Collection of Articles on Weaning from Breastfeeding
Coping with a Colicky Baby 
Once a doctor ascertains that your baby’s frequent crying is not a result of any underlying condition, then it is up to you to soothe your little one. Don’t worry. You are not alone. Up to 40% of babies have colic.
How to Deal with Weaning Guilt
The moment you start weaning a toddler whom you have nursed for months, you will surely experience a slight pang of guilt. Whether you decide on spoon-feeding or baby led weaning, that guilt is always there.
Weaning Off Breastfeeding Cold Turkey
Weaning a toddler from breastfeeding or from the bottle by using the method called “weaning off cold turkey” or sudden weaning may be an option that you do not want to take unless you have no other choice.
A Weaning Baby's First Aid
Weaning a toddler can be done in two ways: spoon-feeding or baby led weaning. The risks of choking are the same for both.
Weaning Baby: Gagging or Choking?
For baby led weaning, here’s how to differentiate gagging from choking.
Delicious Weaning Recipes
Weaning a toddler is challenging and fun if you plan each step of the weaning process. Introduce a variety of foods so that your baby will enjoy various food textures and tastes. In fact, giving different foods will make the baby enjoy mealtimes Here are some delicious and nutritious recipes that you can prepare for your baby whether you are spoon-feeding or doing baby-led weaning. These are all recipes made for babies 6 months and onwards. They are adapted from BabyworldUK.
The Disturbing Link Between Weaning and Depression
In an article dated February 27, 2012, The Huffington Post reported a disturbing link between weaning and depression. It looks like the seemingly commonplace act of weaning a toddler or baby led weaning – an act that is performed by almost all mothers around the world for many years -- can lead to depression.
Baby-led Weaning will Produce Leaner Kids
According to a recent study, the process of baby led weaning produces leaner kids. This is reported in a February 2012 blog post in Scientific American. The results of the study are then published in the British Medical Journal.
Why Some Women Wean their Babies Early
We see breastfeeding or bottle-feeding tasks as normal and commonplace activities. Mothers in many places in the world do it multiple times a day for a number of months until their babies wean on their own or when they initiate weaning a toddler. In fact, women who breastfeed have to know which foods to avoid while breastfeeding; they also need to understand how to perform breastfeeding with implants. There are complications associated with this seemingly easy task of breastfeeding.
The Ultimate Don'ts of Weaning Babies
Weaning a toddler comes with its own risks which can be easily prevented by forethought and general common sense. When the baby reaches the age of six months, the age by which the World Health Organization recommends as the best time when to introduce solids, you must keep in mind the following things that you must never do while weaning a baby.
The Ultimate Do’s of Weaning Babies
Weaning a toddler comes with its own inherent risks. These risks can be easily prevented by forethought and common sense. When the baby reaches the age of six months, the age by which the World Health Organization recommends as the ideal time when to introduce solids, you must do the following things while weaning a baby.
Understanding Baby-lead Weaning
Baby-led weaning or BLW is the method of weaning a toddler by letting him or her reach out to eat (usually finger foods) without assistance. It is best done during mealtimes when the rest of the family is also eating. BLW lets a baby control the solid food intake.
What You Need to Know about Breastfeeding and Breast Implants
Breastfeeding is very important because no other nutritional product for your baby can rival breast milk’s potency to protect your child from infection, allergies, and diabetes. In turn, the act of breastfeeding can also work to your advantage because it is known to decrease your risk for diabetes, breast cancer, and ovarian cancer.
Introducing a Sippy Cup
A part of the weaning process is introducing a cup, or a baby cup which is sometimes called a sippy cup. These cups can be introduced to your baby once they have developed a good grasp, or are good at holding objects without dropping them. When introducing a sippy cup, you merely introduce the object, allowing your child to get used to it and how it works. They can take a few sips, but having a full feeding with a sippy cup is probably best done after the six month mark. This is because before six months your baby’s sucking instinct is so strong that they are likely to suck in air along with whatever liquid is in the cup, resulting in a gassy baby.
Fixing Routines Around “Normal” Feeding
When weaning your child, you may want them to eat during “normal” feeding hours or have a more normal weaning schedule. This can provide sleep for both you and your partner at night, and many mothers find it much easier to feed their children while they eat.
