How Hard Can It Be?

That’s what came to mind twelve months ago when I figured that I’d breastfeed Kenny until he was one, then stop.

What, like I was going to just … stop?

See, my adorable, brilliant little boy has learned some sign language in these last few months, and there is nothing sweeter, more heart-melting, more irresistible than his little face lighting up in an anticipatory smile and his nimble little hands signing, “Milk!”   He even does audio with this sign; something that sounds vaguely like, “dinkle dinkle dinkle,” though for the life of me I can’t figure out where he picked that one up.   Unless he’s saying “drink,” which then makes perfect sense.

But I’m going to have to buckle down, it seems.   He had his one year check-up today, and while his head cicumference is still off the charts (big brains), he’s gotten taller, but his weight is nearly the same as it was at his last check-up.  

 kenny 11 months 007.jpg

He doesn’t  look skinny, but they want to do a weight check in six weeks, and the very sweet pediatrician suggested that I do a little less of the Momma Milk and a lot  more of the solid food.  

As soon as we got home, I fixed him a snack, then another and then dinner.   And then he still drank about a gallon of the homemade leche.   But at least there was real food in there, too.

So how do I really do it?   How do I wean this precious boy from the cuisine he loves the best?   Any Moms reading out there who weaned a little guy after the first year?   I’m not soliciting for La Leche League support, but I’ll take any advice I can get.   Should I warm the cow milk, or give it to him cold?   He drinks from a cup, but it’s messy… he won’t use the sippy-lid.   He hates juice, tolerates water, and really likes soy-milk after it’s been infiltrated with soggy cereal.   So where do I go from here??


Comments

4 responses to “How Hard Can It Be?”

  1. :mrgreen: Sis, You are so cute when you talk about things! :mrgreen: Okay, once a week you need to drop a daytime feeding until you only have first thing in the morning and last thing before bed left. Those two are the hardest to wean from. Slowly the morning milk will be replaced with a cup of milk. I never warmed it up. Neither one of my girls liked the sippy cups (thus the reason you have them all! 😛 ) so I gave them their milk in the straw cup. It took a few time, but eventually they got the hang of sucking the straw. Thats fine that he likes the Soy – I’m sure it is good for him…. but I’d give him real Whole Milk until he turns two, then you can switch to 2% – that is what our Ped said to do. Remember… “Slow and Steady wins the race!” 😆 Eventually when the before bed session is the only one you have left, he will become less interested and eventually “wean off”. Love ya!

  2. dinkle dinkle sounds close to twinkle twinkle are you sure he not singing? I agree with your sis on the cut a feeding out per week. And I wouldn\’t suggest the warming of milk then he\’ll want it warm all the time. My 3 yr old still likes warm milk but I rarely give it to him. I explain that warm milk and warm food don\’t go well together.

    It\’s going to be difficult and he\’s not going to like the change but children learn very quickly. I remember when I weaned my son off the bottle I had to take all of them out of the cabinet because he knew where they were. So when he pointed I would open the cabinet and when he saw they weren’t there he’d stop asking for it and take the cup. After a week he completely transitioned. Good luck. Kids really adapt well and quickly.

  3. I totally agree with Kim’s advice…I just want to add a couple of things: the bedtime feeding may not be your last one to give up. With my son, our most special feeding was the morning time. I’d feed him then we’d snuggle in bed and go back to sleep together. You just have to know what’s most important for you guys. Mostly, though, I’d pray for guidance and wisdom of how to do it. Thankfully my kids weaned fairly easily from the breast. Now getting my daughter to give up the bottle and drink from a cup…that was torture! If you find he won’t drink cow’s milk from any kind of cup you might try pumping and putting it in a cup. Once you get him to drink that-which may take some work-you can gradually mix the breast milk with the cow’s milk slowly increasing the proportion of cow to breast. I had to do that with Claire but with formula and cow’s milk. Don’t forget you can always call the nurse at the pediatrician. She gave me the above idea and it saved my sanity!

  4. I don’t really have any weaning advice but I wanted to stop by and say thanks for visiting my blog today and for commenting. Your son is adorable! Puts me in baby bug mode again, but I was only there three nanoseconds ago, anyway.