When it came time to wean my daughter from my breast, I was totally confused. My mother did not breast feed me, and I had few friends who had actually breast fed their children. Apparently, breast feeding is a form of nourishing our children that went out of fashion and has recently made a comeback. I chose to breast feed because it seemed like the most sensable choice, on all levels. It was inexpensive. It allowed me time to bond with my daughter. I am so glad that I chose to breast feed, but when it came time to wean her, I was trepidatious, to say the least.

It is said that a child should breast feed til he/she is a year old, but I chose to wean my daughter at six months due to the fact that she started getting teeth. I know it seems silly, but those little teeth are sharp and my breasts had had enough. I searched the internet and found a lot of input from mothers. I decided to take the gist of what I learned and compile it.

First of all, it is perfectly safe to wean your child at six months. My daughter is ten months old now, and she is healthy as can be. Studies show that a lot of moms are choosing to breast feed up to a year, but the decision is really up to the mom.

It took me about a week to successfully wean my daughter. Different techniques work for different parents, but I started by allowing my daughter to suckle at the breast three times a day. I breast fed her as soon as she woke up, at noon, and then once more before she fell asleep. I did this for two, or three, days. I realized that it was important for my daughter to suckle at the breast right before she fell asleep, so after the first few days, I began to breast feed only twice a day. I breast fed her in the morning and at night. All of her other feedings I supplimented the bottle. Some babies will take breast milk from a bottle, my daughter did not. I had to feed her formula because she would only take breast milk straight from the source. After a couple of days of the "morning and night" feedings, I started breast feeding only at night. My daughter handled this transition really well. She dealt with the change much easier than I did. Her dad was able to feed her more, and I felt a little disheartened by not being her sole provider of food!

My husband and I took turns bottle feeding her at night for a few days, and when I fed her, I made sure she was still close to my breast and was comfortable. When you start to try to wean your baby, it is important to add the bottle, but keep the closeness and warmth that the child is used to. My daughter needed this closeness at night before she went to sleep.

After about a week, voila! She was weaned. It was harder on me than on her. She doesn't wake up during the night, but on the rare occasion that she did, I had to go downstairs and warm her up a bottle. It was much easier just to put her in the bed with me and let her feed until she went back to sleep.

She is ten months old now, and she takes her bottles on her own. She doesn't want to be bottle fed. She sleeps in her own room and is as rambunctious as a toddler. She enjoys her new freedom. She is so independent, I don't think I could have breast fed her for a whole year. She doesn't even need the bottle to go to sleep now, which is good, because now I have to think about the prospect of weaning her, completely, off bottles. 

Some children are much easier to wean than others. I thought a week was a short amount of time to take my daughter through the whole transition, but in fact it was more than enough time. I would never try to wean a child "cold turkey", but the sooner the child is taken through the process the easier it is for mommy and baby.

My daughter still nuzzles my breast sometimes, but only when she is really tired. I am really proud of how she handled the process and I hope it will be as easy for you.