How to wean off breastfeeding?
For babies the best nutrition is available from breast milk. Until and unless it is advised by doctors, babies should be given breast milk regularly. It develops the immunity system of the baby and also helps them grow. It just not prevents the baby from diseases when they are small but also when they grow up. However, after a period of time a mother has to wean off breast feeding. Generally a child must be breast fed for up to one and a half year, however depending upon the prevailing condition, this may change. Now, while you decide to stop breast feeding you and your baby may face certain problems. Thus, it’s necessary that you learn about how to wean off breastfeeding.
Essential Tips for weaning breast feeding
When you decide that it’s time to dissuade your baby from feeding you have three ways to do that. You can follow gradual weaning, abrupt weaning or partial weaning. For following any of the mentioned methods you need to ensure that you know about how to wean off breastfeeding.
From ages mother’s has been following the gradual method to wean the child. To do this, the frequency of breast feeding every day is reduced gradually. The best way is reducing one feed at a time. During that time you can give your child either dairy milk or formula milk or something else to eat so that they do not get cranky out of hunger. Gradual method of weaning breastfeeding is also good for mother as her body too gets the signal that it does not require much quantity of milk any more.
Many times, to let the child get out of habit of breast feeding the mother changes the area where she feeds her baby. This may have negative impact on the baby. They may feel deserted and will consider weaning as something negative. Thus, always feed the child in the same area where they had been fed all these days.
While you learn about how to wean off breastfeeding you should also remember that during this stage the child should be given solid food along with other supplementary diets. When they consume solid food they will not get hungry and their mood will not alter easily. However, if the baby is not yet one year old and weaning becomes necessary for them, then baby formula food must be given to them as alternative to breast milk. It will provide the baby with required nutrients to keep them healthy.
If you want to stop breast feeding your baby during night, then feed them with solid food before they go to sleep. It will keep them full and they will not cry during night for hunger.
For mothers, if they feel that their breast is full after they have stopped breastfeeding, then they should express some milk. However, the breast should not be pumped hard as it will not help in drying up the breast milk.
Whenever you decide to wean off breastfeeding remember that you should keep an eye on the health of your baby. If you find anything unusual, contact with your doctor soon.
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