Dealing With Possible Sickness
When a little baby is sick, one of the best things you can do for them is to breastfeed them. Breast milk can help your child through a sickness, and it’s also very comforting to breastfeed. However, if you have started the weaning process and your child has become sick, try and stick to your weaning schedule, but provide your child with breast milk instead. Also, in some cases, babies feel too sick to breastfeed, and providing them breast milk though other means can be the best option.
Learning to Comfort Without Feeding
When night feeding was discussed in the article Successfully Stopping Night Feeding, the issue of not really wanting to feed, but feeding or sucking for the sake of being comforted was discussed. This doesn’t always happen at night. Sometimes it happens during the day to babies who are already old enough to be weaned from breastfeeding. They choose to breastfeed because it is comforting to them.
Weaning Effects on You and Your Baby
When weaning your child, you have to take their feelings into consideration. Make sure that they are ready to wean, and are at a good age for weaning. Little babies can be very emotional, and weaning can be the most emotional process for them at this stage in life. Most doctors say that a child can feel abandoned when being weaned, and that is why the weaning process should be a gradual one.
Successfully Stopping Night Feeding
Night feeding can be the nightmare of the weaning process. Night feeds are usually very comforting for a child, and most of the time it’s comfort and not food that your child really requires when night feeding. On the parents’ part, though, it can be very tiring and difficult to constantly get up at night to comfort the baby. Some parents want to be able to stop night feeds as soon as possible in order to get a full night’s sleep.
Weaning Problems: Itchy Breasts & Mastitis
Here are two more weaning problems you may encounter while weaning your child.
Weaning Problems: Engorgement
When weaning a child, engorgement is a common problem among all mothers. The breasts have become used to producing milk, and for this milk to be extracted regularly. Not extracting the milk can lead to engorgement because the milk stays in the breasts. As a result, breasts are bigger, feel hard, and they hurt.
Consequences of Nipple Confusion
The problem of nipple confusion also leads to other problems. On the mother’s end, it can lead to sore nipples. Because it is so much easier to feed from an artificial teat, your baby may try feeding the way they feed with the teat on your nipples. This means that they are not latched on properly and your nipples become sore. If your baby had poor latching skills to begin with, nipple confusion can make their latching skills even worse.
Introduction to Weaning Problems
When the time comes that a child should be weaned, many mothers tend to give out a sigh of relief. Though joyous, breastfeeding can be challenging, and it is definitely tiring. Children, on the other hand, tend to have mixed emotions when it comes to the subject of weaning. Depending on your child’s age, different weaning problems can occur.
Advice for Feeding Solids
When your baby starts eating solids, it is advisable to develop good eating habits as early as now. While your baby will definitely make a mess and not be able to feed themselves for a while, good eating habits involve conditioning your baby for your solid food feeding sessions. For example, try feeding your baby solid foods at the same time and place that you and the rest of the family eats. Following this pattern, your baby will realize that it is eating time, and will eat along with you. Also, it’s probably much easier to clean a mess made in the dining room or kitchen than a mess made in the living room or bedroom.
How to Introduce Solids
Introducing solids to your child can be a challenge. Luckily, there is a technique you can use to make things go a little smoother.
When to Introduce Formula Milk
Many mothers who begin weaning their children from breastfeeding use the opportunity to introduce formula milk. However, weaning can still be done with expressed breast milk. Because breast milk is the best food for babies, mothers are advised not to introduce formula unless absolutely necessary.
How to Stop Lactation
When weaning from breastfeeding, many mothers want to slow down their milk production or stop lactation. Continuous lactating can be painful as it can lead to engorged breasts. It is important for mothers to understand that lactation actually begins while still pregnant with your baby. The mamogenesis phase, which happens in the first trimester, is when milk ducts grow and prepare itself for milk production.
Breastmilk Containers and Storage
If you are pumping milk for your baby to eat at a later date or time than the day you are pumping, you will need to store your milk in proper containers and using proper methods. Breast milk can go bad, just like all milks can. Furthermore, it isn’t pasteurized. So proper storage is key to providing your child with the nutrition that breast milk can give.
