My Baby Isn't Even One...Is He Weaning?

A few weeks ago, a tragic thing happened in our house - I thought my 11 months old was weaning!

"Mom!  I like breastfeeding WAY too much to wean now!"

As it is, my child has a crazy transfer rate and is really efficient at the breast (which I attribute, at least in part, to our late posterior tongue tie diagnosis and revision that you can read about here), so he was only nursing 3 or maybe 4 times in a 24-hour period as it was.  When he started refusing the breast at his afternoon feed and the feeding before bed, I started panicking.  I had hoped to nurse until L was at least two and I was distraught at the thought of not even making it to a year.

Thankfully, he started showing signs of teething (stuffy nose, swollen gums) the next day!  Now, I know you're thinking I'm a horrible mom for being excited that my child was stuffed up and swollen, but now I knew what the issue was.  This wasn't L weaning, this was teething and maybe a bit of a nursing strike.

So how do you tell the difference between a nursing strike and/or teething and self-weaning?  And what do you do if it is a nursing strike and/or teething to ensure your successful breastfeeding relationship continues? 

What you need to know:

1. Babies rarely self wean before 18 months.  Babies self wean when both their nutritional and emotional needs no longer need nursing to be fulfilled.  This means that your baby is primiarily getting their nutrition from solids/table food.  If that is NOT the case, do not assume your little one is trying to wean.

2. Self weaning is a gradual process.  If, all of the sudden, your baby decides, like mine did, to stop nursing, they probably aren't weaning and there is likely something else going on.  This was why I was so "excited, " or maybe relieved when L developed the sniffles and I noticed some other indicators of teething.

Tips for pushing through a nursing strike:

1. Pump to maintain supply and reduce risks of mastitis/blocked ducts.  This is probably the most important (and often time consuming) tip. Even though your baby is taking a few days away from the breast, they will be back!  You want to make sure your maintain your supply.  Also, mastitis and blocked ducts really stink!  Pumping is the best way to avoid them.  Try and pump around the times your LO would typically nurse.  If your little one has no discernible pattern, pump when you start to feel full. 

2. Offer the breast...a lot.  Keep offering and eventually your baby will probably take it and begin nursing like they used to.  It never hurts to offer the breast, just don't get discouraged if your baby still won't take it.  In that case...

3. Use bottles/sippy's as needed.  Most likely breast milk is still your baby's primary source of nutrition and you need to make sure they are getting all of the food they need.  It may seem counterproductive to offer bottles, but unless you see a major bottle preference in the weeks leading up to the strike, you should be okay using bottles or sippy's as needed (just make sure you pump afterward!).

4. Try early morning or middle of the night feedings.  Your little one may still be a little sleepy or (if they've slept through the night) really hungry.  Those feedings are great times to get them back to the breast.


5. Go back to skin to skin.  Even if your baby is older a little skin-to-skin cuddling can't hurt.  There is just something about being close to mom and skin-on-skin that may coax your little one back to nursing.


6. Try different positions/locations.  As babies get older and start developing new skills your tried and true cross cradle or football holds may no longer work.  Sitting L up right next to me really helped during our strike.  A quiet, dark room will help block out the distractions.  Or maybe they just want to try something new, like crawling up to you and helping themselves to milkies!




No matter what, if you don't think your child meets the criteria for weaning and you want to keep nursing, keep at it.  They will, most likely, be back to the breast in a few days.

Have you experienced some sort of nursing strike?  What are some tips you would offer other moms going through the same thing?  Share your advice in the comments below.

"Pumping It Up!" while pumping and breastfeeding

Please welcome guest poster Amy to Adventures in Breastfeeding! We know it can be difficult to get in shape when you have a hungry baby to feed, but Amy has tips and motivation to help you reach your goals!

Yes! You can do intense workouts and get back to your pre-pregnancy weight while breastfeeding!  I’ve debunked that myth.  As a group fitness instructor and mom of a 9 ½ month old baby girl, fitness and nutrition are a major part of my lifestyle.  Like many moms, I was eager to shed the pregnancy weight once I had my baby.  I gained about 40 lbs, and lost a lot of muscle tone.  Prior to getting pregnant, I was in the best physical shape of my life.  Having a baby and getting back into shape has truly been humbling.

