Weaning your baby is a normal part of the mother-child relationship. However, since every breastfeeding journey is unique, this transition from breast to bottle on the way to diversification is not always easy to experience. While kindness and gentleness are part of child-led natural weaning, it can sometimes still trigger a milk blues that is just as natural, but more abrupt. It's important to recognize this to know how to overcome it.
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
- Natural weaning, the ultimate softness
- The breast-to-bottle transition, a new adventure
- Recognizing breast engorgement
- Understanding milk blues if it appears
Natural weaning, the ultimate softness
Natural weaning is the process by which the child stops breastfeeding from their mother’s breast progressively and self-directed, without pressure or constraints. It's simply the baby who decides to breastfeed less, then to stop completely. This change can take several months or even several years, and happens at a unique pace for each mother-child duo.
Between 6 and 12 months, babies begin to show interest in solid foods, fruits, vegetables, and homemade baby food jars prepared by their mom. At the same time, they are still drinking milk and can continue to breastfeed for a long time. Generally, natural weaning is only referred to after the age of two. Child-led weaning can also occur much later, up to three or five years old. While this practice is still fairly rare in France, it’s especially beneficial for children's independence and confidence.
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💡 Natural weaning often occurs alongside other learning milestones Babies who start to space out breastfeeding sessions generally enter a new developmental phase, which parents notice. BLW, feeding independence, language, potty training, or movement—it’s not surprising if one or more of these happen at the same time. |
Signs that your baby is about to stop breastfeeding
Of course, you’re watching for any change in your child. Have you noticed any differences around food? If natural weaning is approaching or has started, your baby might:
- ask for the breast less frequently,
- skip a feeding, space them out, resume breastfeeding, then go a few days without,
- have fewer diaper changes, but with more solid stools,
- show interest in what’s on your plate during meals,
- want to hold their own bottle, sippy cup, or spoon.
All of these are clues that your baby is gradually losing interest in breastfeeding. However, rest assured, each child has their own pace. It’s completely normal for progress to be uneven and for your baby to need some time before stopping breastfeeding for good.
The breast-to-bottle transition, a whole new adventure
Baby may not want to breastfeed anymore, but still needs milk. At one year old, it’s estimated that about half a quart of milk (17 fl oz, 500 ml) per day is a good amount. So here comes the transition period between breast and bottle.
👉 Also read: Which formula for my baby?
To replace breastfeeding, a bottle, training cup, or sippy cup allows your child to drink breast milk, infant formula, or cow’s milk. But you must find the most suitable container—whichever your little one prefers to use.
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At Élhée, we recommend the training cup from 6 months, designed for water, but there’s nothing stopping you from putting milk in it. 🥛
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As for the glass or regular cup, it’s up to you to decide if your child is ready. Technically, we recommend choosing a model that is not too large, not too deep, and non-slip to help prevent spills.
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But the best solution is probably the bottle for breastfed babies. Sensory, similar to breastfeeding, soft, made of safe medical grade silicone, unbreakable, odorless and perfectly round, the BibROND Élhée has everything to please your baby.
| 🍼 3 tips to try to help your child transition to the bottle:
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Recognizing breast engorgement
Stopping breastfeeding, or letting natural weaning settle in, results in breastfeeding sessions gradually disappearing. And fewer breastfeeding sessions means milk may build up, which can lead to engorgement.
This common breastfeeding issue is not dangerous, but it can be painful and even develop into an infection. So, learning to recognize engorgement helps to anticipate, relieve yourself, and avoid unnecessary worry.
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Your breasts feel swollen, warm, sometimes painful, turn red, and you notice significant tingling. You might feel the same thing during let-downs or if your baby hasn’t nursed in a while.
Note: if your breast remains red or turns purple, if a hard lump or a fistula forms, if the skin feels stiff, or if you develop flu-like symptoms with or without a fever, there is risk of mastitis. In this case, if symptoms recur or pain lasts over 48 hours, consult your doctor or midwife for advice.
