How to wean your baby off breast milk - A complete guide for weaning babies aged 1 to 3

Weaning from breastfeeding is a big deal for every baby and mother, because both the baby and the mother have to endure the physical and mental torture brought by weaning from breastfeeding. During the weaning period, both the mother and the baby have to go through a long period of adaptation. Below, the editor of No. 5.com will show you how to wean your baby from breastfeeding? A complete guide for weaning babies from 1 to 3 years old.

How to wean your baby off breast milk

1. Treat weaning as a natural process

First of all, don’t be too concerned about weaning your baby. You should feed your baby normally as planned. When your baby shows a strong interest in food other than breast milk, you should encourage and reinforce it in time. You should guide your baby to like complementary food according to the principle of from less to more, from thin to thick, so that he will regard weaning from breastfeeding as a natural process in his mind.

2. Decide whether to stop breastfeeding based on the baby's physical condition

Before a mother decides to wean her baby off breastfeeding, it is best to take the baby to a doctor for a comprehensive and detailed physical examination to ensure that the baby is in good physical condition and has normal digestive function before weaning. Otherwise, it will affect the baby's healthy development.

3. Gradually reduce the number of feedings

When you first start to reduce the amount of milk you give your baby, your baby will be very attached to your mother's milk. Therefore, it is best to start by reducing the number of breastfeeding during the day. Then, gradually transition to reducing the number of nighttime feedings until you are completely weaned from breastfeeding. You can gradually replace breast milk with cow's milk or formula milk, and increase the amount of complementary food accordingly.

4. Don’t stop breastfeeding when your baby is sick

If the baby is sick, teething, or has a new nanny, moves, travels, or the mother has to go to work, it is best not to wean the baby from breastfeeding, otherwise it will increase the difficulty of weaning the baby from breastfeeding.

5. Do not delay the weaning process

During the weaning process, the mother should not only allow the baby to gradually adapt to the change in diet, but also be decisive and resolute. She should not delay weaning just because the baby cries.

You should not suddenly stop feeding your baby, let him eat for a few days, and then suddenly stop feeding him again. Repeating this will only bring negative emotional stimulation to your baby, causing him to have emotional instability, night terrors, and refusal to eat, and even lay the hidden dangers for mental illness in the future.

6. Do not let your baby touch your nipples

When weaning, do not let the baby see or touch the mother's nipple. When the baby sees other babies breastfeeding, tell the baby that you have grown up, the little baby drinks mother's milk, and you don't eat it anymore.

7. Do not avoid during weaning

Children who are weaning from breastfeeding need more love and physical comfort from their mothers. Therefore, mothers should not avoid it during the weaning period, otherwise it will bring psychological pain to the baby. During this period, mothers should pay extra attention to and take care of the baby, and spend more time and energy to accompany the baby.

8. Dad helps the baby through the weaning period

Before weaning off breastfeeding, the mother can consciously reduce the time she spends with the baby and increase the time the father spends taking care of the baby, giving the baby a psychological adaptation process and reducing the baby's dependence on the mother in advance.

How many days does it take to wean off breast milk?

It takes a few days to wean your baby off breast milk, depending on the baby's mood and physical condition. If the mother is fully prepared and both she and the baby can adapt, the time to wean the baby off breast milk is ripe, and the mother can quickly wean the baby off breast milk.

If you want to wean your baby off breast milk quickly, it will take less than a week for your baby to stop breastfeeding. If your mother is away on a business trip, it is very likely that your baby will be completely weaned off breast milk within a few days. If your mother stops pumping milk after work, your daytime milk will also stop soon.

If the baby is very dependent on breast milk, rapid weaning may make the baby uncomfortable. If the mother attaches great importance to breastfeeding and is with the baby every day, sudden weaning may bring a sense of loss to both mother and child. At this time, the mother needs to adopt a gradual weaning method.

The gradual weaning method is to reduce breastfeeding from 6 times a day to 5 times a day, and then gradually reduce it after the mother and baby are adapted, until breastfeeding is completely weaned. While gradually reducing breast milk, feed the baby formula milk or complementary food porridge instead.

