(hmm its really bad that I have to preface that. ) Why did you wean your children at whatever age you chose. Most moms I know are doing it at about 6 months. I dont get it...
Why do I ask? Typically most cultures weaned around 4, sometimes as long as 8 years old.
Not so serious questions.
Why do we wean our children of human milk and then put them on the milk, of another animal? Does any other animal do that?
Have you seen the recent, and not so recent material about homogenized milk and arterial sclerosis, (sp?) diabetes and early sexual maturity, and cancer ?
that being said....I have chocolate cake (white flour and sugar),to wash down.....pass the milk, please.
I was young with no support from x-H, family etc... when I weaned the first one so it was at six months. My second was 20months and my third was 18 months. At around twoish kids are starting to really explore their environment, are eating solids well and there is a natural window for weaning. My babies were ready to move on. Mom is often ready to have her body to herself again too. If you go past two then Mom making the decision to wean gets much harder as baby becomes MUCH more resistent. Then you move on to child led weaning which typically goes on until three, four or five depending on the child. This is my personal view of things and has worked well for my kids. I have been lucky not to have any with milk allergies although to your point cow's milk is for cows and human milk is for humans. It is no surprise that some people have trouble with it.
For me...that's really a fairly easy question to answer, I had difficulty producing enough milk for my son. I've learned in hind-sight that there were a few things I should have done differently as far as the equipment I used to express/store milk for my son....but that's pretty much it. I simply had difficulty. Had I been able to, I would have continued to breast feed him probably until around 1yr.
I weaned him off of formula though shortly around 1-year anyway...around the time he started showing an interest in foods. At 2.5 my son will now eat almost anything I put in front of him (looooves chinese food!) and would much prefer fruit, yogurt or cheese...and oh yeah, green beans over any candy out there. :-) Fortunately my little guy has no allergies for me to deal with either.
As Karen said though....my son kind of told me when he was ready to move on so-to-speak. I've known some women to go much longer than others, but for me....I just went with what felt right.
blackfoot, I'm well aware of all the info you posted.
My situation is that I don't produce much milk. This is one of those things that people say who really didn't want to breastfeed in the first place (lass, this is not directed at you), but in my case it's true. I did *everything* you can possibly think of to increase my milk supply and nothing worked. I was determined (and you know how I get when I'm determined) to do it anyway so I made the decision that I'd rather have skinny babies who are breastfed than chubby babies who are formula fed--all other things being equal. (they are developing properly, meeting milestones, etc) So my first daughter was a tiny thing. She was also somewhat fussy until she started eating table food, which I later (duh!) figured out was because she was hungry.
So with my 2nd daughter I knew I had to do things differently and found a drug you can take to increase your milk supply. It is not FDA approved, for some really asinine reasons, and so I had to buy it overseas and have it shipped here. Extremely expensive but SO worth it. My baby had plenty of milk. She was only mildly skinny, lol. (both H and I are tall and lanky)
So, my concise (LOL) answer to your question is that for financial reasons I chose to wean at around a year and a half. The baby is plenty old enough to subsist on table foods and we just cannot afford, on one salary, to spend upwards of 50 dollars a month on the breastmilk pills.
I tried Fenugreek to increase my supply, didn't try any other pills, my Dr. didn't suggest any to me and I was hesitant to try something she didn't suggest....nothing much worked for me at all....you'll have to let me know what you used in case we do decide to have another.
I've come to the conclusion that my mistake was with the equipment I tried to use to express milk when not feeding. I, like you, tried everything I could...it can be really frustrating. I loved the time I was able to do that for Ian, nothing quite like that feeling
Fenugreek works like gangbusters for me. I used it whenever I would get a little stressed and find my supply low. My ex Mom in law always worried about whether I would have "enough milk" because I have small breasts. A double electric pump does wonders for helping increase the supply. I have used all the "tricks" at some point or other especially when I was having to pump at work. The biggest things are enough food, enough water and enough rest. I would sometimes just rest on my side on the couch and let baby nurse for an hour or so while watching a video with the other little ones - these little "nursing naps" were great to increase supply and get a little rest.
As you say, it can be very frustrating. Nursing a baby is a lovely and fulfilling experience but modern culture makes it tough. We don't have the extended family support that traditional cultures did, we return to work to soon, we are too isolated from other women etc...
