns/distractible-baby.html

And you can find a list of links here for help on "Surviving a nursing strike"
http://www.kellymom.com/bf/concerns/baby/back-to-breast.h...

Here's a (long) quote from the page entitled "Do babies under 12 months self-wean?":

DEVELOPMENTAL MILESTONES
"It is common and normal for babies to show less interest in breastfeeding sometime during the second six months. This is developmental and not an indication that baby wishes to stop nursing.

"Older babies tend to be distractible and want to be a part of all the action around them. Your baby may be more interested in learning about the world than in eating during the day (these same babies often increase their night nursing to make up for their busy days).
If baby is being given a bottle or sippy cup frequently, he discovers that he can walk/crawl around with it and not miss a thing, whereas nursing generally requires sitting still and not looking around for a few minutes. For this reason, some babies develop a preference for the bottle or cup at this developmental stage.

"Milestone times, such as crawling and walking, and stressful times like teething or illness can also cause baby to be less interested in nursing - these types of things are common in the second six months. Nursing strikes (when baby quits nursing suddenly) also tend to be more common around this age, perhaps due to the same factors.

"Our society tends to produce the expectation that babies can and should become independent as quickly as possible. Babies are considered more independent when they sleep alone, sleep through the night, potty train, wean, etc., As a result, babies are often pushed toward these milestones before they are ready - emotionally or physically. Because of this societal mindset, many moms don't even consider the idea that baby's disinterest in breastfeeding might be temporary, but simply go ahead and wean.

"This is not saying that a mother's choice to wean a baby this age is necessarily a bad choice for her family. A mother who wishes to wean her child at this point can certainly take advantage of baby's temporary disinterest in nursing to initiate mother-led weaning.

"However, it should understand that this is not self-weaning but a temporary developmental stage. Mom is making the choice, not baby. Once mom knows that she has a choice in the matter, she can better make an informed decision of whether to wean or to seek the benefits of continued nursing."

Like the others who have responed, I went through a similar nursing strike with my daughter at that age. It is normal for them to focus on honing their newly acquired skills and devote less time to comfort-nursing, especially if they have become effective nursers. I too, would advise not giving a bottle as frequently, this could be contributing to his desire to play around and nibble on your nipple (potentially more so than as a reaction to newly growing teeth). If you are giving bottles of breast milk, it may be better to have someone else do so and not as often. I agree with giving some water, but in a cup or sippy cup. Really, at his age, he should be getting all the hydration he needs from the breast milk. You should make sure that even though he is not as interested in nursing right now that you are expressing and saving the milk you are producing - to keep your supply up and to prepare for a potential growth spurt in which he may need more than your supply will provide if you let it get too low.

I nursed both of my children past the one year mark, and they both went through stages like this. Once children figure out that they can move, and with the addition of more foods, including table foods, will make a baby less dependent on your milk. I stuck with it(I was very determined to make it to a year) and they both continued nursing. In fact, after a few weeks of very little nursing, picked back up with gusto! Take this opportunity to pump after he is finished nursing to stock your supply back up!

I have heard about this time that the mom's adrenals go through a tough period which affects the milk...which of course, causes the baby to stop wanting to suck. I wish I had known, it happened to me at 6 months and I gave up.

Go to a natural food store like Wilner Chemists in Buckhead and talk to them about supplements for adrenals and for milk production. Perhaps they could help you. Try not to stop if you can, there are so many benefits for the baby to hang in there (and for mom). However, try to always get him to nurse first even if you have the bottle ready to go. That way, if you can get your milk back up, this will keep it going while you are adding the supplementation.

Also, are you drinking lots of water. Drink it until you are sick of it, that always made a big difference for me.

Good luck, J.

my daughter weaned herself cold turkey at 10 months. SHe never took a bottle but one day acted as if I was hurting her by making her nurse. I was very sad for a while but then saw it as a blessing (as i did not have to pry her off of me) I pumped for 2 more months (which I hated every day of) but it was best for her. I know its heartbreaking to break that bond but they are going to do what they want to do.

K.,
You don't need to wean yet. You may be giving him too much! :) This is normal...he's active and probably full...that's all good except you're supplementing with too much. At this point your schedule should be something like this...wake, nurse, cereal, play, nap, nurse, lunch, play, nap, snack, play, dinner, nurse, bed. I would recommend water in a sippy cup for snack time or something extra to drink. Your body is amazing and will give him all he needs in the feedings you schedule him to have. He may be a super sucker too :)...that means he'll get it all in just 5-10 minutes on each side...that's a blessing. It free's you up to crawl around with him and explore everything that he is allowed to do (and train him not to do). Enjoy him...don't stress :).
D.

