I have found myself in a pickle with Savannah. You all know she is a light-weight and just plain skinny. She is average on height. She is doing great developmentally, so the doctor says there is no reason to be stressed about her weight, but there is a pressure to the whole deal for me.
I have nursed Savannah on-demand her entire life. And I still am. We night-weaned her about a month ago and it lasted about 2 or 3 weeks, but then we hit a bump in the road (cutting teeth) and reverted back to letting her nurse at night. I love nursing her but I worry that she is so insistent on nursing that she isn't getting the calories she needs elsewhere. She always carries a sippy-cup around with her, most anywhere she goes, but she only drinks from one if it has water in it. She hates everything else. She will take a sip of whatever the concoction of the day is, give a sour-faced expression, and then carry it around for the day without taking another drink.
I'm wanting to wean Savannah now for a few reasons, none of which I think are "selfish" on my part, but I don't want to take away the one thing she gets regular calories from. The trick is, I don't think I'm getting much milk these days, enough to satisfy, but not likely enough to keep up with the pace of growth that she should have at this point. But we both like nursing so much. It is a comfort for both of us and a bonding experience that I don't want to cut-off in a negative way.
That is my venting session and now I will get to the point. How did you decide to wean your children? I feel a bit stuck because Savvy hates bottles, never taken one, and she is picky about only drinking water, zero calories. On a lucky day she drinks juice that has been diluted with water, but never when I have mixed it with milk. Soy milk and rice milk don't have the necessary calories. She won't even taste Kefir. Coconut milk was good for two sips, but that is all. Chocolate and strawberry milk haven't passed the test either. What do you suggest I do to supplement her breast milk intake when we wean? Were your kids ever this picky? How do I get her to eat more from other sources?
I've never really planned to stop nursing at a certain age, but I'm worried that if I don't get her to drink something else she will not have the calories she needs. I don't want to give myself a deadline, but I'm afraid that the pressure of a deadline will help me feel motivated, but it might just make Savvy miserable. She doesn't usually have tantrums yet, but I really don't want this to be a battle of the wills cause it has been such an enjoyable experience for both of us.
You get the point. Now, what do you recommend?
12 comments:
I, personally, don't feel like babies and toddlers should get their main calories from milk of any kind once they've reached 6-8 months. Both of my boys started on solids (slowly at first at six months) and then by the time they were about 8 months, were eating solids. Both Miles and Carter weaned themselves right around that time, and just decided it was time to move on. So, I rolled with it. Carter's never been a huge milk drinker, but he's always loved food. So, I just made sure he was getting enough protein, iron calcium and those other nutrients from other sources of food (i.e. broccoli, cheese, ground up almonds, etc.). Now, this may not be for everyone, but it's what worked for us. And both of my boys have thrived by way of this method. I'm basically just a huge proponent of just going along with the flow of the child. Good luck!
Oh, and I meant to add beans (smooshed up at first) to that list. I started both of them on beans very early on. :)
Just an idea to get her to drink from a cup... You could try pumping and putting that milk in the cup to see if she'll drink that, and then maybe slowly mix it with whole milk until she's drinking just the whole milk? Or since she drinks water maybe you could slowly mix milk in with the water? Eww, that seems gross. But couldn't hurt to try I guess? Good luck!
Savvy is all about veggies and solid foods when we are eating, but she needs high calories more regularly so that's why the push for a liquid form of fat. But if she got plenty of fat from broccoli, green beans and zucchini she'd be a chunker!
I actually tried adding water to her chocolate coconut milk today on a whim and at least it worked for tonight. Every day is a new day though :)
Keep the ideas comin'! Thanks guys! It I nice to hear from other moms I trust.
Does she like other dairy? cheese? yogurt? If she'll eat those at least she'll get most of the nutrients she could from milk and calories. Honestly, it sounds like you may need to just stop nursing or only nurse once or twice a day and keep offering her milk or maybe pediasure until she gives in. We had a problem with Luke and his bottles. He loved milk, but was really iffy about eating food in solid form, so we just stopped bottles cold turkey and after a few days of refusing to eat much he got hungry enough to start eating what we put in front of him and that was the end of the bottle. Sometimes once you've exhausted all of the "polite" methods you just have to put your foot down.
Hope you'll be able to sort it out!
hey.....i could've written a post like this about a year and half ago...i went through the same worries about eli being too small and needing it...
truth is breast milk is about 80-90% water...so not super high in calories anyways.
i went cold turkey...but...my advise is you need to feel good about whatever you choose to do.
it doesn't really matter what anyone says.
my textbook for my infant and child nutrition class was called 'child of mine, feeding with love and good sense'
it's great.
but don't worry...it's a childs #1 survival skill. they won't starve themselves. (for too long anyways)
Have you tried formula for 1 year olds? It has alot of calroies plus alot of other nutrients. I never had that problem with my kids. Sorry you have to go through that, hope you figure it out soon.
If you want to continue breastfeeding, you could make an appointment with a lactation consultant (I've used one that I could recommend) and she could probably give you good advice on the subject.
Wow, these are all good comments! I was going to add something unhelpful like how I was forced to wean Jane, but that totally doesn't apply. Listen to these girls and I think you'll be set! :) Love you.
Hey Shannah,
I just wanted to say that it was nice reading your post because I can so relate! Norah is very attached to nursing and also refuses to drink anything but water most of the time. She will even favor water over juice. I am trying to wean because I'd like to have another baby but it is much harder than I expected. I always assumed Norah would just lose interest and I'd be off the hook. I never thought I'd have to refuse. I hate refusing her and I keep hoping she'll just lose interest.
I have read online that it helps to have lots of extra cuddle time and I've been working on that and I do feel like I've made some progress there. Sometimes at night (because I also have been nursing her to get her to go back to sleep when she wakes up at 4 or 5 am (it seems like she'll just stay up otherwise)) she'll settle for snuggling in place of nursing but this is progress over about 2 months. I read some of the other comments and I have had some of the same advice given to me but honestly -- who wants to go back to pumping?! That sounds like more work and I want less! I've also been told to start giving Norah a bottle and I feel like that is just one more thing for me to wean her from. So if you don't want to try any of these tips people are giving you -- just know that I'm also ignoring LOTs of advice:) I personally wouldn't worry about your little string bean. She has always been slim -- not everyone has the same body type at any other time in life. I see no reason why every child has to be in the 50th percentile. You're pretty slim yourself and I bet she is just taking after you. I know the Sonntags were always spreading butter on everything Elisa ate but she was still a slim little girl -- just the way God made her. Hugs and Good Luck.
If you're really worried about weight, I'd try calorie boosting the solids she already loves. Our nutritionist has us purée table food with cream, sugar, corn syrup, cheese, butter, whole milk, maple syrup ( the real stuff, not imitation) and stuff like that. Not an ideal plan, but it maximizes calories with what she already eats, giving you room for experimentation in the weaning front. We also use pediasure at mealtimes, but she will only drink ice water between meals. We use a squeeze bottle at mealtime to make sure she drinks. Call if you want to talk about it, I'd love to hear from you! My phone's dead tho, so charles' phone is best.
I had the same problem with Lynny for awhile until we just tried a different kind of cup. She had one with a straw, and when we switched to one with a regular spout she started accepting other liquids. I don't know if we just got lucky, but you could give it a try! Good luck! I know it isn't fun!
Post a Comment