Help, Weaning too early...

[Eric & Windy]

Hello,

My name is Windy and I read posts and the answers quite often, and they are
a great help. I now have a problem, my dd 12 months has basically completely
weaned herself. In a month we went from 5 feeds to 3 to 2, today I will be
lucky to get 1. She wants nothing to do with the breast and when I try to
feed her she bites, or actually scrapes the breast down to the nipple with
her teeth. I then put her down and she scrambles happily away. The only way
to get her to nurse, is wait for her to sleep and then wake her to feed. She
seems to eat if she is sleepy. She is eating solids well, but I was hoping
to feed well into her second year.

Is this normal? Do some babies just decide they have had enough? We went
through the first year with little in the way of problems. Any suggestions
are GREATLY appreciated.

Thanks so much,

we

[Mary W.]

Eric & Windy wrote:

> Hello,
>
> My name is Windy and I read posts and the answers quite often, and they are
> a great help. I now have a problem, my dd 12 months has basically completely
> weaned herself. In a month we went from 5 feeds to 3 to 2, today I will be
> lucky to get 1. She wants nothing to do with the breast and when I try to
> feed her she bites, or actually scrapes the breast down to the nipple with
> her teeth. I then put her down and she scrambles happily away. The only way
> to get her to nurse, is wait for her to sleep and then wake her to feed. She
> seems to eat if she is sleepy. She is eating solids well, but I was hoping
> to feed well into her second year.
>
> Is this normal? Do some babies just decide they have had enough? We went
> through the first year with little in the way of problems. Any suggestions
> are GREATLY appreciated.
>

DD did something similar, although she was 14-16 months at the time, and
were down to 3 nursings a day. It coincided with a cold. After about
3 days, I gave up offering, and pumped when I got uncomfortable. Shortly
after that she started asking to nurse again and ramped herself back to the
two times a day. She completely weaned at 26 months.

Some babies wean early, although 12 months seems a bit early (although
I think Cheryl S.'s daughter self-weaned at 13 months). I'd
keep offering - you could pump to keep your supply up if you'd like.
Offer when she's sleepy, but I probably wouldn't wake her up.

Good luck!
Mary