Increasing the Amount of Milk Pumped
Milk pumping can be a tedious task, and sometimes it may seem futile, especially when it seems like you aren't producing enough milk, and this can put pressure on a mother, especially when you feel this is the solution to continue feeding your child breastmilk. Luckily, there are ways to increase the amount of milk pumped or produced by your breasts, and if you do it well enough, you are likely to be able to produce more than what you initially needed!
Milk Pumping Problems You May Encounter
Like all things, pumping does come with some problems. Some women find it easier to pump milk while others do not. There are many factors that can lead to this. For example, if you are nursing full time, the amount of milk you pump is likely to be more than if you were not nursing. This is because the baby stimulates milk production better than a pump.
All About Milk Pumping
Pumping or expressing milk is very common among nursing mothers. Some mothers choose to express or pump milk because they have to go back to work or have to be away from their baby during a feeding session. Others pump milk to increase their milk supply and meet the demands of their baby or babies. Other mothers choose to pump in order to relieve engorgement or in order to aid the process in which lactation will stop. Whichever reason or whatever reason you have to pump breast milk, know that it is perfectly safe and is a good method of taking breast milk from your breasts.
Weaning a Toddler
Some women are able to breastfeed their child all the way up till the child is a toddler. This is quite an amazing accomplishment. Giving a child breast milk all the way till toddlerhood is common, but direct breastfeeding is quite rare. By the time your child reaches toddlerhood, they are likely to have been mixed feeding for a while. This can work in your favor when weaning a toddler.
What NOT to Do When Weaning
There are many bits of “old wisdom” that tell us how to wean our children from breastfeeding. Many of these techniques were practiced by generations before us, and are handed down from mother to daughter. While there is some good advice in these bits of wisdom that get passed through generations, there are some pieces of advice that are not sound. Some of these involve weaning.
How to Wean Your Child
When weaning your child, no matter what age you choose to wean them, it is always best to start slow. Slow weaning is the easiest way to transition your child, and it’s likely to be the least traumatic. Some toddlers who make the decision to stop breastfeeding may wean abruptly. This is fine, as long as it is their decision, and you help them through it.
When to Stop Breastfeeding or Start Weaning
There is no specific age for when to stop breastfeeding and consequently start weaning. Since breast milk is the best form of food and nutrition for babies, some mothers choose to continue breastfeeding till their child is approaching toddlerhood. Though, as mentioned in the previous section, a child will need to begin eating solid foods or drinking formula milk when breast milk no longer fills their tummies, and they need other sources of nutrition.
Seven Reasons for Weaning Breastfeeding
Weaning is the time that the baby begins to stop breastfeeding and other methods of feeding the child are used. During the weaning period, children often begin mixed feeding, having a combination of breast milk and formula milk, a combination of breast milk and solid foods, or a combination of all three. It is important to note, however that weaning from breastfeeding does not always mean your child will wean from breast milk. Many mothers wean from breastfeeding while expressing breast milk and giving it to their babies in baby bottles.
What is Colic?
No one really knows what colic is. It is just observed that a couple of weeks after delivery, a baby can begin having bouts of crying which usually occur in the evening. The baby’s crying is inconsolable, or consolable for only a short time. In all other aspects of health and weight gain, the baby is progressing or developing normally and well. Colic usually lasts up until the baby is three months in age, and it slowly resolves itself.
Breastfeeding Problems Concerning Your Baby
While you may have problems while actively breastfeeding your baby, your baby can have problems too. These problems should be addressed so your baby is comfortable and eating well and enough for them to grow and develop normally.
How to Deal With Engorgement
Engorgement can occur as soon as a few days after delivery. It is completely normal and is caused by a flooding of fluid and blood in your breasts. This flood can constrict the milk ducts, not allowing milk to flow as freely as it should, and as a result the breasts become engorged. Because the breast tissue swells, engorgement can be painful due to the fact that breasts become very firm and feel like they are throbbing. In other women, the breasts are warm and are slightly pinkish in color.
What is Mastitis?
Mastitis is an infection of the breast usually caused by bacteria. This bacterial infection commonly happens to pregnant or breastfeeding mothers because their breasts are susceptible to injury and damage, allowing possibilities of entry for bacteria. However some women without nipple injury or damage do get mastitis, including women who are not pregnant or breastfeeding. In very rare cases, it even happens to children who have not yet reached puberty or to babies.