Be realistic.  I certainly couldn’t pick up from where I left off with my extreme workouts and competitive running once the baby was born.  So, I walked.  My belly bounced and I was easily winded.  During those boring walks, my mind wandered.  I envisioned myself running strong again, and even coming back faster.  It became my motivation. 

Find your comfort zone, then get out of it.  Eventually, I began incorporating some jogging with my walking.  I started working out in my home gym.  It was tough.  My belly would touch the ground when I did push-ups.  I was easily winded.  However, I never gave up. 

Be patient with weight loss.  I was working out every day.  My strength and endurance was improving.  However, the scale wasn’t budging.  I became frustrated.  As a fitness instructor, I’ve helped people lose hundreds of pounds, but couldn’t lose the weight myself.  I started to resent people who said that the weight would come off easily because I was breastfeeding.  Typically, those people have a commonality: They either don’t have kids, or have never breastfed. With very little sleep and a massive appetite from breast feeding, I thought I was doomed to never lose the pregnancy weight.

1st place in a 5K after having Ava!

No gimmicks.  I did gradually start losing weight, because I was doing it the healthy way with proper diet and exercise.  I never deprive myself of food.  I eat when I’m hungry, but make wise choices.  I think of food as fuel for my workouts, but most importantly as giving the best nutrition to my baby.  No crazy diets.  No fad supplements.  No trendy workouts where I could easily get injured.  It took about 7 months, but I finally felt comfortable in my pre-pregnancy clothes. 

Make the time. Fitness should be part of your daily routine, not a chore.  If getting in shape is a priority, you’ll find the time.  Get off Facebook.  Quit Candy Crush.  Stop baking cookies and knitting scarves.  Depending on my workout, I wake up every day between 4:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m.  I pump my milk and deposit it to my freezer stash.  I either run or do a workout in my home gym before my baby wakes up at 7:30 a.m.  I really enjoy my workouts and look forward to them.  If you find the workouts you love, you’ll stick to them. 

Drink even more water.  As breastfeeding moms, we already drink an abundant amount of water to maintain our supply.  Well, if you’re exercising, you’ll need to drink even more.  I am pretty much glued to my water bottle all day.  I also drink a lot of coconut water as a natural energy drink.  It’s loaded with electrolytes. 

I did it! Ultimately, the vision and determination of coming back stronger and faster became a reality.  Since having my baby in March and breastfeeding strong, I’ve run six 5K races.  I’ve placed 1^st in my division in every race, and beat my personal best time twice.  I am also looking forward to teaching Body Pump again, a fitness class with weights, beginning January 14^th.  My passion for helping others accomplish their fitness goals is stronger than ever now.  None of this was easy to accomplish.  I am still trying to figure out balance in my life with baby.  My next big challenge to overcome is finding the time to style my hair and put on makeup, which seems almost impossible most days.  Ultimately, it’s all about priorities and perspective.  My workouts give me time to myself.  Sometimes it’s the only time I have for myself the entire day, so I look forward to it.

Do you have health and fitness goals this year? Share your hopes and successes!

Amy Drazen lives in Orlando, Florida with her husband and daughter, Ava. She is an accomplished runner and has won various awards in racing. Amy is a certified Les Mills International Group Fitness Instructor in Body Pump and Body Combat. She enjoys healthy cooking and nutrition.





If you want to submit a guest post to Adventures in Breastfeeding please fill out this form. We would love to hear your story and share it with our readers! Don't forget if you have any breastfeeding questions, comments or fun pictures to share feel free to post on our Facebook wall or message us on Facebook!

Wouldn't You Like to Know!

We all get those questions.

Yep. You know what I'm talking about. 

The overly nosy but somehow "well-meaning" questions from friends, family, or even strangers. 

I've gotten quite a few of them in the last few weeks and here is how I replied (or would reply if my jaw wasn't on the floor!)

1. "When are you going to wean her?"

   - "When she is ready."

I just don't understand why people are so worried about how long MY daughter will be nursing. One individual even told me it was weird that she was still nursing at 10 months. 

2. "Doesn't she have teeth by now?" ( insert look of sheer horror)

   - "Yes, she actually has 8 teeth now. And my nipples are fine. Thanks."