Sounds like a nursing strike to me. Has he gained any new skills lately? He's probably more interested in exploring than cuddling up with you to nurse. This will pass and he will come back. Just keep putting him to the breast and letting him nurse however long he wants. If he figures out that he can feed himself with the bottle and not sit still, he'll probably not want to sit in your lap and nurse so I think the bottle is counterproductive to your desire to continue nursing. I never used bottles and had no problems nursing my kids past 1 year.

I had the same experience as Amy in weaning my kids. They just start to nurse fewer and fewer times during the day until you're down to just a bedtime nursing. BTW my kids weaned straight to a sippy, no bottles, and two of the three weaned well after a year.

Hey K.,
You know, neither one of my kids were able to latch on. This didn't make them any less bonded to me. In fact I sometimes wish they weren't so close to me, LOL! I guess my question to you would be... are you wanting to nurse because you want your son to have the milk or do you want to continue because you think this is a bonding experience? If it is the milk you want your son to have, maybe you should try pumping. Maybe I watch too much tv but I wouldn't let my son play with my boobs. I hate for him to think it was ok and try to get into some other females shirt and play. Sure some people would think it's cute because he's still young but to me it's a little creepy. Of course I was one of those people that felt creepy when someone else's kid would come at me with their mouth wide open to kiss me. Now, I wouldn't say NO to him but I just wouldn't give him the opportunity. I'm sorry if my comments upset you.

Hi there! I nursed my daughter until she was 3 month's. I wanted to go longer but I had had to have an emergency root canal when I was pregnant with her and they had to finish it. Well, I didn't want to nurse her while the medication was in my system so we gave her the bottle for a few days. However, when the meds were out, I tried to nurse her and she drank for a couple of days then I contratcted Mastitis. After this she would not nurse to save her life. I was heart broken beyond belief. With our Son, I was able to nurse him till he was 6 months, then we had to move states and we decided it was easier and he also wasn't getting enough Mommy Milk to satisfy him so we put him strictly on the Bottle. After this he started gaining weight. Good luck to you!!

My daughter did this too. Bummed me out because I would have been happy to nurse until two. Still, she decided she was done and my body listened to her and slowed down and stopped production soon after. You can always pump if he'll take Mommy milk in a bottle!

I think you should stop giving him the bottle. Once he realizes that you are his only source for food he will start nursing more. It wouldn't hurt to maybe pump some too in order to build back up your supply in case your supply is getting low from him not nursing much.

I think he is definitely trying to wean himself. I bet if you went straight to bottles for all feedings, he would have no problem with the transition. The transition will be much harder for you. In order for your body to wean properly, I would cut down on one feeding a day each week until he's only on bottle. I stopped nursing my son when he was 14 months old. he's 22 months now, and I still have a little fluid still left. It's okay if you wean him early. If he's ready to stop nursing, then it's time to stop. Forcing him will just make you both frustrated. I was really sad when I stopped nursing. I missed the closeness. I found other ways to make up for the missed cuddle time though, and I am sure you'll find other ways to cuddle with your sweety too.

K.,

I don't think that your baby is ready to wean. It is very common for 9 month old babies to not want to sit still for 30 minutes doing anything. I have a 9 month old myself and the total length of her feeding has been 5-10 minutes for months now. As babies get older they become much more efficient at nursing so it doesn't take them as long to feed. A 9 month old has the whole world to discover and they would rather be on the move! My older daughter started to wean herself shortly after her 1st birthday which was my goal.

Don't force him to nurse, it only makes you both frustrated. He will nurse if he is hungry enough. If you really want to continue nursing until he is a year old, why don't you cut back or stop giving him bottles? Just an idea. You might find that your best chance of nursing him is when he is tired and more snuggly.

As far as weaning, I found that with my oldest, she just gradually cut down on the number of feedings as she got older. Eventually we were down to one feeding at bedtime and I could tell that she wanted to be done nursing. To make it easy on myself (so I wouldn't get engorged) I just started making the feeding shorter and shorter.

Good Luck.
A.

From all that I have heard this is pretty normal once a child becomes mobile. My youngest daughter would only nurse for a couple of minutes at a time once she figured out how to get around and I thought i would go crazy trying to get her to nurse. She was never a very long nurser though and once the novelty of crawling wore off she would stay longer. Weaning is different for everyone. With my first child I slowly weaned her until we only nursed at night to go to sleep and eventually I cut that back in length until one night we stopped. My second one was similar. I just started cutting out nursing more as she ate more and then when we were down to just nursing at night, I didn't cut her back the way I did the first one, I just stopped with her. The best way is the way that is most comfortable for you. If you still want to nurse try giving your baby more food and bottles and only nurse 2 times a day, then eventually 1, and then wean when you are ready. If your son wants to wean now then it could be hard to continue nursing. My mom was a lactation consultant and she told me that some kids just want to wean and others it's really hard. Good luck.