Weaning

First, remember that the guidelines on breastfeeding are 12 months and beyond *as long as desired by both mother and baby.* If you're done breastfeeding, then it's okay to be done! There will be other fun ways to bond!

Second, make sure you wean gradually. Cutting cold turkey will be hard on everyone. Start by stretching the time between feedings longer and longer until you're able to drop a few feedings all together.

Once you're down to maybe three feedings, drop one of them (usually the one midday is easiest) and offer a bottle of whole milk. You may need to pump off possible and mix a little breastmilk in with the whole to get him used to it. If you do that, gradually increase the ratio of whole milk until it's nothing but cows milk.

From there, it's usually easiest to drop the morning feeding. I didn't need to offer a bottle to replace this feeding. My little one was okay, just getting breakfast.

The hardest feeding to drop was the nighttime one....

I started by feeding him for shorter and shorter periods until he was down to like a minute on both sides. From there, we read a book, rocked for a minute, and went to bed.

Make sure you've got a good bedtime routine and are being consistent with it, and that will help you get that last feeding down.

You can also work to decrease your supply with medication, which may help your OB might be able to proscribe estrogen to decrease your supply. I've heard drinking mint tea can help with this, too. If your little one isn't getting much, he may not be as interested!