How to Increase Milk Supply Naturally
As mentioned in some of our other articles, your body produces milk on an on demand basis. This means it produces the right amount of milk your baby needs for each feeding. It can produce more milk if required, and it can also lessen milk production (usually when mixed feeding or weaning begins.) There are times though that your breasts produce too much milk which results in overactive ejection or produces too little milk for the demand.
Breastfeeding Problems: Overactive Milk Ejection
When discussing breastfeeding problems, the issue of overactive milk ejection should also be discussed. Quite the opposite of having a plugged duct, overactive milk ejection happens when milk production increases too quickly. This causes the milk to flow very fast, and often times your baby will push your breast away while coughing or gagging because they are unable to swallow with ease. Many times mothers take this as a sign that the baby is not hungry or doesn’t like breast milk. This often isn’t the case. Babies are just having issues with how much milk is being ejected.
Breastfeeding Problems: Flat, Inverted or Retracted Nipples & Plugged Ducts
Some women do not have nipples that naturally protrude from the breasts, nor do they protrude when stimulated. These nipples are called flat nipples. Women who have nipples that seem to go inward when compressed have inverted nipples. While women with retracting nipples are women who have nipples that seem to pull back a little instead of protrude from the breast.
Breastfeeding Problems: Bloody Nipple Discharge & Nipple Color Change
There are several reasons behind having a bloody discharge from your nipple. You may notice the blood on the nipple, or you may notice that your breast milk is bloody in color (ranging from pinkish to red), or your baby’s stool is bloody. The first usual reason behind this bloody discharge is if you have a nipple injury or if you sustained some kind of trauma to your breast and the breast tissue is bleeding slightly. If you have an injured nipple or have breast trauma, talk to your doctor.
Breastfeeding Problems: Nipple Pain
More common than thrush, nipple pain or nipple soreness affects many women who breastfeed. It can occur because a mother’s nipples are usually very sensitive after giving birth. This kind of nipple soreness or pain usually relieves itself after about a week following delivery. Beyond this week, nipple soreness or pain could be due to a nipple injury incurred while breastfeeding. If the pain persists throughout the feeding sessions and does not relieve itself after the first week of feeding, you can choose to see a doctor.
Breastfeeding Problems: Yeast Infection/Thrush
There are some problems that you may encounter while breastfeeding. These problems include problems with your breast, the manner of feeding, as well as problems your baby may be having. It is important to discuss these problems because some of them, particularly engorgement and mastitis can reoccur when weaning your child. Knowing how to deal with these problems when they occur can prepare you for the future, help you prevent the problem from happening, and ease the weaning process for you and your child.
What to Do While Breastfeeding
When you begin breastfeeding your baby you will notice that feeding times will vary depending on the time of day or how hungry your child is. In the beginning it is important for you to perfect your breastfeeding skills and techniques. Focus on how your baby latches on and positions themselves onto your breast. Once this becomes comfortable and you can feed your child on “autopilot” so to speak, you can begin exploring the possibilities of what you can do while breastfeeding.
A Look at Mixed Feeding
When a child begins to drink other liquids such as formula milk, water, or eat solids like baby food, but continues to drink breast milk either through direct breastfeeding or expressed milk, this is called mixed feeding. You can start mixed feeding when your child is old enough to accept solids. Generally it is best to feed your child exclusively with breast milk till they are six months old, and not introduce any other form of liquid or food. Sometimes, though, mothers need to begin mixed feeding earlier.
A Look at Tandem Breastfeeding
The method of breastfeeding twins or two children at one time is known as tandem breastfeeding. Usually tandem breastfeeding occurs with a mother of twins or triplets. This is normal because the mother has two babies to feed. However, a mother of children with very close age gaps can also choose to tandem breastfeed, especially if they feel the older child should still be breastfeeding.
All About Expressing Breast Milk
Expressing milk is when a mother removes the milk in her breast for storage. This is usually done when a mother cannot breastfeed her child directly, but would still like her child to benefit from breast milk.
