Reducing Feeds and Weaning: How to Stop Breastfeeding Gradually
- Reducing breastfeeds does not necessarily mean you need to stop breastfeeding completely.
- Gradually reducing one feed at a time can give both your breasts and your child time to adjust.
- Your child's age matters, because a breastfeed removed before 12 months may need an appropriate milk replacement.
- There is no single pace for weaning that suits every family.
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Reducing breastfeeds does not necessarily mean you need to stop breastfeeding completely. You can remove one or more feeds while continuing others for as long as that arrangement works for you and your child.
If you do want to stop breastfeeding completely, gradually reducing one feed at a time can give both your breasts and your child time to adjust. As less milk is removed, your milk production gradually decreases. Your child's age also matters, because a breastfeed removed before 12 months may need an appropriate milk replacement.
There is no single pace for weaning that suits every family. The process can be partial or complete, parent-led or child-led, and may take days, weeks or longer depending on your circumstances.
What Do Reducing Feeds and Weaning Mean?
Reducing feeds means intentionally breastfeeding less often while some breastfeeds continue.
For example, you might stop a daytime breastfeed but continue breastfeeding:
- In the morning
- After being reunited with your child
- At bedtime
- Overnight
Weaning is the broader process of progressively reducing breastfeeds until your baby or child no longer breastfeeds.
So:
while:
Do You Have to Stop Breastfeeding Completely?
No. Reducing breastfeeding does not have to lead to complete weaning.
Some parents are happy to continue one or two feeds each day while removing feeds that are less convenient or no longer working for their family.
How far you reduce breastfeeding is an individual decision. You can pause after removing one feed, maintain the remaining feeds or continue reducing them later.
If work is the reason you are considering dropping particular feeds, see Returning to Work While Breastfeeding.
When Might You Decide to Reduce Breastfeeds?
There is no single reason or age at which a parent needs to start weaning.
You might decide to reduce breastfeeds because:
- You feel ready to change the feeding routine
- Your child is naturally breastfeeding less often
- Work or childcare arrangements have changed
- Your family routine has changed
- You are pregnant and choose to change your breastfeeding routine
- Breastfeeding has become difficult
- You want to continue only selected feeds
- Personal or medical circumstances require a change
Weaning may be parent-led, where you initiate the reduction, or child-led, where your child gradually becomes less interested in breastfeeding.
Neither approach needs to be treated as better than the other, and many real-life weaning experiences may include elements of both.
Is Gradual Weaning Better Than Stopping Suddenly?
When you breastfeed or express less often:
Your child also has time to adjust to changes in feeding, comfort, settling and familiar routines.
Gradual reduction does not guarantee that there will be no discomfort or difficult moments, but it allows each change to be made separately rather than removing the whole breastfeeding routine at once.
Which Breastfeed Should You Drop First?
There is no breastfeed that every parent should remove first.
A practical starting point is usually a feed that feels relatively easy for both you and your child to let go.
This might be:
- A feed your child seems less interested in
- A feed that is inconvenient for you
- A feed that is relatively easy to replace with age-appropriate feeding, food, drink or another routine, depending on your child's age and nutritional needs
- A feed that is not strongly connected with sleep or comfort
Morning, bedtime and night feeds can be strongly connected with comfort and routine for some children, so they do not necessarily need to be the first feeds removed.
How Do You Reduce One Breastfeed?
A simple gradual approach is:
- Choose one feed to reduce.
- Change or remove that feed.
- Offer age-appropriate milk, food, drink or comfort if needed.
- Keep the other breastfeeds unchanged initially.
- Give your breasts and child time to adjust.
- Reassess before deciding whether you want to remove another feed.
Think of the process as:
You do not have to decide at the beginning that every breastfeed will eventually be removed.
How Long Should You Wait Before Dropping Another Feed?
Avoid treating weaning as a fixed timetable.
