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Toddler Apr 27, 2012

How to Get Your Toddler to Say Bye-Bye to Bottles

My daughter recently had her one-year checkup, and only one part left me slightly terrified.

by Kate Stahl

My daughter recently had her one-year checkup, and only one part left me slightly terrified. Not the fact that she is now weighing in at more than 26 pounds (no wonder my arms are looking pretty good these days). Nope, the scariest part was when my pediatrician informed me it was time to get rid of her bottles. I nodded my head and smiled, but my internal dialogue sounded something like this: "Sure, doc, and then I'll happily resign myself to a life with a child who never naps and screams herself to sleep at night."

While giving up the bottle is an important developmental step with long-lasting health implications, would my daughter really be willing to give it up? I'm happy to report, with a little research and some dedication, we're (almost) bottle-free only two weeks later. If you're in my boat, keep reading for some simple, but effective tips to get your baby off the bottle quickly and pretty painlessly.

Source: Thinkstock

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Baby Dec 16, 2011

8 Helpful Tips for Mother-Led Weaning

Whether you've breastfed your baby for 12 months or 2 years, starting the weaning process can feel daunting.

by Circle of Moms Editors

8 Helpful Tips for Mother-Led Weaning

Whether you've breastfed your baby for 12 months or 2 years, starting the weaning process can feel daunting. Some moms advocate letting a child self-wean, but many initiate or encourage the weaning process themselves. If you're wondering how to begin and complete a parent-led weaning process, we've rounded up eight helpful tips from Circle of Moms members who've been through it.

1. Gradually Eliminate Sessions

One of the most common weaning tips moms recommend is eliminating feedings one by one over time. While the AAP suggests eliminating a feeding every 2-3 days, many Circle of Moms members recommend a longer timeline, waiting 1-3 weeks before eliminating a second feeding. As Shauna, a member of the Breastfeeding Moms community, shares: "I heard you should drop a feeding every 2-3 days too but that was not enough for me. I needed at least a week, but I found a week and a half to 2 weeks to be better."

2. Drop a Midday Session First; Replace with a Meal

Wondering which feeding to drop first? Many moms advise that a midday feeding day may be the easiest. As Shauna shares: "Drop the middle of the day feedings first and supplement with formula or milk, and then the morning and bedtime feedings the last. I am on the bedtime feeding right now and can't believe I've made it this far."

If your child has started solids, many moms recommend swapping in a meal when an eliminated feeding would normally have taken place. Sarah M. recommends: "My suggestion is to start solids and let a meal at a time replace breastfeeding."

3. Limit The Length of a Session

Before cutting out a feeding, some moms recommend tapering down the amount of nursing time of that feeding. Brooke A. explains: "For a few days before totally eliminating the feeding, I limited her time nursing. The first day just by a minute or two, then by the last days [I] only allowied her to nurse for a minute or so. She had no problem with this."

4. Sippy Cup Instead of Bottle

To avoid the difficulty of yet another weaning process, some moms also recommend transitioning to a sippy cup rather than bottle. Sarah M. explains: "You don't have to go to a bottle at all. My son went straight to a sippy cup. One less thing to wean him from."

5. "Don't Offer, Don't Refuse"

An alternative to gradually eliminating one feeding at a time is the "don't offer, don't refuse" method of weaning, in which you wean your child by only breastfeeding when the child wants to. Jenna H. explains: "If she wants to nurse, so be it, but otherwise just go about your daily business and do meals and snacks in her seat." (Not all kids want to give up the breast, so this method can be slow.)

6. Hide Temptation

"You have to make sure though that they do not see your breasts (including low cut shirts) until they are used to the new schedule," Karla D. wisely notes. "All it will do is frustrate them because they know you are denying them their favorite snack Smiling ."

7. Pay Attention to Breast Pain

Breast pain during the weaning process is typically the result of a too-sudden change in the nursing schedule. Hot showers can help your body ease into the change, but as Breanne L. warns, "If your breasts start to hurt a lot, make sure to get them checked by a doctor!" Mastitis, a breast infection, may be the culprit.

8. Be Prepared for Some Resistance

It's natural for moms to encounter some resistance from a child being weaned. Breanne L. recalls: "I started by replacing one breastfeeding session with a sippy cup filled with whole milk and did that for about 3 weeks. My son gave me a lot of resistance on that one and was mad at me for quite awhile! ... By the time it came around to getting rid of the bedtime feed, my son transitioned like nothing, and he didn't even get mad!"

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The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, POPSUGAR.

Weight Loss May 10, 2011

Packed on the Pounds After Weaning Your Wee One?

Celebrities love to attribute their rapid postpartum weight loss to nursing their newborn babies, but are they willing to admit that it can also help them to gain weight in the long run?

by Rebecca M Gruber

Celebrities love to attribute their rapid postpartum weight loss to nursing their newborn babies, but are they willing to admit that it can also help them to gain weight in the long run? After gaining 40 pounds while pregnant, Kourtney Kardashian credited much of her 45-pound weight loss to breastfeeding lil Mason for 14 months. In March, she announced on her blog that she and her tot had decided to wean, saying, "My love affair with breast feeding has come to a sad end." Last night, she took to Twitter to promote one of her weight loss products, noting, "Wow.I have gained almost 10 pounds since I stopped breast feeding."

Doctors recommend that breastfeeding mamas eat an extra 400 calories a day to help maintain their milk supply. Following nine months of pregnancy and several months of nursing, it can be difficult for women to cut back to a regular diet, leading many moms to gain weight once they wean their tots.

Did you pack on the pounds when you finished breastfeeding?

Weight Loss Apr 19, 2010

Packed on the Pounds After Weaning Your Wee One?

Celebrities love to attribute their rapid postpartum weight loss to nursing their newborn babies.

by babysugar

Celebrities love to attribute their rapid postpartum weight loss to nursing their newborn babies. Heidi Klum, Naomi Watts, Jessica Alba, Tori Spelling, and Rebecca Romijn all credit their quick bounce backs to nourishing their lil ones with mother's milk. Others, like Salma Hayek say that the act of breastfeeding did little to help in returning to the pre-baby physiques.

Doctors recommend that breastfeeding mamas eat an extra 400 calories a day to help maintain their milk supply. Following nine months of pregnancy and several months of nursing, it can be difficult for women to cut back to a regular diet, leading many moms to gain weight once they wean their tots.

Did you gain weight when you finished breastfeeding?

Nursing Jan 09, 2010

Five Tips For Relieving Pain While Weaning

While breast may be best, at some point it must end.

by POPSUGAR Moms

While breast may be best, at some point it must end. For a majority of LilSugar readers that time came after a year of breastfeeding. While some babies make the decision to wean on their own, 58 percent of LilSugar readers made the decision to switch over to a bottle or cup. For some mamas the decision is based on their return to work, while others use a specific birthday or upcoming vacation as a target date for weaning. As hard as a nursing mother works to keep up her supply, she must also plan to decrease production in order to prevent clogged ducts, mastitis and other breast pain. When cutting down on nursing or pumping sessions, check out these tips to ease the pain.

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Poll Dec 17, 2009

Whose Decision Was Weaning?

Weaning can be tough on mama or baby, or both — depending on who is initiating the process.

by POPSUGAR Moms

Weaning can be tough on mama or baby, or both — depending on who is initiating the process. Some nursing moms pinpoint a time when they will try and cut their tot off, while some children call it quits with the boob on their own as they start eating more "real" food. The majority of LilSugar readers nursed their baby for at least a year, but whose decision was it to wean when you eventually stopped: yours or your child's?