Some experts and some parents believe that you should wean as soon as your baby is ready, in terms of physical development. Typically, at some point between the ages of nine months and eighteen months of age, your baby will be able to control his movements enough to manipulate a cup effectively, and his sucking reflex will have either subsided greatly or vanished completely. These two criteria can let you know that your baby can wean at any point.

On the other hand, there are those experts and parents who believe that you should let your baby decide when it is time to wean. They suggest that refusing to nurse a child is, in many ways, a hurtful thing for the child. They believe that just because a baby is physically capable of weaning doesn’t mean that they are emotionally ready to wean. These people then suggest that the baby or even a toddler be offered a breast until they no longer want it and begin to refuse it.

Having said all of that, it is likely that, as long as the baby is ready physically, no lasting harm will come of you deciding that it is time to wean. On the other hand, waiting until your baby decides when it is time to wean does not seem to have any negative effects, either. The fact of the matter is that there is no clear evidence that the timing of weaning is going to be a significant issue for you or for your baby.

Weaning is a significant milestone for a baby and for parents. Whatever you decide as far as the timing of weaning, rest assured that you are probably not causing any lasting problems for your child. Again, as long as the child is physically ready to wean, any time you wean is probably going to be all right.

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