CLW but I'm giving up the pump (at 2 years)

[zoe77]

My son is going to turn 2 this August. I am letting him self wean but I will be weaning off the pump for his 2nd birthday (I currently pump twice, and will pump once a day in July, in preparation for no more pumping come August). My question is, how much milk does he need during the day if he will still be nursing in the AM, PM, and multiple times through the night? He still takes a bottle to fall asleep for his nap, so I'm thinking just that amount is fine as long as he's still nursing with me and getting a variety of foods. I know this is probably very different depending on the child, but I'd still love to hear others experiences and opinions.

If this is the wrong forum for this question, please feel free to move.

Thanks!!

[CrunchyChristianMama]

Do you mean how much non-mama milk will he need throughout the day?

With nursing that much I wouldn't worry too much about him getting much of any other kind of milk.

You will get lots of varieties of opinions because there are such a range of ideas on MDC on what constitutes good nutrition. Personally, coming from more of a TF background, I just make sure that my daughter gets at least some good dairy every day. Sometimes that's a glass of milk, yogurt, cheese, etc. I never worry too much about a certain number of ounces or anything like that though. It also took a little while for my DD to take to drinking milk at all, probably because it tasted so different than my milk and was much colder!

[zoe77]

Yes, I mean non-mama milk I also try to stay close to TF diets and he would be getting raw cow's milk. And he's only had cow's milk once when my SIL gave him some without my knowledge. I think he had a few sips before I realized what she did and got it away from him ASAP. I guess I'm mostly worried that he's going to be asking for milk and his daycare provider will want something to give him. I'm thinking of starting with just providing enough for him to have a pre-nap bottle. We'll see if he even goes for it . . .

Thanks so much for your response!!

[Gena 22]

This is exactly what I did at 26 months! Gave up pumping twice at work every day. My girls are not cow milk drinkers, but I didn't worry about it because they eat plenty of cheese and yogurt.

Good luck!

[durafemina]

I've *just* stopped pumping for ds now - he's 16 months and I work 32 hours a week (rotating shifts, so sometimes overnight). He happily drinks water and eats food during the day, but at bedtime/middle of the night wants milk. He's quite happy to drink raw (jersey) cow's milk that I add a drop of raw honey to. In fact, the other day when my supply was temporarily low, he insisted on some cow milk after an unsatisfactory breastfeed! When I work an 8 hour shift he usually has 1 or 2 "cups" (probably equalling one standard cup) of milk. When I'm not working he's an enthusiastic breastfeeder!

[zoe77]

Hi!  My son is now 27 months old.  He drinks lots of raw cow's milk during the day and nurses in the AM and PM on weekdays and pretty much whenever he wants on the weekends.  We just recently (like last week) night weaned.  He took the cow's milk at daycare very well.  But whenever he's with me it's mama-milk :)

What a great idea to add a bit of honey to the cow's milk, probably makes it taste more like breastmilk :)  I'm going to remember that if I ever have a friend that is having trouble transitioning to cow's milk (in an older child of course).

So I guess we aren't doing 100% CLW (since I encouraged night-weaning) but he is welcome to nurse during the day for as long as he wants :)