Weaning

What It Means

Weaning is the move from breastfeedingBreastfeedingFeeding a baby milk directly from the breast. The AAP recommends breast milk alone for about the first 6 months, then alongside solid foods. See more to other foods, drinks and ways of being comforted, ending when nursing stops. HealthyChildren.org, the AAP's site for parents, says the best way to do it is gradually, letting the number and length of feeds taper off over weeks or even months. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) supports breastfeeding alongside solid foods from about 6 months for up to two years or longer, for as long as both parent and child want to continue.

How Parents Say It

• "We're down to just the bedtime feed."
• "She barely nurses now that she's walking."
• "I'm going back to work, so we're starting to wean."

The Breakdown

Weaning by age, from HealthyChildren.org

A gradual plan, per HealthyChildren.org

1. Drop one feed every two or three days, or once a week if that suits you better.
2. With a child 1 or older, try not offering a feed and see whether they ask. The midday feed, after a lunch of solid food, is usually the easiest to drop first.
3. Fill the gap with a new activity, a snack or a comfort object such as a favorite blanket.
4. If your child asks to nurse, offer the breast.
5. Keep any feed your child clings to, often the last one at night or the first in the morning, for as long as they want it.

If your child resists. Shorten feeds before dropping them, stay away from the places you usually nurse, avoid cues like sitting down with them on your lap, and give extra hugs. Partial weaning, keeping a feed or two while offering a cup or other foods the rest of the day, is another option the article describes.

When to talk to the doctor. Ask your pediatrician what your baby should drink in place of breast milk, especially before the first birthday.

Good to Know

HealthyChildren.org says tapering slowly avoids much of the conflict that comes with stopping suddenly and keeps engorgementEngorgementBreasts that become overfull, swollen, firm and sore because milk and fluid build up faster than they're removed, as when feeds are missed. See more down. It also says you can keep breastfeeding during a new pregnancy or after going back to work, or cut back and start using some infant formula. Before 1 year, the AAP's KidsDoc symptom checker on HealthyChildren.org says not to give cow's milk, because it can cause low iron in some babies; cow's milk formulas are fine.

Related Terms and Categories

• Breastfeeding

  Feeding a baby milk directly from the breast. The AAP recommends breast milk alone for about the first 6 months, then alongside solid foods.

• Milk supply

  How much breast milk a parent's body makes. It's driven by supply and demand: the more often milk is removed, the more the body makes.

• Engorgement

  Breasts that become overfull, swollen, firm and sore because milk and fluid build up faster than they're removed, as when feeds are missed.

• Combination feeding

  Feeding a baby both breast milk and infant formula, in whatever mix suits the family, also called combo feeding or supplementing.

• Formula feeding

  Feeding a baby commercial infant formula, made exactly as its label says, instead of or alongside breast milk.

Baby and toddler