When to Wean Breast-Feeding?

It is a good practice for the mother to take the baby, especially the first born to the doctor three to five days after delivery.  This way the doctor can assess how breast feeding is going on and be able to answer any questions the mother has.  A doctor can easily tell whether the baby is having adequate feeds by checking the baby's weight gain.  The golden rule to determine if a baby is underfed or becoming weak day by day is to observe whether the baby is very hungry and prefers feeding every hour but still fails to gain weight.

 

It is equally important to know when exactly the baby should be weaned away from breast- feeding depends on the needs and desires of both the mother and the baby.  Exclusive breast-feeding for at least six months and breast -feeding with solid foods until 12 months are considered most advisable.

 

Gradual weaning over weeks or months is easier for both the mother and her baby than abrupt stopping of breast-feeding.  The general practice is to substitute one to three breast-feeding sessions with a bottle or a cup of fruit juice, expressed breast milk or a formula feed. It is wise to substitute breast feeds at meal-times with solids.

 

Learning to drink from a cup is an important developmental milestone and is usually attained when the child is 10 months old.  Mothers gradually replace more and more breast feedings although many infants continue one or two brest feeds daily till the age of 18-24 months.

 

In rural India almost all mothers indulge in prolonged breast feeds until the age of 3.  The opposite is the case with the higher strata of society spicially the educated group who switch over to bottle feeds when the baby is six months old.  It is difficult to pinpoint the reasons for early weaning in this group of mothers.  The possible reasons are :

1. Office- going mothers find it difficult to cope with the timings.
2. Some complain of inadequate production of milk.
3. Some mothers feel that bottle feeds are easier than the cumbersome breast-feeding sessions.

All said and done, each mother is different in her outlook and is unique in her thinking about breast-feeding a baby.

 

 

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Courtesy : Times of India , Women's life , October 17,2006