Transitioning to Cow/Soy Milk?

[bella99]

First I want to say that I am not weaning my daughter, at least not completely. But it will be impossible, very shortly, for the majority of her nutrition to come from breastmilk.

My daughter is 11 months old. I have been working full time since she was 3 months old. During that time, when I have been at work, I have nursed her on my lunch, and pumped several times a day. At one point, I had over 200 oz frozen in my freezer. I know have about 50 oz in my freezer and that supply is dropping...fast. My milk supply overall has dropped in the last month and I feel as if I am barely keeping ahead of her. I tried More Milk Plus but something in the pills disagreed with her and there was a lot of spit up while I was taking them, so we stopped them. When I am home with her, 3 days a week, her daytime nursings are often a battle, and several times we have had a full on tantrum because she didn't want to be bothered with eating. She was an early walker and is *very* active.

I plan on continuing to pump as I am until her birthday or just after in November. But I do plan to stop sometime in November. I will continue to nurse her in the mornings and at night.

So this long winded explanation is to ask for advice on what to replace the breastmilk that she would normally have gotten during the day with? Cow's milk, sow milk, rice milk? I'm at a loss.

Any help would be appreciated.

[haydn'smommy]

My oldest wouldn't drink cow's milk at 13 mos when daycare tried and now at 31mos he still doesn't like it much. He would drink vanilla soy milk. Maybe something about the sweet taste? I mixed mostly breastmilk with a little soy at first and just increased the soy/decreased the breastmilk over a few days and he didn't seem to mind. Now he drinks vanilla hemp, almond, rice, or soy milk, depending on what's on sale. But he's still not a huge milk drinker with any kind of milk.

[Baby_Cakes]

My DD (12 months) still gets some expressed breastmilk during the day when she is with her DCP, but also gets a sippy with soy milk or water. As long as you're still nursing when you're together 3-4 times a day (per Kellymom) your LO is getting "enough" milk.

"There is no need for additional milk or (or the equivalent nutrients from other foods) as long as your baby is nursing 3-4 times per day. Cow's milk is really just a convenient source of calcium, protein, fats, vitamin D, etc. - it's not required. There are many people in many parts of the world who do not drink milk and still manage to get all the calcium, protein, fats, vitamin D, etc. that they need. " (kellymom)

I personally offer the water or soymilk for hydration, along w/her other solids of course. She also gets fruit and veggies which helps.

I've also been back at work, though part time, since my DD was 3.5 months old and am so DONE with pumping. I'm going to keep it up for maybe a few more weeks. We are still nursing great together on weekends, nights, and days off, so I'm trying to let go of the worry and guilt. :-) HTH!