Undoubtedly, breast milk is the ideal food for an infant. But the baby is growing and the time comes when the baby needs to be weaned from breastfeeding. For a little person, this is a special difficult stage, so it is important to try to do everything possible to make it painless for both the baby and the nursing mother.
Instructions
Step 1
Focus on the physical and emotional state of your child. All babies are individual, so there is no clear time frame for weaning babies. If your baby is able to calm down, fall asleep without latching on to the breast, and can easily be distracted from breastfeeding by playing, then it can be considered that this is the best time to stop breastfeeding.
Step 2
Introduce complementary foods gradually. Pediatricians advise to replace one daily breastfeeding with regular food from six months, then replace morning and evening feedings. Thus, gradually introduce the baby to new products and completely refuse the baby from daytime breastfeeding. To make it go unnoticed for the child, change the place of eating, do not change clothes in front of the baby.
Step 3
Then start weaning your baby off night feeds. Here, many mothers face great difficulties, because the absence of a breast at night often becomes a great stress for the baby. He can start crying, screaming, and it is extremely difficult to calm him down without a breast. At first, distract the child with water, juice, kefir. When offering the baby a bottle of milk instead of a breast, the mother should be nearby. The child needs to feel the breath of the mother, to hear the beating of her heart. Maternal love and attention will help the baby to calmly survive the rejection of the breast.
Step 4
Be prepared for the fact that weaning the baby will be, possibly, a serious challenge for the mother herself. After all, a certain border appears between her and the child, a close connection collapses. Therefore, it is so important for mom and baby to spend as much time together as possible in this difficult period. Caress your child more often, give him a light massage, stroke him on the head, on the back, say gentle words, pay more attention.
Step 5
It is worth abandoning such methods of weaning from breasts as lubricating the nipples with mustard, leaving the mother for a while if you want this process to go without possible complications for your baby.