You may want to take longer if:
- Your breasts still feel very full
- Your child is finding the change difficult
- The next feed is strongly associated with comfort
- You want to retain breastfeeding for longer
- There is no practical reason to move faster
Use the response to each change to help guide the next one rather than trying to meet an exact deadline.
How Long Does Weaning Take?
There is no single amount of time that weaning should take.
Reducing only one or two breastfeeds may happen relatively quickly, while complete gradual weaning may take weeks or months.
The overall duration depends on factors such as:
- How many breastfeeds your child currently has
- Your child's age
- How strongly feeds are linked with comfort or sleep
- How your breasts respond to reduced milk removal
- Whether you are aiming for partial or complete weaning
- How quickly you want or need the transition to happen
The time between dropping individual feeds and the total time required to stop breastfeeding are therefore different questions.
How Does Your Child's Age Change Weaning?
Age is one of the most important factors when reducing breastfeeds, because what replaces a feed differs between a younger baby and an older child.
Weaning a baby under 12 months
If your baby is under 12 months, milk remains an important part of their diet.
Babies who are fully weaned from breastfeeding before 12 months will need breastfeeds replaced with infant formula or expressed breast milk. Cow's milk should not be used as the main drink before 12 months. If you are unsure what is right for your baby, speak with your health professional.
If you are only reducing some feeds, what needs to replace them depends on your baby's age, existing feeding pattern and how much breastfeeding continues.
For an individual replacement-feeding plan, especially for a baby, speak with your health professional.
Weaning after 12 months
After 12 months, the wider feeding context changes.
Your child may be eating family foods and drinking water and other age-appropriate drinks while some breastfeeding continues. For most healthy children, formula is not routinely needed after 12 months; individual feeding needs may differ.
This does not mean every breastfeed needs to be replaced with another milk drink.
The child's overall diet becomes the more important context.
Is Starting Solids the Same as Weaning?
No. In this article, weaning means reducing and eventually stopping breastfeeding. Introducing solid foods is a separate feeding transition.
So:
A baby can begin eating complementary foods while continuing to breastfeed afterwards.
What Happens to Your Milk Supply and Breasts When You Reduce Feeds?
As breastfeeding frequency decreases, milk removal decreases, and milk production generally declines in response. This is an expected part of intentional weaning.
When a regular breastfeed is removed, your breasts may initially continue producing milk according to the previous routine. You may notice:
- Fullness
- Tenderness
- Milk leakage
- Temporary discomfort
Gradual reduction gives your breasts more time to adjust.
If your breasts become uncomfortably full, you may express a small amount of milk for comfort. The purpose is to relieve uncomfortable fullness rather than continue removing the same amount of milk as before.
For information about hand expression or using a breast pump, see Expressing and Pumping Breast Milk.
How Can You Help Your Baby or Child Adjust?
Breastfeeding may provide more than milk.
For many children, particular breastfeeds are also connected with:
- Comfort
- Closeness
- Settling
- Sleep
- Reconnection after separation
- Familiar routines
Removing a breastfeed may therefore mean replacing the routine or comfort around the feed, not only replacing milk.
Depending on your child's age, you might try:
- Extra cuddles
- Reading together
- Playing or going outside
- An age-appropriate snack or drink
- A new bedtime routine
- Having another caregiver help with settling
- Offering one-to-one attention at the time the feed usually occurred
If one feed is particularly difficult to remove, you can leave it in place and reduce another feed first.
What About Breastfeeding to Sleep or Night Feeds?
Bedtime and night breastfeeds can be strongly associated with comfort and settling, so they may be among the more difficult feeds to change.
You do not have to remove them first.
If you decide to reduce a sleep-associated feed, a gradual change may involve:
- Changing part of the bedtime routine
- Adding a story or cuddle
- Having another caregiver help settle your child
- Gradually altering when breastfeeding happens within the routine
This is different from sleep training. There is no need to introduce a particular sleep-training method simply because you are reducing breastfeeding.