Breastfeeding: Latching on & Positioning
Just as important as breastfeeding itself is the manner or style of breastfeeding. Sometimes not breastfeeding your child correctly can lead to problems for both you and/or your child. These problems have the possibility of becoming exacerbated when weaning. It is for this reason that correct breastfeeding techniques as well as types of breastfeeding is important.
The Prolonged Health Benefit of Breastfeeding
In addition to all the immediate and near future benefits your child will have from breastfeeding, there are several long term health benefits that they will also enjoy. The first and most popular one being promoted lately is that breastfed children are less susceptible to childhood obesity. Because they are able to control their hunger and the amounts that they eat, breastfed children are less likely to overeat throughout the rest of their lives. This can be very helpful for many children being raised in a society where obesity is a major problem.
How Breastfeeding Helps Brain Development
Breast milk is important for your child's brain development. It is the best brain food you can give them during their infancy because it contains everything your child's developing brain needs. During the first two months of your baby's life, their brain is going through rapid development. Different lobes of the brain are developing to hone their senses, reflexes, motor skills, and much more! Because the brain is in charge of both voluntary and involuntary functions, it needs all the help it can get from your breast milk for as long as it can get it. This is especially true for an infant because most of their functions are involuntary.
Breastfeeding and Your Child's Physical Development
One major and more popular importance of breastfeeding is its effects on your child’s physical development. There are numerous health benefits a breastfed child will enjoy over one who was not breastfed. An immediate benefit is that you child is getting the right amount of nutrition in the exact amounts they need. This is something designed by nature and cannot be mimicked by formula milk.
The Importance of Breastfeeding
Mothers are always encouraged to breastfeed their infants. Doctors usually recommend breastfeeding a child for at least six months, and for as long as the act is comfortable for both mother and child. Some doctors even recommend breastfeeding up to two years of age. This is because the natural milk your child gets from your breasts is irreplaceable, cannot be substituted, and is important for both you and your child.
An Introduction to Weaning
Weaning is the process of switching your baby from an exclusive breast milk diet and slowly bringing in cow's milk, formula milk, or other solid foods. The introduction of substitute milks and solid foods also comes with the gradual reduction of breastfeeding. Once your child is no longer drinking any breast milk, they are considered fully weaned.
Evolution and the Responsibilities of the Modern Mom
Let's start with the modern mom, you. Up until the early twentieth century, many mothers took on the task of taking care of the household, raising and attending to the children, and nothing more. Their weeks consisted of very traditional activities which included cooking, cleaning, and some kind of needlework. Though women were allowed to work, they usually stopped working after becoming a mother, seeing their children as their new and most important responsibility.
Breastfeeding and the Modern Mom
In most early societies, breastfeeding was done by mothers for their children and only for the purposes of feeding their own children. As society progressed and class systems developed, breastfeeding became something unfashionable or not to be done by the higher classes. It became a task for wet nurses, women who breastfed children of the rich apart from their own. The practice of wet nursing was passed down through several periods. Though other forms of milk such as cow and goat were also tried for feeding a child they were not successful due to little knowledge about pasteurization.
All About Bottlefeeding: Preparing and Storing Milk
Knowing how to prepare and store your milk is important when bottlefeeding. If many people will be feeding your baby, other family members for example, then it is important that they be taught too. Making sure the milk you serve your baby is clean and is prepared correctly can help you prevent your baby from acquiring any illnesses.
All About Bottlefeeding: Cleaning and Sterilizing
Keeping your baby bottles clean is incredibly important. In their early years, your baby's immune system is not yet ready to battle certain diseases and bacteria so it is best to kill all potentially harmful germs. Baby bottles and anything that is used to feed your baby should be cleaned and sterilized before use.
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.
10 Weaning-Breastfeeding Tips for the Agitated Mommy
Breastfeeding and weaning have a common factor – they are both processes where both mother and baby form a solid bond that cements their relationship like no other. But the similarity ends there. The mother usually panics when the weaning time approaches, especially if she has fully assimilated breastfeeding time into her way of life.
Another Barrage of Tips on How to Wean From Breastfeeding
Mothers have one common problem – and that’s is how to wean from breastfeeding. Many women think that it is difficult to wean a baby from the healthiest feed he will have in his entire life. Breastfeeding has been recommended to be done exclusively for the first 6 months of your baby’s life because all the nutrients he needs for those first months can solely be had from breast milk alone.
