Trying to Wean and She Can't Tolerate the Substitutes...

First off, congratulations on making it this long breastfeeding. You're in the minority. Great job mom!

I really get the wanting to have your body back. Nursing can be hard, but don't feel you have to wean her 100% by her first birthday. Instead of all these crazy formulas, why not wait until her first (and with your ped's ok) to try regular milk? Have you smelled formula? It's really stinky and kinda gross. My son was not a fan when I had to supplement and who can blame him. He way prefered just regular milk. Also, when transitioning it may be easier to just forego bottles altogether and just use sippies. Many breast fed babies are not fans of the bottle and prefer cups or sippies.

Regarding weaning, like I said, I understand wanting to wean by age 1 but realize that it's not like your breastmilk suddenly becomes bad or less nutritious afterwards. Toddlers still get a lot of benefit from breast milk. What you might consider, and what might work better if you have a boob monster, is waiting until you can transition to regular milk and then slowly cut down on the nursing sessions. Chances are, if you've been consuming dairy all along and she's been fine with it so far, she'll tolerate dairy just fine. You do not want to go cold turkey -- that can leave you with clogged ducts and mastitis if you're not careful.

Since she's nearly one, shouldn't you be able to choose milk over formula? If she's having trouble tolerating dairy, you might try rice milk. My three year old has a terrible time on the potty if she's had more than a small amount of dairy, so we use rice milk. I prefer it to cow's milk as well. It's sweeter than cow's milk (no sugar or syrup, though!), which may help your daughter accept it more readily.

Good luck!

She could be allergic to milk. Does she have the stomach issues when you drink a lot of milk or eat a lot of dairy? If she is allergic to milk she is most likely allergic to soy (learned that through our pedi and the hard way, our son is allergic to both). If she's not allergic she could be lactose intolerant. Many people have been told that "1" is the magic number, that babies can eat almost anything at 1 but that is not the case. Every baby is different. Have you tried Lactaid (sp?) If she is allergic she won't be able to tolerate it but if she's just lactose intolerant, she might be able to take it. Also, have you tried goat milk? I know whole foods carries it in the dairy section. They also sell goat kefir (blueberry flavor) that is supposed to be gentler on the stomach that milk. As for seeing a change, we noticed a change in less than 2 days after I cut out ALL dairy and soy from my diet while I was breastfeeding, and in 1 week, he was an entirely new baby. Hope this helps!