Pregnant, can I wean my 9-month-old now?

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Hi there, my question is I just found out im 11 weeks pregnant with my second child, I’m still breastfeeding my 9th month old son. When can I stop feeding him???”

You can stop breastfeeding whenever you want to! It’s perfectly fine and safe to continue breastfeeding while you’re pregnant, as long as you have the energy and are able to keep hydrated and get adequate nutrition. But if you’re too tired or nauseated, or you just don’t want to breastfeed any more for whatever reason, in our opinion you should not feel at all guilty about deciding to wean. Your son should have already started the process of moving towards getting most of his nutrition from solid foods, and you’ll probably naturally start to see his rate of breastmilk feedings decrease until he’s just nursing in the morning, before bed and for comfort. The greatest long-term health benefits from exclusive breastfeeding happen during the first six months. After the first six months, there are still nutritional and health benefits to continuing breastfeeding, breast milk is really nutritious, and breastfed toddlers have a lower rate of illness because it contains antibodies. But your baby can still get adequate nutrition on a diet of formula feedings, solid foods and cow’s milk. If he wants to nurse and you don’t want to, tell him so (“sorry, no, that hurts mommy,” or “mommy’s not feeling good right now”) and try having your partner or someone else give him some slightly warmed formula or whole cow’s milk in a bottle or sippy cup.

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