Stopping Breastfeeding Without the Guilt
Weaning from breastfeeding is not a simple task. You can’t just end breastfeeding as quick as a wink. Why? Because it’s the main bond that has linked you to your baby ever since he got out of your womb. And if I’m guessing correctly and you believe in the World Health Organization’s recommendation of exclusive breastfeeding for baby for at least until 6 months of age, then it will be most difficult – most especially for you – to let go.
Daddy-Support for Mum – Weaning Off Breastfeeding
From pregnancy to birth to breastfeeding, both mother and baby exclusively hold dear a bond that n man can sever – as in man, literally. But while men may not have mammary glands, dads actually play a big part in a baby’s life, of course, besides conception, but most particularly during the early stages of weaning from breastfeeding.
When to Stop Breastfeeding (and Why You Should Do It)
Pregnancy is an emotional and physical journey a woman goes through for 9 months, but it just doesn’t stop there. Breastfeeding is the only way to give your child the proper support and nutrition he needs for his health and well-being.
Feeding Problems Often Encountered When Weaning and Eating Solids
When you start weaning and when you begin introducing solid food to your baby, you may encounter a few feeding problems. This is absolutely normal. Not many babies wean without making a fuss or begin to eat solids without acting suspicious about the food. What is important is that you have patience and be perseverant about both weaning and eating solids.
Weaning to Solids: Food Allergies
It is importance to be able to distinguish the difference between an allergic reaction and intolerance. An allergy is when the immune system over-reacts and causes several physical symptoms. Swollen eyes and lips, a runny nose, sneezing, itching, hives, dermatitis, diarrhea or constipation, and vomiting are some of the common physical allergic reactions.
Weaning to Solids: Intolerance
The most common intolerance is a lactose intolerance. This is when the body does not produce enough lactase, the enzyme that breaks down lactose. Undigested lactose usually causes diarrhea, gas, and a bloated stomach. People with a lactose intolerance have to stay away from dairy products, such as cheese, milk, butter, and ice cream.
Weaning Issues: Constipation and Reflux
There are many issues or problems that come along with the weaning process. It is normal to experience some difficulty with your baby along the way. This is because your baby is changing their diet and their body and stomachs need time to adjust. Two issues you may encounter are constipation and reflux.
Why Iron Fortified Foods Are Recommended for First Feedings
When your baby is ready for their first meal, the time has come for you to decide what to feed them. If you have read the other articles on this site or if you have been reading about first feedings, you may notice that iron fortified foods are often recommended.
Weaning Tips: Night Feeding
Night feeding is one of the horrors of being a parent. It's often thought to be the hardest part. However, night feeding need not last very long, and it definitely should not last throughout infancy.
Weaning Tips: Introducing Equipment and Food
Some babies can put up a bit of a fight when it comes to weaning. Mainly it's because they don't want to wean. They'd like to stick to the same comfortable routine.
Weaning Tips: How to Tell Your Baby is Still Hungry
As your baby grows, their appetite increases. You may notice this happening when you begin to wean them. An increasing appetite is actually one of the first signs that your baby is ready to wean.
Feeding and Weaning a Premature Baby
A baby is considered premature if they are born before 37 weeks of pregnancy. Premature babies are not uncommon, and there are many reasons why babies can be born premature.
Forming a Weaning Routine
One of the best tricks to weaning success is to form a weaning routine. Just like your baby adjusted to a specific milk feeding schedule, you can slowly adjust them to a mixed feeding schedule, one in which they eat solid food for some meals and milk for others.
When to Stop – Breastfeeding to Solid Food (Preparation)
So you’ve decided – you and your baby – that he is ready to wean – breastfeeding is slowly becoming extinct in the limited vocabulary of your little one. In place of breastfeeding, solid food is slowly taking root and your baby is enjoying every minute of it.
Weaning from Breastfeeding – Homemade Baby Food
You want to stop breastfeeding. Do you feel the need to feed your baby some real homemade food? You need not despair, nor tear at your hair. Contrary to popular belief, making your own baby’s food and meals is not time consuming, and isn’t as hard as you may think.