How can you ease early weaning engorgement?
To relieve engorgement, you need to empty and drain the breast so milk can flow. To do this, you can:
- stay hydrated by drinking plenty of mineral water,
- massage your breast while applying a warm compress to the nipple, which will help dilate the milk ducts,
- use a breast pump—gently; if milk isn’t coming out, try again later. For help with the breast-to-bottle transition, Élhée has developed adapter rings that let you use the BibROND with a manual breast pump. Try them!
If your baby is still breastfeeding and agrees, nurse more frequently for a few days, try different feeding positions, and check out biological nurturing (instinctive breastfeeding).
Managing natural weaning well as a mom
Emotionally intense, the weaning period—when child-led—is often the start of a new kind of mother-baby bond. To stay positive throughout what may be a lengthy process, learn about what to expect and feel free to experience it however you choose, together with your child.
And rest assured: your intuition, along with close observation of your baby’s cues (fewer feeds, sleeping longer, interest in eating solids…), will guide you as you find your new rhythm together.
If, however, seeing your child stop breastfeeding makes you sad or anxious, if you find it difficult to cope, talk about it with those around you. Open up to your partner, chat with your mom or friends who have been through this, and don’t hesitate to reach out to your doctor if needed. The Leche League or a lactation consultant can be a huge help here.
Finally, be as gentle with yourself as you are with your child. Take care of yourself, eat well, get enough sleep if possible, and give yourself all the self-love you may have missed since your baby arrived in recent months.
Understanding milk blues if it appears
Despite your loved ones’ support, a weaning process led by your child, and your positive attitude, sometimes milk blues takes over—temporarily sweeping away courage, happiness, and all your best intentions.
But what is milk blues?
Fatigue, melancholy, sadness, regret, or depression: milk blues affects many women and manifests in various ways in the days or weeks after breastfeeding ends—whether by choice or not.
Mothers who have experienced milk blues describe their crying, intense nostalgia, a sense of forced separation from their baby (stopping nursing because they have to), feeling like they no longer know their role as a mother, a feeling of abandonment, and the need to grieve a (nearly) ended chapter. Many questions come up: What use am I now? How will I maintain my bond with my child?
👉 Also read: How to overcome post-weaning depression?
Milk blues, like baby blues or postpartum depression, is partly linked to the drop in breastfeeding hormones. Most notably, it’s the decrease in oxytocin (the hormone of attachment, love, well-being, and the mother-child bond) that makes weaning hard to deal with—especially if the weaning is unexpected (like a nursing strike) or not chosen (if the mother has to return to work, for example).
Post-weaning depression: a taboo, still misunderstood subject
While the baby blues, which affects 50–80% of women in France after giving birth, is now well documented and understood, milk blues remains a taboo and mostly unexplored topic. Private and rarely discussed, it’s often mistaken for severe fatigue, exaggeration, or even a delayed baby blues.
For all moms, the end of each phase experienced with their child is a little heartbreaking. Stopping breastfeeding, often hard to accept, can be even more difficult—sometimes even compared to a depressive episode.
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The end of the mother-child bubble that breastfeeding creates often feels like an emotional breakup.
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Society’s expectation that most moms must stop breastfeeding to return to work is often difficult to cope with, and rightfully so. The right time to stop should be chosen in harmony with your family.
Fortunately, milk blues can be eased by anticipating it with a gradual weaning if you have no other option, or by giving both of you a slow, natural weaning process spread out over time.
Gentle weaning: the best defense against milk blues
Time will help you accept the end of breastfeeding. But stepping back will also help. Remember that the end of one stage always marks the beginning of another. Yes, your baby is growing up, but plenty of adventures still lie ahead.
As soon as possible, give yourself and your baby lots of cuddles and hugs to boost your oxytocin. Be kind to yourself as well: get out of the house, see a friend, take a bath, eat some chocolate... And remember, milk blues is temporary. Like all changes and transitions, it will pass.
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