Stopped breastfeeding my almost 10m old - am I doing this right?

[mrsmugoo]

I stopped breastfeeding my almost 10m old a week ago.

He was EBF to 6 months, then solids on top of BM until 7.5 months when I returned to work and he started taking formula to nursery 2 days a week. As he wasn't drinking his formula very well, I started to do one formula feed a day on non-work days too to get him more used to it.

I recently started topping up his bedtime breastfeed with formula too since my milk supply has dwindled since the return of my periods, and I guess the introduction of formula lowered demand and therefore supply.

Since I am now working 3 days a week, the time seemed right to just stop altogether seeing as he is now drinking formula well from a sippy cup.

As I previously BF more or less on demand, I have never considered timings of feeds or amounts, so this is all very new to me. As per the back of the formula tub I've been giving him 3 x 7oz feeds per day at around 9am, 2pm and bedtime 7pm.

In the last couple of weeks since his formula intake has gone up I've noticed him visibly gain a lot of weight! I'm not sure how much as I've not had him weight recently but I am just see he's so much fatter - I'm worried I'm overfeeding him? Or maybe when I was BFing he was underfed and has just caught up??

Also, I see people on here talking about feeding their LOs snacks on top of milk and meals? Should I be doing this? I don't see where I would fit one? I already feel like he is constantly full of milk!

7am Breakfast
9am Milk
12 Lunch
2 Milk
5 Dinner
7 Milk

Is this correct?

[RaspberryBlonde]

Looking at your schedule I would say that the 9am and 2pm milk feeds would be his 'snacks'...so as you cut down milk at these times as he gets older you could replace with solids.

My DD is BF but have noticed that sometimes ahead of s growth spurt she looks fatter, then slims down again, so could perhaps be this?

[Imeg]

Here is what we do which includes two snacks...

7am milk
8am breakfast
10.30ish (after nap) snack
12 lunch
1.30 milk
4 ish (after nap) snack
6 dinner
7 milk (doesn't take much as close to dinner).

I am really not sure whether he'd notice if I didn't do the milk feeds...

I presume the formula packet is a bit of a generalisation as surely different babies need different amounts?

Is yours crawling/walking yet? People say they tend to put on weight before getting more active but I don't know whether this is a myth.

[mrsmugoo]

He's crawling and cruising but not walking just yet. He's pretty active though - his crawling is pretty fast!!

A bit more detail on our routine:

7am Wake & Breakfast (If I give him milk first then he doesn't eat his breakfast, hence breakfast and water first then milk a bit later)
9am Milk
10:30ish NAP - 1-2 hours (By the time he's awake from his morning nap it's pretty much lunch time)
12 Lunch
2 Milk (By 2ish he does get whingy for milk, but I wonder if it's actually thirst rather than hunger for milk?)
3ish NAP - 1 hour (He goes down on a full tummy about 3-4 so no time for a snack when he wakes, otherwise would spoil dinner)
5 Dinner
7 Milk

I would be happy to reduce the quantity as I sometimes feel as if I am force-feeding him a bit (he often takes up to an hour to finish the full cup) but I thought I was supposed to be getting 20oz into him at this age?

Breastfeeding was so much simpler!

[RaspberryBlonde]

I would've thought that if he has been BF until now he's probably used to stopping when he's had enough so it might be that the recommended amount is too much for him, especially if its taking that long to finish.

Agree that there's not a lot of space in your current schedule for any snacks, wish I got naps like that from my LO! we swapped milk feeds between meals for snacks around 11-12 months but DD still sometimes prefers milk. If you want to start reducing milk might be worth testing your theory that whinging at 2pm is thirst not hunger by offering water or the milk and some solids alongside.