When to Stop Breastfeeding – When Baby Can Start on Solids
You may have been encountering these and so much more questions on when a baby should be weaned. In reality though, there are no set rules as to when a baby can be weaned. There are only suggestions and recommendations. And since no baby is born alike (not even twins), then there are times that a tip may work on one child and have disastrous results on another.
Stopping Breastfeeding – Solid Food Suggestions for Your Little One
For most women, the topic of weaning, breastfeeding baby and issues about being a working mom are all too much that it puts a strain on their creativity when it comes to choosing solid food for the ever-growing baby.
The Working Mom’s Breastfeeding – Weaning as the Solution
To stop lactation is a decision that every mother must face, especially if duty already calls. During our mother’s time when they just stay at home, caring for the kids, doing the house chores and being there for our fathers when they need a sounding board.
Learning to Make Your Own Baby Food
Though there are many different types of baby food available on the market, it is always safer to make your own baby food. Making baby food at home is better for your baby because you get to control the ingredients of the food, and you get to make sure that your baby is getting a wide variety of nutrients and different types of food.
Teaching Your Baby How to Eat
As you wean your baby, one of the things you will have to do is teach your baby how to eat. Up until your baby's first encounter with solid food, all they've known how to do is suck and swallow. With solid food, they have to learn how to move their mouth to take the food, move the food to the back of their mouth, and then swallow. This is something we do involuntarily, but we all once had to learn it as babies.
Teething and Fussy Eating
There are many challenges and obstacles that arise when you begin weaning your child. Throughout the articles on this site, you are likely to find several of the problems you may encounter, and tips that can help you overcome these challenges. Two such challenges are teething and fussy eating. Teething can begin around the time you start weaning your baby, and it can directly contribute to fussy eating.
Food Ideas Moms Can Follow
When you start weaning your baby, you may find that you will be working in the kitchen, a lot! This is especially true if you choose to make your own baby food. Most moms find that they are cooking meals for themselves and/or the family and cooking separate meals for their baby. Spending all this time in the kitchen can become tiring, not to mention the fact that cooking multiple meals can be costly in terms of ingredients.
What is a Balanced Baby Diet?
Like adults, baby's need a balanced diet of solid foods and milk. However, their form of a balanced diet is different from that of an adult. Babies need a diet that is opposite of an adult's, one that is high in fat and low in fiber. Though fiber is good for the body, a baby's small stomach (it's ten times smaller than an adult's) can't take too much fiber because it will fill them too much, leaving no room for other energy filled and nutritious foods that they need.
How to Combine Breastfeeding with Bottlefeeding
Combining breastfeeding and bottlefeeding is a great compromise for mothers who want to continue breastfeeding, but need to be able to do other things during the day; things that will require them to be away from their baby during some feeding sessions. Combining these two types of feeding is also a first step towards weaning from breastfeeding because your baby will slowly become accustomed to less breastfeeding sessions and more bottlefeeding sessions.
Starting the Bottle After Birth (In the Hospital)
Some women do not have the luxury of breastfeeding for medical reasons. Perhaps they are sick or perhaps their baby is sick. Other women may want to quickly combine breastfeeding and bottlefeeding. Whatever the reason, if you need to start bottlefeeding in the hospital (very soon or right after birth), you have to be prepared for it.
The Challenges of Bonding While Bottlefeeding
Bottlefeeding changes the dynamics of feeding altogether. For your baby, it is very different from breastfeeding because during breastfeeding, they are completely attached to you. Their face is touching your breast, their stomach touches your stomach, they can hear your heartbeat, and their arms are likely to be holding you too. Often, this is how and when the strong bond between mother and child forms.
All About Bottlefeeding: Bottles
It is important to familiarize yourself and become an expert on bottles and bottlefeeding because they play a big role in weaning your child. There is plenty to learn about bottles, but the most important thing to keep in mind is that bottles need changing. The type of bottle you use and the type of teat you use should be changed as your child gets older.
Bottlefeeding: How Much to Feed
One of the best things about breastfeeding is that your body can adjust to how much your baby needs to eat. As your baby grows and their appetite increases, they suck more from your breasts. This triggers your mammary glands to produce more milk, supplying your baby with what s/he needs. Bottlefeeding, on the other hand is not as easy.
