To wean a baby who is 18 months you may not need to go to bottles at all. All you may need to do is stop offering the breast. "Don't offer, don't refuse" may work for you. Or, learn to substitute a cup of water, juice or cow's milk (if tolerated), or solid food, for the baby or toddler's least important feeding.
Sometimes Dad (or another relative) can help by taking the baby to the kitchen for a good breakfast--Daddy style. This can become a special time for both of them. (And you get some extra sleep!) For mealtime feeds, try to offer food first, with a short session at the breast for later. Avoid sitting down in your special favourite "nursing chair." If your child won't nap without breastfeeding, sometimes a car ride or a walk in the pushchair will get him or her to sleep.
The nighttime feeding is usually the last to go. Make a bedtime routine not centered around breastfeeding. A good book or two will eventually become more important than a long session at the breast. Your child may agree to rest his head on your breast instead of feeding. Talk to your child about what's going on. He may understand more than you think.
A lot of extra love and attention in other forms will be needed now. Try getting out more, to the playground, a friend's house, shopping, museums, anything your child will be distracted with and stimulated by. Read stories, rub or scratch their little back, sing and dance. It's a whole new stage in your growing child's life. You will still be needed, just in different ways.
A useful resource is
The Nursing Mother's Guide to Weaning by Kathleen Huggins and Linda Ziedrich. This book is available in the LLL-HK library. Contact Maggie Holmes at
[email protected] or 2817-7475 to borrow the book.
Weaning and how to do it is a favourite subject at our meetings. Please feel feel to join one of our gatherings. The next one is tomorrow afternoon at Starbucks in Alexandar House, Central from 2:30 pm. Details of all our meetings are available at
http://www.lllhk.org/Meetings.html
Best wishes,
SARAH