She has bitten me a couple times. It hurt. But I survived and so did our nursing relationship. I guess I was just too stubborn to let some pain get in the way of my goals and my daughter's health!

3. "Don't you want your body back?" 

   - "I'm fine thanks!"

This one actually shocked me. I've never felt like my body wasn't my own. I've never felt the tiniest bit of resentment towards L for nursing. I love my time with her and nursing is just part of that. 

I'm sure I could keep going. Some of the questions made me laugh out loud because I just didn't understand how someone could think that it was appropriate to ask me about my BOOBS!! Other questions are just getting old. Maybe one day I will come up with a great one-liner. 

What are some ridiculous questions you've been asked about your nursing relationship?

Pumping Counts Too: A Working Mom's Story

We're so excited to have our very first guest poster on Adventures in Breastfeeding! Please give her a warm welcome as she shares her breastfeeding journey. 

Before Ellie was born, I knew I wanted to breastfeed. I’d read gobs of books (just doing what any good librarian would do) that taught me how to correctly position my new bundle of joy and felt as prepared as I could be to make it work. This was despite the fact that no one I was close to knew anything about breastfeeding - my mother and mother-in-law included.

Disclaimer #1: For something that is as natural as natural can be, breastfeeding sure the heck was hard in the beginning.

What the books didn’t do a good job preparing me for were tips on working with flat nipples (thank the Lord for nipple shields which got us through the first 4 months!) and how in the world to go about preparing to go back to work.

Disclaimer #2: This is my story. My story below is what has worked for Ellie and I. Use your mommy instinct to determine what will work best for you.

I went back to work at 6 weeks. While I’m thankful for those precious 6 weeks that I had, it was certainly early to have to introduce a bottle when breastfeeding still felt very awkward for us. But, you do what you have to do! 3 weeks prior to going back to work I started “building my freezer supply.” I had talked extensively with my sister-in-law (a working mom herself and one who had mastered the art of pumping at work long-term) who recommended pumping about an hour after the morning feeding and an hour after the night feeding. I had a slight oversupply, so I was able to put away quite a bit in that first week.

Disclaimer #3: I really didn’t know what the freezer stash was for, but it seemed everyone did it so I figured I would too. In hindsight I haven’t needed the freezer stash except for the very first day back to work. It sure helped knowing I had “backup” available, but I didn’t really need it to the extent that I initially thought.

2 weeks prior to returning to work, I introduced the bottle to Ellie. I pumped her afternoon bottle before she ate it and fed that freshly pumped miracle milk to her. In order to figure out just how much milk needed to be placed in the bottle, Kellymom’s very handy expressed milk calculator was extremely helpful. You punch in how often your baby is eating and you get back an average number of ounces. Pretty cool! I did the once-a-day bottle for the entire 2 weeks prior to starting back to work and also kept up with pumping 1 hour after the morning and evening feedings.

Disclaimer #4: All the literature says to let someone else feed the bottles to avoid issues with confusion, but I didn’t have that luxury since I was home alone with Ellie. Thankfully all went well and by the time I went back to work she was fully on board with taking a bottle.

Once I returned to work, I needed to establish a good routine for pumping. At the time, Ellie was eating 3 times during the hours that I would be away. That first day back, I thawed enough from my freezer for 4 bottles (just in case an extra would be needed). At work, I made sure to pump 3 different times (mid-morning, lunch, and afternoon for 15-20 minutes each). What I pumped that day I gave in bottles the next day and any extra were frozen with the rest of my bulk.

As time went on, Ellie began to expand the amount of time in between her feedings. On weekends I solely nursed and stopped pumping those extra sessions. During the week though, I continued pumping 3 separate times even though she was technically only eating twice while I was away. A good 2 weeks of this and my body was out of whack trying to figure out the foremilk/hindmilk balance. Because I was doing something different on the weekend than during the week, that was apparently enough to confuse my body (live and learn right?). I promptly stopped the extra pump at work, and within a few weeks, the green poops were gone and my supply was regulating.

I can now happily say that at 9 months, Ellie is still exclusively fed with breastmilk and I’m down to pumping once a day on my lunch break (and have been able to keep my supply up just fine).