What If You Need to Stop Breastfeeding Quickly?
Sometimes gradual weaning is not possible.
If breastfeeding needs to stop quickly, your breasts may become fuller or more uncomfortable because milk production does not stop immediately when milk removal stops.
If you need to stop breastfeeding quickly seek individual advice from an appropriate health professional.
Small amounts of expression may sometimes be used for comfort while production decreases.
Can Weaning Affect How You Feel Emotionally?
Yes. Weaning can bring mixed emotions even when reducing breastfeeding is something you have chosen.
You might feel:
- Relief
- Pride
- Sadness
- Uncertainty
- A mixture of several emotions
Your emotional readiness and the physical process of weaning do not necessarily happen at exactly the same pace.
Giving yourself and your child time to adapt can be part of the transition.
Some people experience lower mood or other emotional changes during or after weaning. Hormonal changes may be one contributor. If unsure, speak with your health professional.
Do You Need to Wean When Returning to Work?
No. Returning to work does not automatically require weaning.
Some parents reduce particular daytime feeds while continuing breastfeeding at other times, while others express milk or use a combination of approaches.
See Returning to Work While Breastfeeding for detailed planning.
When Should You Seek Breastfeeding Support?
Consider individual support if:
- Your breasts remain very uncomfortable as feeds reduce
- You develop breast pain, redness, swelling or other concerning symptoms
- You need to stop breastfeeding quickly
- Your baby is under 12 months and you are unsure how to replace removed feeds
- Your child is having feeding difficulties
- You are unsure how quickly to reduce feeds
- Weaning is more emotionally difficult than you expected
- A situation is affecting whether breastfeeding can continue
- Depending on your circumstances, support may be available from a health professional
To learn more about how to care for your breasts read Breastfeeding Breast Care.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I drop one breastfeed and keep the others?+
Yes. Complete weaning does not need to be the goal. You can reduce one or several feeds while continuing the breastfeeds that still work for you and your child.
How long does it take for milk to stop after weaning?+
The timeframe varies. Milk production generally decreases as less milk is removed, and some people continue making small amounts of milk for a period after breastfeeding has stopped.
Can you start breastfeeding again after weaning?+
In some circumstances, restarting milk production may be possible. This is known as relactation and is a separate breastfeeding context that generally requires more specific guidance and support.
Does starting solids mean I should stop breastfeeding?+
No. Solid foods are introduced alongside breast milk or formula rather than automatically replacing breastfeeding.
Reducing Feeds and Weaning: Key Things to Remember
Reducing feeds and complete weaning are not the same thing. You can remove individual breastfeeds while continuing others, or gradually continue reducing feeds until breastfeeding stops.
Where possible, reducing one feed at a time gives your breasts and your child time to adjust. Less milk removal gradually reduces milk production, while your child may need time to adapt to changes in feeding, comfort and familiar routines.
Your child's age is particularly important. Before 12 months, removed breastfeeds may need appropriate breastmilk or infant-formula replacement, while after 12 months the wider food and drink pattern becomes increasingly relevant.
There is no single correct feed to remove first or universal timeline for weaning. Choose a pace that works for you and your child, and seek professional support if you need to stop quickly, your breasts become very uncomfortable or you are unsure about replacement feeding.
References
- Pregnancy, Birth and Baby: Weaning your baby or toddler from breastfeeding
- Pregnancy, Birth and Baby: Breastfeeding while pregnant and tandem feeding
- Pregnancy, Birth and Baby: Balancing introducing solids with milk feeds
- Australian Breastfeeding Association: Weaning
- Australian Breastfeeding Association: Stopping your milk supply (lactation suppression)
This article provides general breastfeeding information and does not replace individual assessment. For an individual replacement-feeding plan, especially for a baby under 12 months, speak with your health professional. Seek professional support if you need to stop breastfeeding quickly, your breasts become very uncomfortable or you are unsure about replacement feeding.