1. Formula milk

Formula milk is regarded as the best substitute for breast milk after the baby is weaned. Many mothers are looking for a high-quality milk powder that can ensure the safe and healthy growth of the baby and give the mother peace of mind. Among them, the Beingmate Jingai series, which is widely praised by mothers, is the first choice recommendation.

2. Baby rice cereal

After the baby is weaned from breast milk, the mother can choose rice flour that is developed according to the baby's growth and development characteristics and is supplemented with rich vitamins and trace elements.

When choosing rice noodles, you should also pay attention to their quality and safety. Not only is the quality of rice noodles made from green rice more guaranteed, but it is also recommended to trace the origin to ensure that it is green rice produced from a green base. The "double green standard" is safer.

3. Meat and vegetable puree

If mothers want to provide comprehensive nutrition for their babies and exercise their chewing ability at the same time, they might as well choose meat and vegetable purees sold on the market as complementary foods for their babies. Not only is the quality more guaranteed, but it can also save mothers a lot of time in preparing complementary foods.

What should I pay attention to when I stop breastfeeding?

Weaning from breastfeeding is a big test for both the baby and the mother. In order to better help the baby to wean from breastfeeding, the mother needs to take special considerations on the baby's health after weaning from breastfeeding. So what should be paid attention to when weaning from breastfeeding?

1. It is best not to stop breastfeeding in the summer

In the hot summer, the digestive function of the baby's gastrointestinal tract is weakened. If you rashly stop breastfeeding your baby or add inappropriate complementary foods, it is easy to cause indigestion or even gastrointestinal diseases such as diarrhea. Therefore, it is recommended that mothers choose to stop breastfeeding their babies in spring and autumn.

2. Do not stop breastfeeding when your baby is sick

When a baby is sick, his resistance will decrease, his digestive function will deteriorate, and his body will be very weak. If you stop breastfeeding at this time, it will inevitably affect the baby's physical recovery and even aggravate the condition.

3. Don’t force your baby to stop breastfeeding

It is not advisable for mothers to force their babies to stop breastfeeding by applying spicy or bitter substances on their nipples. This will not only affect the baby's physical health, but also make the baby fear weaning.

4. Strengthen nursing care

During the weaning period, mothers should pay attention to whether the baby's bowel movements are normal, whether the baby loses weight, whether the baby has anorexia, etc. If any abnormalities are found, they should be dealt with in time. When weaning, mothers should pay attention to breast care to prevent breast problems such as mastitis.

What to do if milk swells when weaning

Weaning from breastfeeding can liberate many mothers. They don’t have to think about feeding their babies every day. Mothers can relax at this time. However, the milk swelling that occurs when weaning from breastfeeding is a painful thing for many mothers. How to solve this troublesome thing becomes the key.

1. Weaning from breastfeeding is a process in itself, so milk engorgement is sometimes inevitable. First of all, in order to reduce the occurrence of milk engorgement, you should wean from breastfeeding gradually and gradually reduce the amount of milk you give your child.

2. Another way to reduce milk swelling, which is also to fundamentally change the problem of milk swelling, is to improve your diet, eat less supplements, and eat less milk-producing foods, such as some tonic soups.

3. When weaning, the mother will feel bloating and pain because there will be excess milk in the body. At this time, the problem of milk engorgement can be alleviated by using tools to suck out the excess milk.

Using a breast pump to suck out excess milk will not affect the problem of weaning from breastfeeding, because the breast pump does not suck out all the milk, so the baby still has a certain amount of breast milk, it just relieves the milk when it is swollen.

4. The problem of milk swelling during weaning can also be improved by hot compress. When the milk swelling is severe every day, first use a breast pump to suck it out, and then apply a towel with warm water on the breasts.

5. In addition to these methods, you can also massage your breasts, but be careful not to massage when your milk is particularly swollen. If your milk is swollen, you can squeeze out some milk first and then massage.

6. If these methods cannot relieve the problem of milk swelling, it is recommended to go to the hospital and ask the doctor to prescribe some painkillers, which will relieve the feeling of bloating and pain.

After successfully weaning off breast milk, mothers are advised to engage in appropriate physical exercise and do more chest expansion exercises to help the breasts regain elasticity more quickly.