How to stop breastfeeding and benefit your breasts

When the baby grows to a certain size, he needs to be weaned. Correct weaning and post-weaning care are beneficial to the recovery of the breasts. Of course, weaning is not as simple as stopping the baby from breastfeeding. The breasts will still secrete a small amount of milk for several weeks or months after weaning. This is a normal phenomenon. Paying attention to all details of weaning will help breast recovery. So, how to stop breastfeeding and benefit your breasts? Let’s take a look at the weaning method below.

1. Understand the best time to wean

There is a recent saying that breast milk has no nutritional value after 6 months. It must be emphasized that this statement is unscientific. Breast milk after 6 months is still nutritious. The World Health Organization and the Ministry of Health of the People's Republic of China both recommend breastfeeding until 2 years old or older. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends breastfeeding until at least 1 year old. After 1 year old, the baby can be breastfed as long as the mother and child wish, so as long as conditions permit, mothers can breastfeed with confidence.

2. Gradual and natural weaning

Natural weaning is advocated nowadays, which means gradual and scientific weaning, rather than stopping the baby from drinking breast milk immediately after the weaning is announced. The child should be given time to adapt.

3. Choose a suitable season for weaning

It is better to wean your baby in a season that is neither too cold nor too hot than in the hot summer. But here I would like to remind all the girls: Although spring and autumn are the best seasons for weaning, we should try to avoid it when the seasons just change, because the weather is changeable at this time, and it is the time when babies are more likely to get sick.

4. Communicate with your baby before weaning

When weaning, mothers should communicate with their babies in advance, for example, she can say something like this to them: "Mom loves you very much, but you have grown up, and the milk elf is about to fly away to find a newborn baby. Be prepared to not drink milk!" Let them know that their mother doesn't abandon them and they don't have to feel abandoned.

5. Get your baby used to other foods early

Before weaning your baby, it is best to let the baby accept complementary food or milk powder, so that he (she) knows that there are many other things to eat besides breast milk (because of individual differences among babies, some are weaned earlier and some are weaned later, so other foods should be added according to the baby's actual situation).

6. Mothers should pay attention to protecting their breasts

When weaning, we should not only focus on what the children should pay attention to, but also take care of ourselves and pay attention to breast cleanliness. According to the amount of milk we have, we should make adequate preparations for "weaning" and observe the condition of our breasts in time to prevent mastitis due to milk engorgement.