The Importance of Weaning - Breastfeeding
Weaning, breastfeeding – these are two of the most wonderful experiences a mother and baby will go through together. No other bonding moment can replace these two. That is probably the reason why stopping breastfeeding scares a lot of mothers, probably for fear that once they stop, they are severing ties with their baby and that they are denying their little ones the nutrition needs of their still-frail bodies.
While enjoyable, it is a common fact of life that breastfeeding your child would eventually have to end. Weaning would then step in to take its place. When you say weaning, it is to stop breastfeeding either completely or gradually switching from breastfeeding to a bottle or solid food. Sudden, cold-turkey weaning is almost never encouraged as it may give psychological trauma to both you and your child that may manifest in later life.
Your baby is growing up – fast. He turns over, crawls, walks, curiosity of the things around him, the development of fine motor skills – all part of a baby’s growth pattern. Weaning is categorized with these. There is no set time as to when weaning should begin.
It is highly recommended that breastfeeding be the main source of baby’s food from birth to 6 months, and that it can be continued until 2 years of age and even beyond. For the first 6 months, it gives your baby all the necessary nutrients he needs to help fight off sickness and infections. So you’re probably asking, if breastfeeding is so good for my baby, then why should it be stopped?
After the 6th month, your baby’s body will need other nutrients that can be found in solid food. From this time on, breast milk may still be given but unlike before when it was your baby’s sole source of nutrition, now, it will just be as a supplement.
When you wean your baby off breastfeeding, you are also weaning yourself from the process at the same time. Gradual weaning is done by dropping feedings one at a time, starting with the least favorite one. Give it about a week for full adjustment, and then you can start to drop the next feeding. You would usually be left with just two – the morning and the evening feedings. Let nature take its course once you’ve introduced solid foods. Your milk production should also gradually decrease at this time, so you will feel less of the discomforts of milk stoppage. It will also lessen the chances of you incurring mastitis (inflammation of the breasts due to calcified milk blockages in the milk ducts).
Should you need to express milk when you drop a feeding, you may do so, but just express a little. This is so that the body will get the message that you will eventually need to decrease your milk supply in the near future. (A word of caution: Parlodel was a prescription drug that was used to dry-up a mother’s milk supply. Do not take this should it be prescribed to you as the FDA has already reported serious effects of the drug – strokes seizures, and death in some cases.)
Weaning should never be a process to be feared. Rather, it should be accepted as a new journey by mother and baby (and even other members of the family), and that it is a road well taken for nutrients and other essential vitamins to be introduced to a newly developing child. |
