Breastfeeding is the best way to raise a healthy newborn, but only you can determine when to quit breastfeeding. When appropriate time comes to stop breastfeeding your child, you may find it hard to do. Try these ideas to quit breastfeeding.
Baby gets to know the routine, so don’t change too many of baby’s routines all at once. In other words, when it is time for feeding, give a bottle, but use the same room and chairs normally used. This soothes a baby and helps to pass to different ways of feeding.
Lower the amount of feeds per day slowly and consistently. Sometimes it is difficult to bring breastfeeding to a sudden stop. Your child will not understand and will have trouble adapting. If you have to deal with a fussy baby, you are liable to surrender and go ahead and breastfeed. So it’s a good idea to slowly wean a baby from breastfeeding, rather than quitting it at one go. To begin, cut out one daily feeding. It may occur at any moment, daytime or nighttime. In case a baby is hungry at this moment, provide him with bottle of infant formula or milk. By this time, a child may want solid food as well. Subsequently reduce the number of breastfeedings per day, one at a time, once a baby is comfortable. At some point, your baby will no longer expect to be breastfed.
Take care of breasts. Your milk secretion may continue in large quantities, even if you stop breastfeeding in a phased manner. Be careful to pay attention to your breasts during this transition period, to avoid the risk of a possibly painful infection. If you feel pain in breast, don’t breastfeed, but rather take a shower. When you are showering, the act of massaging your breasts will minimize lumps – but be gentle to avoid triggering the milk flow.
Let it take its own course. Sometimes babies will begin taking solid food, instead of depending so much on mother’s milk – they just pass the transition easily. When your child doesn’t want to be breastfed any more, he or she will let you know.
Accept dad’s help, as much as you can. Since mothers tend to comfort crying babies, most often they will use breastfeeding, as a way to soothe a baby. Dad can execute some of soothing duties, if you don’t need to breastfeed a child. He should get up during the night and put a child back to sleep. A baby will eventually be soothed by different things, not only due to breast milk. If a baby is not attached to mom, it will be very easy, when time for breastfeeding to be stopped comes.
