Weaning . . . or not
I've been attempting to gradually wean Baby E from nursing for several months now. It's not going very well.
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I've got her down to nursing only 2-4 times per day, but only by flat-out refusing to nurse her more than that. Her preference would be to still be nursing every 2-4 hours. The few times a day I'm willing to nurse her, she happily settles in for the long haul and nurses as long as I'll let her. Then she goes into huge tantrums when I decide she's had enough.
She acts like she'd just prefer to stay latched on all day. The longest I've made it in a nursing session is about an hour before I make her stop, and she hasn't been ready to stop even those times. Usually I lose patience after more like 20-40 minutes, especially when she's biting me because my milk supply isn't very plentiful.
She hasn't been willing to end a nursing session on her own unless she falls asleep, and then usually she wakes up as soon as I detach her and/or lay her down, and immediately demands more milk. Once she's awake after once dozing off, she won't fall asleep again no matter how long I nurse her. I think she knows that once she's asleep the spigot will be cut off, so she tries her hardest to stay awake.
She's been missing naps lately because of that--she won't go to sleep without nursing, but if I nurse her she falls asleep nursing and then wakes up, and there's no getting her to go to sleep again. It ends up deteriorating into a colossal battle just to get her to stay in her room for the duration of quiet time.
The rest of the day she's grumpy, whiny and short-fused, spending much of the day following me around clinging to me and begging for milk until both of us are going crazy, or growling at anyone who gets in her way.
Both of my other kids really liked the formula we switched them to when I weaned them, and they were quite happy to have that instead. Weaning was quite easy with them.
With Baby E, not so much.
The main problem is that I haven't yet found anything she's willing to drink as a substitute. She can't drink plain water--she still aspirates thin liquids. Even I agree that thickened water with no flavoring tastes pretty disgusting. She will drink thickened orange juice (very diluted), but too much of that seems to make her reflux worse. Most other juices seem to give her issues with diarrhea and stomachaches if she has more than a very small amount.
We've tried cow's milk, rice milk, soy milk, formula, and even a potato-based milk substitute. I've tried adding vanilla-flavored non-dairy creamer and various other flavorings and sweeteners to all of the above options. Nothing gets more than a taste--even if she says she likes it, she won't drink much of it. Certainly not enough to meet her nutritional or liquid intake needs.
DH is picking up some chocolate syrup today to try mixing in, but given her response to chocolate-flavored rice milk I have little hope for that. Even if I do get her drinking chocolate milk, what then? I certainly don't want to be giving her chocolate milk several times a day on a regular basis.
Today I did get her to drink some of a cherry-banana smoothie with baby formula mixed in, but although she drank more of it than she normally drinks, I can still tell from her urine output that she's not really getting enough fluids. At this point she's reluctant to accept even the thickened orange juice she normally enjoys, just because she's mad that I'm not letting her nurse more.
My milk supply has been waning for quite some time, anyway, and I am so ready to be done with nursing. She's 2 and 1/2. She can eat just about anything now, and I've already nursed her much longer than I nursed either of my other two. I really don't want to do it any more.
Meanwhile, Baby E spends much of her day clinging to me screaming, trying to tear my shirt open, and acting like she fully believes the end of the world is imminent because MILK is not immediately forthcoming.
I've been talking to her a lot lately about how only babies drink milk from their mommies, and big kids drink other milk. She's completely unimpressed by that.
Today I even offered her a doll she's really been wanting. I told her that she could have it when she doesn't drink milk from Mommy any more and learns to drink other milk instead. She wanted the doll, but not enough to dry drinking cow's milk.
Maybe I'll call the pediatrician and see what he has to say.
####################
I've got her down to nursing only 2-4 times per day, but only by flat-out refusing to nurse her more than that. Her preference would be to still be nursing every 2-4 hours. The few times a day I'm willing to nurse her, she happily settles in for the long haul and nurses as long as I'll let her. Then she goes into huge tantrums when I decide she's had enough.
She acts like she'd just prefer to stay latched on all day. The longest I've made it in a nursing session is about an hour before I make her stop, and she hasn't been ready to stop even those times. Usually I lose patience after more like 20-40 minutes, especially when she's biting me because my milk supply isn't very plentiful.
She hasn't been willing to end a nursing session on her own unless she falls asleep, and then usually she wakes up as soon as I detach her and/or lay her down, and immediately demands more milk. Once she's awake after once dozing off, she won't fall asleep again no matter how long I nurse her. I think she knows that once she's asleep the spigot will be cut off, so she tries her hardest to stay awake.
