weaning questions

I am currently EP for my twins who are 10.5 months/8.5 adjusted.  I'm not weaning yet but I'm starting to think about it and I have a bunch of questions:
 
1) When did you wean for preemies?  I had been planning on nursing until 1 year old and then starting to wean but is that 1 year actual or 1 year adjusted?
 
2) Do you reduce their volume of milk when you switch over to cow milk?  If so, how?
 
3) For kids with a dairy/soy protein intolerance, did you try going to cow milk to see if they'd outgrown it?  Is it okay to go to goat milk if they haven't?
 
4) How does weaning work with EP?  I figure for nursing babies they just start nursing less and you adjust, but I don't know how I am supposed to guess at how much milk I'd need to pump.  Do you just start spacing out your pump sessions?
 
Thanks!

 

I think whether you stop at 1 year actual or adjusted is totally up to you.

They will naturally adjust their volume as they eat more solids - follow their lead.

I don't know much about allergies. I'd be inclined to check with their doc first.

From Kellymom: http://kellymom.com/bf/pumpingmoms/pumping/weaning-from-pump/

Hope that helps!

 

1) When did you wean for preemies?  I had been planning on nursing until 1 year old and then starting to wean but is that 1 year actual or 1 year adjusted?
They started weaning themselves once solid foods started.  At one year my guys were nursing 3 times a day, I started gving them milk with there meals....by 15 months they were done.  My guys were born at 35-1/2 weeks.
 
2) Do you reduce their volume of milk when you switch over to cow milk?  If so, how?
Not volume, but 7 feedings..... to 5 feedings..... to 3 feedings... to 1 feeding.  It happened naturally as they ate 3 meals of table food and 2 snacks.  At 12 months I just started offering a few onces of cows milk in a sippy cup at each meal.  Or orange jucie with calcuim at breakfast...or yogurt or cheese with meals.  My ped told me that cows milk was not needed as long as they got the calcuim from other sources.
 
3) For kids with a dairy/soy protein intolerance, did you try going to cow milk to see if they'd outgrown it?  Is it okay to go to goat milk if they haven't?
I did not have issues with intolerance....but they did not and still do not love milk (neither do I)...they just get their calcuim from other sources.
 
4) How does weaning work with EP?  I figure for nursing babies they just start nursing less and you adjust, but I don't know how I am supposed to guess at how much milk I'd need to pump.  Do you just start spacing out your pump sessions?
I simple spaced my pumpings from every 3 hours, to 5 hours, to twice a day.  I ended up with extra milk in my freezer that they never drank.
 
I hope this helps.
Mishelle

 

Thanks!  We are in the middle of the weaning process and I'm hitting another road bump.  We've got them down to two bottles per day but they don't drink as much from cups as they did from bottles.  We're putting breastmilk in one of their cups because I am still pumping 4x/day so I'm making more than they're drinking right now, but their other cup is cow milk.  (Thankfully they outgrew their intolerance!)
 
So my question is how to go from 4 pumping sessions to 3 without a lot of discomfort.  Right now I pump at 5:30am, 9:30am, 2:30pm, and 8:00pm.  I want to keep the 5:30am and 8:00pm where they are.  I'm kind of afraid of trying to go a really long time during the day while I'm at work though.  I'm wondering if I should drop to one pump during the day at noonish or if I should just reduce the amount of time of my two sessions until they evaporate.

 

I'd be inclined to pick one of the daytime sessions and pump for maybe 2-5 minutes less than your current routine. Decrease the amount of time pumping every 3-4 days until you're under 5 minutes then stop that session. Wait 3-4 days and start on the other day time session. If you are having pain or start dealing with plugged ducts, go even slower. If things are going well, you can try speeding the process up a bit.