stopping nursing

[mareed]

Children don't need breat milk after 1 year for nutrition or antibodies. It is simply a source of comfort after that. Once they are old enough to ask for it it is time to stop, for the sake of both mother and child. I had a friend who nursed her child untill he was almost three. What a mess. She wanted to crawl under a table everytime he asked for her "noo- noo" in public!! It really is only an emotinal attachment after they are a year old, and her problem was a "but he's my little baby" attitude. I hope for the op's sake she is able to break her child now before it becomes a huge battle of wills.

OK, the above is your opinion, and I really do respect that. The AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics) and I have a different opinion. See http://www.aap.org/advocacy/releases/feb05breastfeeding.htm for detail. An excerpt is:

Studies on infants provide evidence that breastfeeding can decrease the incidence or severity of conditions such as diarrhea, ear infections and bacterial meningitis.​

And also:

The policy recommendations include: Exclusive breastfeeding for approximately the first six months and support for breastfeeding for the first year and beyond as long as mutually desired by mother and child.​

Basically, the immunity protection doesn't magically go away when the baby reaches 1 year of age. Anything that Mom is exposed to, she will automatically generate antibodies that will be passed on to the baby and help to protect baby. I do agree that it's also a comfort just like it is for a newborn. Should we no longer comfort a baby that's over 1?

I do believe the key is "as long as mutually desired", and I believe my original paraphrase including something like that. That's why I was asking the OP about her reason for wanting to stop. If she desires to stop for her own reasons (& not pressure from others), then there have been given some good strategies here and I wholly support her (not that it matters to her, I'm sure). I just hate for anyone to feel pressured by anyone else to stop just because the baby is "asking for it", "has teeth", "is walking", or any other reasons commonly offered up by those who are not supportive of extended breastfeeding.

As for your friend referenced above, it sounds like it was no longer desired by her, and I wish she'd gotten the helpful weaning support she could have used. My personal experience with my older nurslings (shortly after age 2) was that they hardly ever asked for "nummies" in public because they were too busy experiencing the world whenever we were out! But we both sure enjoyed our end of the day, Mom & baby returning home from work & daycare nursing sessions! The key being "we both enjoyed"!

 

[PaulaSue]

Good Luck! My oldest and youngest wouldn't stop till they were good and ready.

 

[princessmom29]

OK, the above is your opinion, and I really do respect that. The AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics) and I have a different opinion. See http://www.aap.org/advocacy/releases/feb05breastfeeding.htm for detail. An excerpt is:

Studies on infants provide evidence that breastfeeding can decrease the incidence or severity of conditions such as diarrhea, ear infections and bacterial meningitis.​

And also:

The policy recommendations include: Exclusive breastfeeding for approximately the first six months and support for breastfeeding for the first year and beyond as long as mutually desired by mother and child.​

Basically, the immunity protection doesn't magically go away when the baby reaches 1 year of age. Anything that Mom is exposed to, she will automatically generate antibodies that will be passed on to the baby and help to protect baby. I do agree that it's also a comfort just like it is for a newborn. Should we no longer comfort a baby that's over 1?

I do believe the key is "as long as mutually desired", and I believe my original paraphrase including something like that. That's why I was asking the OP about her reason for wanting to stop. If she desires to stop for her own reasons (& not pressure from others), then there have been given some good strategies here and I wholly support her (not that it matters to her, I'm sure). I just hate for anyone to feel pressured by anyone else to stop just because the baby is "asking for it", "has teeth", "is walking", or any other reasons commonly offered up by those who are not supportive of extended breastfeeding.

As for your friend referenced above, it sounds like it was no longer desired by her, and I wish she'd gotten the helpful weaning support she could have used. My personal experience with my older nurslings (shortly after age 2) was that they hardly ever asked for "nummies" in public because they were too busy experiencing the world whenever we were out! But we both sure enjoyed our end of the day, Mom & baby returning home from work & daycare nursing sessions! The key being "we both enjoyed"!

I am a biochemist and I can tell you that any antibodies that the baby is getting form mom through breat milk they are producing on their own in sufficient quantities by six months of age. The antibodies you are talking about being generated in response to exposures are almost exclusively pentameric antibodies that are not passed in breatmilk. There is only scientific evidence to support breastfeeding and nutritionally and medically benificial to one year of age. That is why it is worded "as long as mutually desirable." There is no medical benefit at that point only a desire to continue nursing. Yes the fact that old enought to ask is too old is my opinion, but it is biochemical fact that there is no added benifit beyond one year.

