Tips on stopping breastfeeding please

[rochester]

My DS is 7 months old now and i feel the time has come to put our breastfeeding days behind us, he has teeth and likes to bite! He is happily taking expressed milk in a bottle during the day but seems to need the breast to comfort himself to sleep at night. which means no nights out for me, HELP, Anyone ?

I stopped one feed at a time, but like you kept the night feed the longest.

The only way I could get dd off the last feed at night was to be nowhere near for at least a week so the option was to take the milk from DH or not at all.

Hmm yes, but I don't think he needs the breast because he's hungry, it's just for comfort. He will down a full bottle from DH and then scream untill he can have the breast to settle him to sleep.

One feed at a time. I dropped the late morning feed first, then the 4pm, he was sleeping well so I just stopped expressing before I went to bed and he was sleeping through so that was the middle of the night one. Then I stopped the bedtime one so I could go out and finally the early morning feed went. Was pretty easy but got terribly engorged for a couple of days when I finally stopped and had to do a few desperation feeds and a bit of expressing into sinks just to make myself more comfortable.

How did you stop the night feed ?

Ahh. So its not so much the breast feeding, but the settling.

Can't offer much help there as dd settled OK - though that could have been because she was a bit older.

Yes I suppose it's all linked. I am trying to stop breast feeding but the settling is making it feel impossible.

I have just started to wean my daughter off breastfeeding after one year. Cutting down a feed a week is supposed to help not cause any soreness. Have you tried getting any information from the BFN Breast Feeding Network? They have a great website and a wicked helpline I know I have used them loads when I needed help.

Only thought is that you stay away from your little one at night if you have someone else there to help can they sit and read a book to them this usually helps to settle my daughter as it is just the contact that she likes.

We stopped the night feed when DD was 8mo or so (EBF at the time) - I was feeding her two or three times during the night and I was completely exhausted and had PND. So the GP suggested we stop night feeding. When she woke up, DH went in to her, offered water and settled her - we did CC and it was pretty painless - she cried 15 mins the first night and it just reduced from there. I was pretty engorged for a few days as effectively I was dropping 2/3 feeds at once.

Like everyone else, when I wanted to wean her fully I dropped one feed per week and never had any problems with engorgement.

that sounds good. will try the water in the night tip. need to find a week when DH doesn't have any important meetings during the day.

Do you think your PND was linked to giving up feeding. I have heard it can make you feel a very down when you stop.

Mine was def not, we dropped the night feed before starting weaning her off the boob, and I had PND before we dropped the night feed. I didn't find any emotional ill effects from weaning (was obv on ADs though!), although I did feel a bit teary over the last feed I did :) Actually it has been quite liberating in the end.

Yes good idea re making sure DH is not too busy, a week should def do it. That was mega life changing for me, she CAN sleep through after all!!!! Sorry for fragmented response only read your second post to start with

So glad you found it liberating, I am hopeing this will be my response.
Finding a week when DH is not too busy will be a challenge in itself !

Good luck with it all :)

Have you read the No-Cry Sleep Solution by Elizabeth Pantley?

And do whatever it takes to get a regular, age appropriate nap schedule in place - or you'll have a baby waking at night with overtiredness and possibly completely able to get back off without being fed.

un able.

Lots of us going through the same thing on this thread.