Weaning tips from moms
PAEDIATRICIANS recommend that a mother should breastfeed her child exclusively for at least six months, but many babies want to nurse beyond that time — some seemingly with no intention of stopping even when they enter the toddler years. Advice from using aloe on the breast to employing the ‘bottle or starvation’ mode are many, but no one knows for sure what will work for each little one.
Below, moms who have been there tell how they approached weaning their reluctant children with minimal stress to mother and child.
Ann-Marie, 48, teacher:
With my children, I took a gradual approach, so I didn’t just wake up one morning and stop breastfeeding. So I would breastfeed, then feed formula, and then I went straight to formula after about three weeks. All they would do after that was play with the breast instead of nursing, and in the case of my last child, I just didn’t give in when he tried getting my nipples to put in his mouth.
Patricia, 46, entrepreneur:
They say breast milk is as good as honey, so I decided to trick my baby. I started rubbing aloe vera on my nipples every morning and evening. He would grimace in disgust and I would give him the formula after. In about two weeks I think he was convinced that the best quality milk he had ever tasted was suddenly contaminated by something nasty-tasting, and he stopped trying.
Verona, 36, sales representative:
I didn’t have much milk by around the fifth month but he would still cry, even when I am sure he had emptied my supply. What I had to do when he was fussy or needed to sleep was walk him, rock him, read to him or take him for a little drive if he got extra fussy. Those things would calm him down. He had got used to the formula by then, so after that it wasn’t hard getting him to stop sucking.
Denise, 29, nail technician:
We nicknamed my daughter “Titty monster” because she was a nightmare when it came to breastfeeding. She wouldn’t stop, even at 21 months, and I was working and wasn’t being left in peace, so I eventually started giving her more of the bottle. I got her daddy and my mom to put her to bed more, because that would be one of her favourite times to be breastfed… [she really enjoyed] playing with my breasts until she fell asleep. I also made sure I got a formula that was closest in make-up to the breast milk.
Jayda, 25, student:
I honestly just did what most women in Jamaica do — use bitter and unpleasant-tasting things like tuna and aloe vera on my breast and he eventually became turned off.
Jackie, 30, designer:
First of all, I didn’t have a lot of milk, but my daughter would still always want to have my nipple in her mouth. Then my friend told me she wasn’t just using me as her source of milk, but I was her human pacifier. I was able to successfully get her to like a brand of milk, and as for the pacifier, I got cute ones with attractive ornaments and she fell in love. She got over me so fast I almost became jealous.
