Breastfeeding Baby - Baby Led Weaning

Breastfeeding With Baby-Led Weaning or Child-Led Weaning

The term baby-led weaning and child-led weaning are interchangable, both meaning that a mother offers the breast until the baby, toddler or young child, no longer want to nurse indefinately. While this may seem like something that could easily turn into a decade of nursing most babies wean at 3 or 4 years of age. Weaning doesn't happen over night, and it may seem like it will be a hard process for you and your baby, however weaning is a natural thing and occurs when nature intends.

One may wonder how to practice child-led weaning. It is simple really, in the early days, weeks and months of a baby's life a mother nurses on demand, breastfeeding her baby when ever they ask for it. When a baby is given solid foods, likely for taste around 7-9 months and mini meals around 15 months, the weaning process has already begun. The baby begins to ask less and less to breastfeed out of hunger or thirst, on top of hunger a baby begins to find comfort in other things other than to suckle at their mother's breast. As your baby's nursing decreases so will your milk supply, in some situations your toddler may wean because you have become pregnant and your milk either changes to a taste that does not please them or drys up, they may wean but then return to the breast after the baby is born and your milk supply as returned.

Find more information on this topic in Breastfeeding During Pregnancy and Tandem Nursing will also offer more information for this situation. However in the event that weaning is not brought on by a pregnancy there are other things that naturally happen that cause your child to wean. A lot of the reason that a baby weans is not just about the amount of milk that they get when they nurse but about the indivisual that they are, their personallity will be a big factor that determines when they decide to wean.

Extended Breastfeeding is another good resource to offer information on nursing toddlers and young children. Try and not count down the days until your baby decides to wean from the breast, instead cheerish each and everyday that you have this wonderful bond with your child. It will happen naturally and happen when it needs to.