 

[goofy4wdw2]

I am a biochemist and I can tell you that any antibodies that the baby is getting form mom through breat milk they are producing on their own in sufficient quantities by six months of age. The antibodies you are talking about being generated in response to exposures are almost exclusively pentameric antibodies that are not passed in breatmilk. There is only scientific evidence to support breastfeeding and nutritionally and medically benificial to one year of age. That is why it is worded "as long as mutually desirable." There is no medical benefit at that point only a desire to continue nursing. Yes the fact that old enought to ask is too old is my opinion, but it is biochemical fact that there is no added benifit beyond one year.

Toddlers' immune systems are maturing and, therefore, not as mature as the immune systems of healthy adults. A mother with a healthy (developed and experienced) immune system will create antibodies to pathogens more quickly than a toddler will to those same pathogens...which may help to decrease the length of illness for the breastfed child. In addition, mothers who spend some time away from their nursing infant or toddler may create antibodies to pathogens in that other setting, then pass those antibodies ato the nursing child and potentially prevent the child from developing an active infection if he/she later becomes exposed to that pathogen (either from the mother or in another setting).

Separate from the immunologic benefit, some studies have demonstrated that children breastfed beyond 12 months score higher on standardized math and reading tests, and may have less behavorial problems than children not breastfed after 12 months of age.

All this said, there is absolutely nothing wrong with weaning before or at 12 months of age. I am not advocating for either stopping or continuing to breastfeed past 12 months of age, but wanted to pass along this information.

 

[MegaDisney]

Gee, I was wondering how long it would be before someone questioned WHY the OP needs to stop nursing. Quite frankly, it's none of our business. The OP nursed her child for 15 months, so suffice to say she has a pretty good idea of what nursing is all about. She asked about WEANING her child, nothing else. And she has gotten some great advice.

Good luck OP- you've done a great job and I hope the weaning goes well for both you and your child.

 

[princessmom29]

Toddlers' immune systems are maturing and, therefore, not as mature as the immune systems of healthy adults. A mother with a healthy (developed and experienced) immune system will create antibodies to pathogens more quickly than a toddler will to those same pathogens...which may help to decrease the length of illness for the breastfed child. In addition, mothers who spend some time away from their nursing infant or toddler may create antibodies to pathogens in that other setting, then pass those antibodies ato the nursing child and potentially prevent the child from developing an active infection if he/she later becomes exposed to that pathogen (either from the mother or in another setting).

Separate from the immunologic benefit, some studies have demonstrated that children breastfed beyond 12 months score higher on standardized math and reading tests, and may have less behavorial problems than children not breastfed after 12 months of age.

All this said, there is absolutely nothing wrong with weaning before or at 12 months of age. I am not advocating for either stopping or continuing to breastfeed past 12 months of age, but wanted to pass along this information.

That is simply not correct. A toddler's immune system is not as compltely developed as an adult's but pentameric antibodies are not passed from mother to child! These are the antibodies produced in the situations you describe. The child is recieving no immunologic benifit from ingested breast milk at that point b/c they are not recieving usable antibodies their bodies are not already producing! My undergarduate research project delt with immune respose in mothers to group beta strep and why that response was not passed on to infants. Infants younger than two weeks had no immune response to group beta strep b/c they were not producing the antibodies to it. After two weeks there was no difference in the response of breast fed infants versus formula fed infants. This was found by a study done at harvard medical school to be because pentameric antibodies are not passed form mother to child in any form. My research picked up after this study and worked on developing a mechanism for immune response to the bacteria in humans.

 

[goofy4wdw2]

OP- I am sorry for getting off track with my previous response. My first child stopped nursing at 13 months, she became less interested except in the evening and early morning, which is when I led the weaning. Before bedtime I started nursing her with the lights on and before reading her bedtime books, and then toward the very end, I'd nurse her in the family room before putting her pajamas on...I think it helped so she didn't associate nursing as part of her bedtime routine. Both DH and I put her to bed together the first few nights that I didn't nurse at all...a little distraction. For the morning, I just gave her a sippy cup and cheerios one morning instead of nursing. I think for the daytime feedings, I just substituted snacks and had more cuddle/book time before naps. DD was very active and wasn't bothered by weaning. DS (turning 1 this week) is still going strong, so I'm wondering how the weaning process will go with him. I don't have a set timeline for now, but will probably start to decrease the daytime feedings as he starts to drink milk. I think distraction is a really good suggestion that others gave...perhaps offer something special in it's place...come up with a a special song, dance or something you do with your little one. Good luck!