How to Promote a Gentle Weaning Breastfeeding

How to Promote a Gentle Weaning Breastfeeding

When to stop breastfeeding is a choice that needs to be individualized. The decision of when and how to wean only can be made by the breastfeeding dyad: meaning by mom and baby, the two as a whole. The process of weaning is referred to as “involution” and this process can take anywhere from 30 days to a couple years to completely stop producing milk. Sometimes we rush this process for one reason or another, but Contrary to popular belief, there is no age limit on breastfeeding or breastmilk. Breastmilk never loses its nutritional value, just like broccoli it's good for you at any age. ;) There are different methods to weaning, but there is no clear cut way that you need to do this with your baby. This is your baby, and your journey. We are going to point out that there are various methods…. But the point of this is that we want you to make it YOUR journey.

Self weaning is a method of weaning your child. It basically means we allow the child to decide when to stop breastfeeding. Children usually gradually reduce the frequency in which they request to nurse, until they stop altogether. Did you know that children that are allowed to self-wean often show great independence and develop healthy attachments later on in life? if you choose to self wean, we usually suggest a “don’t offer, don’t refuse” approach. You may be surprised to know that the age of self-weaning worldwide is between the range of 2 and 7 years old!!! 

In some cases, mom may be ready to end the breastfeeding journey before the child does and that’s absolutely okay. Any reason a mother has to be done with her journey is her choice and 100% valid and to be respected! In this case, regardless of the child’s age we suggest doing this gradually, if possible. If you can cut out one nursing session, do so every 3-5days to allow your breasts to get the memo to slowly shut down production. You would also want to probably add some therapeutic comfort techniques to this method, as well as any method of weaning.

Another option mom may choose to incorporate includes the “don’t offer, don’t refuse”, but also limit the amount of time the child is allowed to spend at the breast in each session and SLOWLY reduce this time until many of the breastfeeding sessions are eliminated. It is recommended that you give 3-5 days between each reduction attempt. Be aware that the hardest times to eliminate for baby is usually: before bed, middle of the night and the morning session. These can be especially difficult with an older child, so we suggest these to be the last to go for the most peaceful transition. If the baby is old enough to understand, you want to offer methods of distraction when they want to nurse. Perhaps read a book, watch a show, or instead of nursing… replace it with their favorite snack! We are not against bribery to reach the goal of ending this in a peaceful manner! Also, replace breastfeeding with baby massages and cuddle time. We do not recommend separating mom and baby as an attempt to wean. 

An important tip to add into any of these scenarios, we need to monitor mom and baby throughout. We monitor moms breasts and emotions and we monitor baby’s nutritional status. Make sure to watch for significant breast pain, plugged ducts/hard lumps in your breast, and symptoms mastitis. We also must ensure that baby is being fed, so if it is a younger baby, less than 1 year old, we need to ensure that we use expressed milk or formula as their primary source of nutrition. There may be circumstances in which moms may also need extra help and steps in reducing their milk production throughout the weaning process. Some comfort measures you can look into for this include the use of fresh green cabbage leaves, peppermint, sage, cool compresses and some medications help to dry up your milk such as Sudafed (here are some tips on lowering your milk supply). 

Regardless of the timing and need for breastfeeding to end, It is a process that needs to be done mindfully for many reasons: to protect the mother-child relationship, protect mom physically by reducing risk of maternal breast complications, nutritional benefits to baby and should also focus on the protection both mom and child emotionally and psychologically. It is important to note that some women experience symptoms of post partum depression and anxiety so through this process and we must be in check with not only our breasts, but our minds. We realize that there are emergencies that call for quick weaning, or you may struggle with other aspects of this process, it is important that in these cases, please call your IBCLC.