Tips for Weaning Your Baby
Weaning Your Younger Baby – Part Two:
Tips for Mother-Led Weaning
Weaning, like walking, is a developmental milestone that all babies eventually accomplish. How soon your baby weans depends on your and your baby’s attitudes toward nursing. 
photo credit: James Jordan
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), babies should be breastfed for at least one year and beyond as mutually desired. The World Health Organization recommends infants be breastfed for at least 2 years.
Don’t assume you have to wean your baby by a certain age. Weaning is a major transition that can be hard on babies, especially young ones.
If you have to wean a younger baby, whether for medical or personal reasons, do it gradually and with love.
Mother-led weaning isn’t an all-or-nothing approach. You can begin introducing solid food in your baby’s diet between 4 to 6 months of age. (Wait until 6 to 9 months if your family has a history of allergies.) Add solid foods gradually while also giving your baby breastmilk or formula. If your baby’s under a year old and you want her off breastmilk completely, then gradually replace breastmilk with formula—not cow’s milk.
Pay attention to your baby’s feeding schedule and cut out any unimportant nursing sessions. Weaning occurs when nursing sessions are slowly dropped, one at a time over a longer period of time.
Make sure to give your baby plenty of uninterrupted cuddle time to make up for any loss of physical contact. If your baby is miserable, you may have to stretch the weaning process out for a longer period of time than you originally intended or wait until your baby’s older.