When do children naturally wean

Child-led weaning occurs when a child no longer has a need to nurse — nutritionally or emotionally. A baby who self-weans is usually well over a year old , is getting most of his nutrition from solids, is drinking well from a cup, and cuts down on nursing gradually. If children are truly allowed to self-wean in their own time, most will do so somewhere between the 2nd and 4th year. Obviously, some will wean before this time and some will wean after this time, too. Be aware of any signs that the weaning process is going too quickly for your child and be ready to slow things down some if necessary.

If you want to take an active approach to weaning before baby show signs on his own, you might consider waiting until at least the age of 18 months. You can also try this with expressed breast milk. After 12 months of age, your baby should not take more than 16 to 24 ounces mL to mL of milk per day.

Also, she may develop iron deficiency anemia. If your baby has a milk allergy, talk to your doctor about what to use for substitute feedings. There can be many causes, such as teething, an ear infection or other illness, the onset of your period, a change in your diet, soap, or even deodorant. Mastitis is an infection that causes breast pain, swelling, warmth and redness on your breast. It can also cause fever and chills.

If you have these symptoms, call your doctor. Your doctor will most likely prescribe an antibiotic to clear up the infection. There are many sources of information, including your paediatrician, family doctor, a community health nurse, breastfeeding clinic, lactation consultant and La Leche League.

Last updated: June Home Pregnancy and Babies Current: Weaning your child from breastfeeding. When should I wean my baby? Can sit up without support, and has good control of his neck muscles. Holds food in his mouth without pushing it out on his tongue right away. Shows interest in food when others are eating. Opens his mouth when he sees food coming his way. How do I wean my baby? A sudden, abrupt wean should only be considered in extreme circumstances.

Start by substituting one feed. When one feed is going well, substitute another feed, and so on. Continue this way, substituting one feed at a time. The pace is up to you and your baby , but in general, the slower the better. You can start with a liquid such as expressed breast milk in a bottle or cup or a complementary food after about 6 months of age.

Hold and cuddle your baby if you are feeding from a bottle. This extra closeness will help both of you during the weaning process. When this has happened several times, you will very naturally and with hardly a thought respond less quickly to his requests to nurse, at least when he seems to be asking rather superficially, and when the world around the two of you is busy and interesting.

In this way, even without planning it, you play your part in his weaning. You are following his cues and your own common sense. You will probably come to a time when you yourself are impatient with nursing. If you have been enjoying loving your child this way, you may be puzzled at the change in your feelings. No doubt your impatience will flare at times and subside at others, depending on what is going on in the rest of your life.

Some of what you may be feeling, though, is part of natural weaning and an indication that you are gradually outgrowing the relationship. You too are growing toward being ready when the time for weaning comes. In time - how much time no one can say - your child will abandon all but a very few favorite nursing times, usually the times when he is falling asleep or first waking up in the morning.

When you are down to these few times, your milk production will dwindle. Then some children who have especially liked the milk will quit nursing in favor of a breakfast or bedtime snack. Others continue to enjoy one or more of these special nursing times for a long time yet, dropping them slowly until a few days, then a few weeks, go by with no request to nurse.

Every spontaneous weaning is unique, however, so it is impossible to guarantee anything about it except that it will happen. For most children before age three or so, weaning, spontaneous or mother-initiated, is all but final when two or three weeks have passed without your child's tugging your blouse. After this amount of time most of these little ones do not ask again, or if they do, they find they have forgotten how to suckle. Once in a while someone suggests that your milk may become "poison" or "spoiled" if your child does not nurse for some certain amount of time.

This is an old wives' tale, one that is heard in many parts of the world. In rural Zimbabwe, for instance, mothers are told that if milk remains in the breast for a whole day, it will hurt the child. Your child can nurse safely after any interval. Occasionally a child will ask to nurse again after you have regarded her as totally weaned, but most forget how. A mother who was sad because her body just would not cooperate with her son's need to nurse during her pregnancy wrote:.

I still have regrets because I see many LLL moms nursing their two-and-a-half-year-old sons, and I know that if I hadn't gotten pregnant I'd be nursing my son too. I think it would help because he doesn't talk, and it would be a great way to stay connected to him. He has tried to nurse since the new baby was born two months ago, but he doesn't remember how.

I let him try whenever he wants it's not very often. The most likely circumstance for such requests is when you have a new baby, but also once in a while when a child discovers that mom is pregnant.

Or your child may be upset about something, as in this situation recalled by the mother of a now grown daughter:. It was a disastrous time ending up with a breast abscess and an angry weaning at about two-and-a-half. She missed nursing so much though that we gradually started up again, nursed through a pregnancy and tandem nursed. She finally weaned by contract a couple months after her sixth birthday. There is no reason that you can't allow your child to try nursing again, even though you have probably told all the relatives he is weaned.

Chances are that he is weaned. A request to nurse from a child who has not nursed for a while is usually a request for reassurance and acceptance. You may not be able to discover any explanation for your child's desire to return to nursing other than the mysterious workings of his growing little mind. It feels good to a little child to know that if he ever did need you again that way, you would be there for him with open arms. One mother says of her weaned twins that they both had to try nursing several times when the new baby came, but gave it up after a few tries.

It is much easier for a little person to wean himself if he knows that his decision does not have to be final. One mother had nothing but positive feelings when her child wanted to nurse again a few times after over a year without asking for the breast: "I never realized just how important and memorable those nursing days were to her and that she would actually remember at all.

This was her 'thank you' for the loving patience and time I took when it was needed. When our daughter was about eleven months, [her two-year-old brother] started to become very interested in what nursing was.

He shocked me one day by pretending to nurse on one breast while his sister was at the other. I didn't try to discourage him because by now I had read a little about tandem nursing and I hoped if he was to start nursing again after two years that it would help our relationship.

I had already noticed the difference between my two children's behavior that I attribute to our nursing relationship. My son is a very energetic boy who likes to tell me "No! Now that she is fifteen months and he is two-and-a-half years old, he still continues to pretend but doesn't actually latch on. He even tells Baby, as he calls his sister, that it is time to nurse and he directs her to the breast he chooses.

For a child who is apparently weaned to actually resume nursing for a while, sometimes for no reason that you can perceive, might make you feel panicky, especially if you are very happy for your child to relate to you in a different way. Yet it will be helpful to your child for you to go along with him if you can. Just as we adults sometimes make a mistake in deciding to wean our children too soon, occasionally very small growing people make mistakes in deciding to wean themselves too soon.