Last Breastfeed ?

[moonietunes]

Hoping someone can offer some helpful advice!

I have just weaned my 8m old off breastfeeding by replacing one feed each week with bottle. It has so far gone very well, a little engorgement but luckily nothing i couldn't handle & she has taken to the bottle without issue. I have just completed what should be the last feed, we have just had a week of just bedtime boob only (rest of feeds bottle). What happens now ? Do i just go cold turkey and let the milk dry up or is it ok to feed her every other evening ? & then maybe every third evening...or will that just confuse her or confuse my breasts by delaying my milk drying up ?

Thanks x

[firstimeforeverything]

Since your DD is clearly being a superstar about it, I would go with whatever suits you best - if it's convenient to switch her over, go cold turkey, or if you prefer a gentle transistion, go for occasional feeds.

And don't worry about it too much - it sounds like you are doing a really good job! I was keen to feed both my boys until 12 months, but we naturally got down to a morning feed at 10 months and my milk supply was low enough that I just switched. My youngest made no bones about what he thought of my attempting to feed him - one morning he gave me a look of profound disappointment, turned his head away and put his fingers in hs mouth instead!

Everyone is different, and it sounds like your supply is higher than mine if you're still getting some engorgement, but it will settle down quite quickly - in a couple of weeks would be my guess.

[cluelessnchaos]

I'd go cold turkey if she is coping.

[KatAndKit]

I'd go cold turkey and use a breast pump (or hand express) each evening just enough to relieve engorgement and reduce the amount you express each day until you can comfortably stop

[roamingwest]

How did you drop feeds weekly OP - I' m struggling with this! DD will only take an oz or two from the bottle, as if just to take the edge off, then holds out for a breastfeed. I can't let her go too long before breast feeding her then as she gets upset and she's not on solids yet... So despite good intentions I'm no further along actually dropping a feed yet, she's just getting a bit of formula at the same time each day before a breastfeed!

Any advice?!

[moonietunes]

Thanks for all your advice. I was going to go with cold turkey but last minute i decided to give her 5 mins each side + a bottle. My breasts felt quite full and i didn't want to be engorged tomorrow as i have to go out all day! She only took 100ml of formula so i'm hoping she got enough BM to see her through the night. She is asleep now with just a little 5 mins gruffling :o]

roamingwest. The first thing i did was swap the mid morning feed for a bottle, this took a few days to work, at first she would have just a little and then id BF her, but after a few days determination she started to drink more formula and didn't need any BM. As this feed was only shortly before her lunch if she was still hungry it didn't matter so much as she would have some food pretty soon after. (This 11am feed has now been dropped completely as she is now on just 3 feeds + 3 solids). Next i swapped out the 2.30 feed and this went with out hitch right away, again though i had the back up of her tea being at 4.45 so if she was hungry again quickly she didn't have that long to go. Then i did the same with the 6am feed (this is when i dropped the 11am also). She took to it right away without any problems. Now i'm doing the 6.30pm. She dropped the 10pm feed herself at around 7 weeks & middle of the night feed went at about 6.5 months. During the first swap i tried a couple of diff teats in case that was the issue, she didnt like the tommy tippee ones that are supposed to be like breasts at all. She likes the regular medela ones, once i swapped to those she stated to drink.

Hope this helps!