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Eric was approaching 11 months mark and I was still breastfeeding. To tell you the truth I never liked it and only did it because it was good for the baby. So once the level of “mom hormones” in my blood started to decline, breastfeeding became even less enjoyable.

Having finally introduced solids at the age of 8 months, by 10 months Eric started to drink mainly formula. I gradually decreased the number of breastfeeds from 3 a day at 8 months to 2 a day at 9 months and then to 1 night feed at 10 months. The breastfeeds were replaced by solid feeds or formula feeds. The tricky thing was to keep Eric hydrated before he started to accept formula milk as a drink, because he didn’t like water either.
Still, babies need to drink 500 – 600ml of breast milk or formula a day and Eric clearly wasn’t getting as much so I tried to give him more soup. To get him to like the formula I was adding it to his morning oatmeal or serial.

I was afraid he wouldn’t give up on his night feed without a fight and approached weaning carefully. First we had a change of routine: after the evening bath instead of settling Eric for the night I would take him to the kitchen and give him a glass of formula milk. That would fill him up and make him even sleepier, and when I would take him to bed he was less likely to make a fuss about not having the breastfeed. If he would insist, I’d feed him, but I didn’t offer it to begin with. This way after a month on the new routine he forgot all about the breast milk and was happy with formula.

This rule “Don’t deny – and don’t offer” worked wonders for me. Eric and I found other ways to feel close, and I don’t have to breastfeed him to comfort him – a hug and a smile are enough!