She's been missing naps lately because of that--she won't go to sleep without nursing, but if I nurse her she falls asleep nursing and then wakes up, and there's no getting her to go to sleep again. It ends up deteriorating into a colossal battle just to get her to stay in her room for the duration of quiet time.
The rest of the day she's grumpy, whiny and short-fused, spending much of the day following me around clinging to me and begging for milk until both of us are going crazy, or growling at anyone who gets in her way.
Both of my other kids really liked the formula we switched them to when I weaned them, and they were quite happy to have that instead. Weaning was quite easy with them.
With Baby E, not so much.
The main problem is that I haven't yet found anything she's willing to drink as a substitute. She can't drink plain water--she still aspirates thin liquids. Even I agree that thickened water with no flavoring tastes pretty disgusting. She will drink thickened orange juice (very diluted), but too much of that seems to make her reflux worse. Most other juices seem to give her issues with diarrhea and stomachaches if she has more than a very small amount.
We've tried cow's milk, rice milk, soy milk, formula, and even a potato-based milk substitute. I've tried adding vanilla-flavored non-dairy creamer and various other flavorings and sweeteners to all of the above options. Nothing gets more than a taste--even if she says she likes it, she won't drink much of it. Certainly not enough to meet her nutritional or liquid intake needs.
DH is picking up some chocolate syrup today to try mixing in, but given her response to chocolate-flavored rice milk I have little hope for that. Even if I do get her drinking chocolate milk, what then? I certainly don't want to be giving her chocolate milk several times a day on a regular basis.
Today I did get her to drink some of a cherry-banana smoothie with baby formula mixed in, but although she drank more of it than she normally drinks, I can still tell from her urine output that she's not really getting enough fluids. At this point she's reluctant to accept even the thickened orange juice she normally enjoys, just because she's mad that I'm not letting her nurse more.
My milk supply has been waning for quite some time, anyway, and I am so ready to be done with nursing. She's 2 and 1/2. She can eat just about anything now, and I've already nursed her much longer than I nursed either of my other two. I really don't want to do it any more.
Meanwhile, Baby E spends much of her day clinging to me screaming, trying to tear my shirt open, and acting like she fully believes the end of the world is imminent because MILK is not immediately forthcoming.
I've been talking to her a lot lately about how only babies drink milk from their mommies, and big kids drink other milk. She's completely unimpressed by that.
Today I even offered her a doll she's really been wanting. I told her that she could have it when she doesn't drink milk from Mommy any more and learns to drink other milk instead. She wanted the doll, but not enough to dry drinking cow's milk.
Maybe I'll call the pediatrician and see what he has to say.
Labels: food, health issues, just life, kid stuff
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Posted by purple_kangaroo at 2:55 PM[Permanent link]
5 Comments:
You know we had a similar situation with Baby Blue. There wasn't any magic bullet, alas, at least not for us. But I did find that the most effective way to get her to lose interest in it was to let her nurse when she wanted. She did eventually figure out that there were other interesting things she could be doing besides drinking MILK all the time.
(Full disclosure: she still isn't totally weaned -- she sometimes nurses before bedtime. But not every night. And I'm pretty sure she'll be all done with it before, you know, college or something...)
I think a really bright child like Baby E may understand all too well that the end of nursing means the end of babyhood as well. I know both my kids get very anxious about transitions from one stage of childhood to the next -- perhaps Baby E is the same way?
Thanks, Phantom. I know you had the same kind of issue with BB . . . I actually thought about dropping you a note to see if you had any advice. :) Thanks for posting.
I think Phantom has some wise words. As far as other drink ideas, though, have you tried almond milk or hazelnut milk? Both are commercially available or you can make your own--I think the Dr. Sears baby book has a recipe, though I can't seem to find it on the website. I've also seen oat milk.
Can Baby E deal with flavor extracts? What about thickened water with various flavorings added (vanilla, peppermint, lemon or whatever)?
If I think of any more ideas, I'll pass them along.
I've got no suggestions, but I do have many hugs.
Oh! I do have a suggestion! Howsabout Egg Creams? Milk, seltzer, and either chocolate or strawberry flavoring.
And my mom has reflux and can't have any citrus, since that seems to exacerbate it.
No suggestions - my guy weaned more or less okayish - but hugs.
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