Gel, I hope you do have a new little one to cuddle someday.
Honeypot, you are a great Mom and will figure out how to nourish babypot.
I'm just catching up on your thread, sorry to hear that your baby is reacting badly to cow's milk. Sounds like you have it all under control though.
I have to chime in with my 2c about breastfeeding. I had the opposite problem of you ladies - too much milk. I never knew what was going on when I was breastfeeding D5 - she would latch on, then pull off and scream her head off while the milk poured out, literally choking her. I thought that is how all women lactated! Sadly, she weaned around 6 months because I never got a handle on the problem. With S2, I was armed with research and a lactation consultant. She had me drinking 4 cups of sage tea a day, and it really helped to cut down my supply. My son nursed for a year.
BF, to answer your question, I weaned my son at 1 year mostly because he was terribly distracted at that age and it was a battle to nurse him during the day. He still wanted to nurse at night, but sadly my supply dwindled without enough stimulation at that point. He was, however, fine with cow's milk and was eating all table foods, so I just let nature take its course.
I get a little emotional talking about breastfeeding because it is supposed to be this 'natural' thing, but for so many women, it is anything but. Still, it was a wonderful experience, and I feel a little sad that my breastfeeding days are behind me, because we aren't planning any more babies.
I have absolutely no doubt that stress contributed to my problem....that and I had a manual pump that really didn't work for me. If I do have another I will get an electric pump...I've already decided that :-)
About our culture not really supporting breastfeeding moms I totally agree with you on that, especially in the workplace today. I'm fortunate in the aspect that I happen to be one of the few women here where I work with an office, so I could close my door and lock it to pump. Most women here though don't have that luxury and have to go off to the bathrooms....which in itself, is fine...but their bosses aren't always understanding about their need to be away from their desks to take care of what they need to.
I also completely agree with the fact that working women really aren't given enough leave when they have a baby....at least here in the US we aren't. I had a C-Section and had 12 weeks off....which really wasn't enough. Also, I had to use up all of my vacation/sick leave during that 12 weeks...in order to qualify for short-term leave....which meant I had no time to be able to take for whatever reason the rest of the year.
My own personal belief is that "maternity" leave should be a minimum of 6-mo, preferrably a year.
Fenugreek didn't do anything for me except make me smell like maple syrup.
Neither did brewer's yeast. Which made me smell like dog biscuits. LOL
Neither did switch nursing or any of the other techniques. I have a double electric Medela breastpump and it worked to get milk out but did not work in increasing my supply, oddly enough. Believe me, I am the first to be skeptical when people say they didn't make enough milk, but I really didn't. As soon as I stopped taking the pills, which are called Motilium or domperidone, GEL, my supply dried up. Despite the fact that BabyPot was still nursing every bit as much as she was before. They were literally a godsend for someone like me.
Julie, my sister had the same problem as you. Her babies were gassy and fussy at the breast because there was so dang much milk. Boy, motherhood aint easy that's for sure.
My other two did okay with milk. Ironically enough, this baby is chubby and doesn't resemble my other two kids at all in shape. And she's the one who's now going to get skinny because she won't drink anything but water, lol. I can't win.
I was an extremely small child so I never thought anything weird about my first daughter being so small. Just figured she took after me, who was only 29 pounds in the 2nd grade. When she started eating table food in earnest, and packing on the pounds and shedding some of her fussiness, I was devastated to think that I had played a part in it. Live and learn right.
Anyway, Lass, I bought the domperidone from an online Canadian pharmacy. No prescription necessary. Yes I realized the risks inherent in such a purchase but it was a risk I was willing to take. With the first baby, online pharmacies weren't really out there yet, so I had to order it from a company in New Zealand and try to finagle around the time zone change (night vs. day).
I forgot that I also tried some foul tasting tincture...I mean, it was hard to choke down. It was like making tea with a cow patty. It didn't work either.
Lass, I *love* my Medela breast pump. It was expensive but worth every penny. It was fast and efficient. I worked briefly after D6 was born and had to go pump in a closet. At least it locked, as you said! Hey I'll have one for sale soon, provided that I can bear to part with my baby stuff. H is raring to go, wanting to clear out space but I can't mentally get rid of it yet.
) 
