Preparing to return to work and stopping breastfeeding

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My DS is one and at the moment we have a great routine which includes DS being breast fed in the morning before breakfast and in the evening before bed. I feel ready to stop breastfeeding however I am not sure how to do it.

At the moment our routine is as follows -

7am wake
7.15/7.30 breastfeed (all over very quickly in about 5 minutes)
8.00 breakfast, usually 1.5 weetabix with cows milk and 1/2 a piece of toast
10/10.30 nap for on average 45 mins then a small snack
12.00 lunch
2/2.30 nap for on average 1.5hrs then sometimes has a small snack
5.00 dinner
7.15 breastfeed (again very quick), cuddle and in to bed awake, he is asleep by 7.30pm

Just wondering how people stopped breastfeeding e.g. should I replace the morning BF with a bottle of milk (DS will take a bottle) or go straight to breakfast? Also the official guidance seems to be to skip bottle and go for a sippy cup, DS drinks water from a sippy cup but I can't imagine him having a cup of milk at bedtime rather than the comfort of BF / bottle.

Any experience / advice would be great - thanks in advance.

Try posting in the breastfeeding topic for some good advice.

Hello. I've just done something similar - back to work after 13 months of mat leave, still breastfeeding on my return.

I went back at the end of April and was doing 7 and 7 like you. I (we) waited until the long Bank Holiday, when DP wasn't rushing off to work, to knock out the morning feed. For us, it was as simple as DP taking DD downstairs for breakfast and breaking the routine that way (rather than coming in to our bed for a feed).

She has a banana, milk from a cup (depends what's clean - sippy or a normal cup), maybe some Marmite on toast, slice of cheese, some other fruit, eg blueberries, possibly a yoghurt - we change it around depending what's in the fridge. The constant is really the banana, I think she'd meltdown if there wasn't one.

I'm still bfing at 7pm - no immediate plans to stop at 14 months - maybe the next long weekend / break, when DP can help break the routine. I had sore boobs for one / two days after stopping the morning feed. In another life, I would've been a wet nurse!

Any questions about that, just ask =)

I did this gradually with dd at 16mo, she refuses to drink milk out of anything but a bottle though. She first has bottle in the morning when she wakes at 6ish, then she has breakfast a little later (7:30ish). She then has an evening bottle before her bath about 6:30pm ish.

Tried to get her to drink milk from something else but she's having none of it, even though she'll drink water from any receptacle you choose to provide.

Initially she would only drink formula so we stuck with that for a while before gradually going to cow's milk (mixing the two together in greater proportions of cow/formula until all cow).

I think just take it slowly and you'll be fine

I bought a special cup for bed time that only has milk ( actually two of them). I would offer that and a cuddle at bedtime and see if you can ignore the am one.
DS (2 1/2) has just stopped asking for milk at bedtime. We didn't say anything so not making a big deal is the answer. If you get objects, reinstate milk again and try later.

Have you tried superdrug own brand cup with a built in straw? My HV recommended it when I stopped bf during the day. The sucking on a straw is similar to sucking on a nipple but is a move away from free flow bottles. Cheap too! My DD drinks milk and water from this really well.