Breast milk is very healthy and you should give your baby only breast milk at least up to 6 months for his good growth and development. When your baby turns 6 month old or 1 year old and starts taking other foods as well then the requirement of all the essential nutrients can be fulfilled. When your baby turns a year old, he/she may get all the required nutrients and this is the time when you can stop breastfeeding your child. This process is called weaning your baby from the milk. Read on to know how to stop baby from breastfeeding.
If you want to stop breastfeeding before your baby has turned a year old then you should be very delicate during this transition phase and give your baby the combination of breast milk and other milk.
This phase may be difficult for some of the women so you should have complete knowledge about how to stop breastfeeding.
When to Stop Breastfeeding:
While there is no hard and fast rule to stop breast feeding, it is recommended to slowly switch over to other forms of food for complete nutrition if :
- Your baby is ready for solids
- Older than a year
- If your breasts hurt a lot from suckling
- Your child has slowly cut back on feeding sessions
- You are taking medicines that interfere with breast milk
When Can I Stop Breastfeeding?
Stopping breastfeeding can be easy for some and also difficult for few others, it varies from individual to individual. So you should be well equipped with the following things and follow them-
1. Have Complete Knowledge – You should educate yourself completely about the weaning process otherwise for some it may cause complications. You should gather all the information about when to stop breastfeeding or how to stop breastfeeding. Knowing everything about this will make the process easier for you as well as your baby. So spend some time reading about the weaning process. There are many sources like surfing on internet or reading books about breastfeeding.
2. Speak To Health Professionals – You should also seek advice from the health professionals before stopping breastfeeding. Your healthcare provider will give you good guidance about the problems that can arise if you stop breastfeeding. So he will be the ultimate expert to guide you on how to stop breastfeeding or how to stop breast milk. Always follow the instructions provided to avoid any problem during the weaning process.
3. Seek Advice’s From Experienced Mothers.
4. An experienced person can give you best advice’s after your medical experts. Talk to experiences mothers and learn about the methods they used for stopping breastfeeding.Learn from their experiences but don’t solely rely on their advice’s because your body might be different so there may be other ways to have solutions for your problems.
5. Know The Demands Of Your Baby – Before you start the weaning process you should be aware about the demands of your baby. No one knows you better than your baby so you should take care of his/her demands so that during this phase he doesn’t face any problem.
See More: Foods To Avoid During Breastfeeding
Ways to Stop Breastfeeding Quickly:
You should not stop breastfeeding immediately as this may create problem for the baby to adopt to the new diet so fast. Thus be slow and gradually start the weaning process. You may follow these steps for taking the gradual measures to avoid problems-
1. Go Slow:
Don’t stop breastfeeding abruptly. Your body is adapted to produce certain amount of milk per day according to the requirement of your baby. Stopping breastfeeding suddenly will not give your body as well as the baby sufficient time to adapt to the new routine and thus it may cause problems such as pain in your breasts and other problems in the baby. So start gradually with the weaning process.
2. Make A Habit Of Using Bottle:
Get your baby used to the usage of bottle instead of breastfed milk.The nipple on the bottle is different from your nipples and the quality of breastfed milk so it will take much time for your baby to adapt to the changes. Thus gradually make your baby habitual of other milk if you wish of stopping breastfeeding.
3. Decrease The Episodes Of Breastfeeding:
If you wish to stop breastfeeding, make sure you do it gradually. Thus you should gradually decrease the number of time you breastfeed your baby and simultaneously increase the amount of other milk and foods given. This will help the baby to adapt easily to the new situation.
4. Experiment By Replacing Breast Milk With Bottle:
Stopping breastfeeding should be done with precautions because the baby cannot adopt to the other sort of milk suddenly. So experiment firstly by replacing breast milk with the bottle to help your child get used to the milk other than breast milk without having any problem.
Breast Care While Stopping Breastfeeding:
You are going to stop the breastfeeding and thus you should have good knowledge that your breasts should also be given proper care while you are in with the weaning process. Thus you can take care of your breasts during this phase in the following manner-
See More: Right Position For Breastfeeding
1. Massage:
Give a good massage to your breasts to relieve the pain if you have any. Massaging regularly can help in the prevention of clogged ducts. Massage in a circular motion and do it regularly. If you notice any lump or redness in your breasts contact your health care provider to get good advice.
2. Wearing Suitable Bra:
Use a good fitting bra to fulfill the purpose. You can use cabbage leaves in your bra cups to hasten the drying up process of the milk. If leakage is a problem, you can use padded bra to avoid the leakage spreading to your clothing as this could be embarrassing.
3. Nutritional Diet:
Continue with your previous nutritional diet so that it can help the body to adapt to the transition phase without any problem. Always keep yourself hydrated. Talk to a medical expert to include substances that can help in the reduction of milk production.
4. Talk To Your Medical Expert:
Talk to your healthcare provider to give effective remedies to stop the breast milk and also the administration of medicines or other pain killers to cure the pain if it becomes unbearable.
5. Have Good Sleep:
The body is undergoing several changes and thus you should have proper amount of sleep to recover to the changes and heal your body. Having sufficient amount of sleep will hell you to overcome the stress body has been under while you have stopped breastfeeding.
6. Be Ready For Mood Swings:
Your body is going through changes that are physical as well as psychological. So you will feel the mixture of all the emotions and thus a lot of mood swings.
See More: Fruits To Avoid While Breastfeeding
In a nutshell, you should be well aware about the whole process of stopping breastfeeding and thus you should also take care of the needs of your baby as well as your body too as both are experiencing changes. Make sure that your baby and you do not go through physical and psychological stress in the process of weaning off. Remember that breast feeding is an emotional bond between you and your child. Do not go through any external pressure and hurry to wean off.