Disclaimer #5: Literature is right and will tell you that demand (whether nursing or pumping) will signal more milk to be made. For some, dropping pumps may not be the right thing to do. For us, my mantra became pump when baby eats which has continued to work to regulate my oversupply. I also have a baby who makes it known when she’s hungry, who will. not. eat. when she’s not hungry, and who has put herself naturally on her current schedule of eating 4 times a day with one of those 4 times being a 6.25 ounce bottle while I’m away at work. Many will disagree with how I’ve done things, but at the end of the day you do what works and seems most appropriate for the situation.

Pumping totally counts! It’s hard work, certainly isn’t as fun or rewarding as straight out nursing, but the benefits are worth it. Keep calm and pump on!

What has your experience with pumping been like?

Rebecca is Wife to Adam, Mom to Ellie, and an Academic Librarian living in small-town Indiana. Her love of reading, writing, and crafting has sparked several blog attempts - most recently Humbled Ramblings of a Working Mom. You can find her here: http://humbledramblings.wordpress.com

If you want to submit a guest post to Adventures in Breastfeeding please fill out this form. We would love to hear your story and share it with our readers! Don't forget if you have any breastfeeding questions, comments or fun pictures to share feel free to post on our Facebook wall or message us on Facebook! 

Know Your Rights: Pumping in the Workplace

If you're anything like me, as soon as you thought you had this breastfeeding thing in the bag, it was time to go back to work and a whole new set of challenges presented themselves. You've made the obligatory call to the boss to let them know you're returning as planned and reminded them that you are going to pump for your baby to provide the best nutrition you can for as long as you can but at least the six months recommended by the AAP and hopefully until your little's first birthday. "Absolutely. No problem!" she says then hangs up the phone. Relief.

The boss isn't the only one on your side. So is the law. 

The Department of Labor, in the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) states that for any company with 50 plus employees: 

Employers are required to provide “reasonable break time for an employee to express breast milk for her nursing child for 1 year after the child’s birth each time such employee has need to express the milk.”

Employers are also required to provide “a place, other than a bathroom, that is shielded from view and free from intrusion from coworkers and the public, which may be used by an employee to express breast milk.”

What does this mean for you? You are protected.

Even if you don't feel like it sometimes, there is a federal law backing up your requests to go pump when you feel that you need to, when your little one usually eats, when you feel full.

The law also outlines where you should be pumping at work. Private space. Not a bathroom. Ideally a locked door but somewhere that a person can't just barge in on you.

In addition to the federal protection, twenty four states have laws protecting pumping mothers as well. All of the information on state laws regarding pumping and breastfeeding in public can be found here. 

I get that the law is on my side but what else do I have to back me up?

You can be like yours truly and walk around work saying things like, "This is a violation of pumping laws and the mother friendly worksite!" or you can have a smidge more tact. I suggest a combination of both, personally. There are actually benefits of breastfeeding to your employer. That's right. Make it about their productivity and the big-wigs may be more inclined to give you the breaks you are entitled to.

Mastitis, or as I like to call it, boob flu, can knock you out of working order for a week. Mastitis can be caused by plugged ducts which can be caused by -wait for it- not emptying the breasts frequently. It would be super unfortunate for you to miss work to nurse a bad case of mastitis that could have been avoided had your coworker just covered for you for 20 minutes so you could pump instead of complaining for 10....I digress...The bottom line is that it is a health issue for you to have regular access to a place and time to express milk.

Breastfed babies tend to get sick less so by giving a breastfeeding mother pumping breaks, an employer is essentially cutting back on sick days mom would have to take to get a sick little to the pediatrician for an ear infection, respiratory infection or other illness. Breast milk, unlike formula, is packed full of antibodies so as mom is getting over that nasty seasonal gunk going around, baby is gobbling up all sorts of defenses against it through mama's milk. Less sick days for baby = less sick days for mama = a happier and more productive employer.

I'm afraid to speak up because I'm afraid they'll treat me differently or retaliate in some way.

Guess what? The law protects against that, too! It is a violation of the FLSA for anyone to retaliate in any way against a mother who has lodged a complaint regarding violation of federal pumping laws.

Here's some great resources for the federal and state pumping and breastfeeding laws:

• Break Time For Nursing Mothers
• Breastfeeding State Laws
• File A Complaint

Don't be afraid to step up, mamas. Know your rights. Keep calm and nurse on. Til next time...