The breast is a great stimulus for the development of the baby. How to leave it without losing these benefits?
Before 4 months
When the baby is 3 months old, there is usually a process known as a “lactation crisis.” The breasts stop leaking, they become swollen and hard if the baby has not been fed at night (at this age, many already sleep six hours straight).
The boy, who used to take 20 minutes to eat, is now barely five minutes. So the mother, instead of thinking that her breast is adjusting and that the baby has grown and expresses milk in less time, she believes that she has run out of milk.
All this happens just when the troubled mom is thinking that in a few weeks she has to return to work. The consequence is that many women abandon breastfeeding because they believe it is incompatible with working life, but it is not. In any case, it is you who decides according to your needs. If you opt for weaning, it is best to do it little by little, so it will be easier for both of you. Luckily, a child of a few months is easier to wean because he cannot resist, only crying (and can be calmed in many ways).
At 6 months
When the baby is half a year old, you can start offering other foods besides milk. At that point, some moms, who have had trouble matching their breasts with working life, decide to wean. Also at this stage, it is convenient to do it gradually, substituting some intakes for food and others for formula, preferably in a glass, until the breast is completely abandoned.
From the year
Children usually wean themselves between the ages of two and four. During this period, most of the time they eat only a little, for a matter of attachment more than anything.
Of course, the older the baby, the more he is going to resist leaving mom’s breast if it is not on your initiative. From the year on, if he wants to eat, he will lift Mom’s shirt and ask for it. And it is the mother who has to decide whether to give it to him or not and how to tell her decision. The baby needs to know what is going to happen to feel safe. You can explain to her, in words that she understands, that there is no more milk in Mom’s breast, that she needs another food that is also very rich and will grow more. It will be necessary to negotiate with him and compensate him by offering him other things that he likes instead. A strategy often used with older children is “not to deny, not to offer.” If you breastfeed as soon as you ask, it causes you to look for it with more enthusiasm. Identify the moments when you ask for it without hunger and try to avoid them, doing some other activity that doesn’t make you think about your chest. Not offering means reassuring or helping him sleep and using other pampering instead. Once the breast is no longer its comfort object and is only food, it is easier to remove it. And in any case, whatever the age of the child, in everything related to the upbringing of your child it is important to let yourself be guided by the heart. You are her mom.