Stopping Breastfeeding - Why Moms Choose to Wean from Breastfeeding
Moms stop breastfeeding for various reasons. Read this article to find out how other moms came to a decision to wean from breastfeeding.
When to Stop Breastfeeding
Not sure if you are ready to wean your baby from breastfeeding? Read this article to find out when other moms decided to stop breastfeeding.
How to Stop Breastfeeding - How to Do It, How Not to Do It
There are many techniques that women have used over the years to stop breastfeeding. Find out which practices are safe and which ones you need to avoid.
How to Stop Lactation
How do you tell your body to stop producing milk? This article gives helpful tips on how you can stop lactation.
How to Stop Lactation - For Moms Who Express Breastmilk
For moms who are expressing breast milk for their little one, this article gives you tips on how to signal your body to stop producing milk.
When to Stop Breastfeeding - The Pros and the Cons of Weaning
Torn between breastfeeding and weaning? This article may help you decide if you're ready to wean.
Weaning From Breastfeeding - from 6 to 12 months
For moms of babies between 6 and 12 months of age, this article talks about the challenges of weaning at this stage.
Weaning from Breastfeeding - 0 to 6 months
Fo moms of babies between 0 and 6 months of age, this article discusses the challenges of switching from breastfeeding to formula feeding.
Weaning From Breastfeeding to Formula and Solid Food
for Babies 0 to 6 months Old
If your baby is about ready to start on solids by the time you plan to wean him, read this article to learn tips on how to wean from breastfeeding to formula and solid food.
Tips on Weaning: Breastfeeding Toddler
Natural weaning happens when you allow your baby to choose when he prefers to wean. This usually happens when you are weaning a breastfeeding toddler. Read this article for tips on how you can accomplish this with your toddler.
Weaning From Breastfeeding - Tips on Feeding Solids
When your baby starts on solids, it can be an exciting adventure! At the same time, it can also be stressful when you see how messy it can get. This article discusses tips on how you can enjoy baby's mealtime as much as he does!
Weaning From Breastfeeding - Foods to Avoid Before the 12th Month
Find out what food you should delay introducing to your baby if she is less than 12 months old.
Breastfeeding Weaning Rules
Read about the weaning rules to find out how you can make the weaning transition more comfortable for you and your baby.
What To Avoid When You Are To Wean From Breastfeeding
Weaning from breastfeeding can go more smoothly when you know the no-no's of weaning. Read this article for more information.
Why Wean? Breastfeeding Qualms and Doubts
For every mom who's at the crossroads of whether to continue or to stop breastfeeding, here's an article that reflects on how to make this choice.
Stop Lactation. 5 Ways to Reduce Milk Supply
If you are expressing milk and you plan to stop soon, read this article to find out how you can stop lactation.
Weaning From Breastfeeding From The 6th Month Onwards
When baby turns 6 months, he is deemed ready for solid food. This age is characterized by an openness and curiosity for new things, especially food. Find out how you can take advantage of this stage to wean your baby.
To Wean From Breastfeeding - Tips And Tricks
Planning on weaning your baby from breastfeeding? This article addresses concerns of weaning a baby who is around 6 months of age.
Stopping Breastfeeding
Women have various reasons for stopping breastfeeding. This article explores some of them.
When To Stop Breastfeeding Your Baby
Weaning is something inevitable that we as moms should prepare for. Here's an article that looks into this step that our babies take towards independence.
When To Stop Breastfeeding: Baby Is Ready, But What Do You Feed Him?
Find out how to spot if baby is ready for solid food and Learn what the best first foods are for your baby.
Weaning Off Breastfeeding: Baby Food From The 6th to 9th Month
When baby is at the 6th to 9th month period is where weaning to solid food begins. Find out how you can make this stage an exciting activity for both of you.
Weaning: From Breastfeeding To Baby's First Solid Food
When baby is ready for solid food, most moms, especially first time moms become apprehensive as to the best way and the best food to feed their baby. Read this article for tips on how to introduce solid food to your baby.
Weaning - From Breastfeeding To Solids At 6 Months
How can you tell if baby is ready for solids? This article gives the signs of readiness you need to watch out for, as well as suggestions on what food you could give your baby.
|
