weaning,dropping feeds,low supply,comfort sucking,don't know if i want to stop breastfeeding

[valentinemum10]

got a 6.5 mth old DD. she was EBF till 5.5 months and now on bit of babyrice, fruit & veg purees, baby porridge,chews on bits of bread (forever teething!) before the weaning started she would co sleep & feed every 2 hours. now she feeds from every 3 -4 hours at night. in the day she has 3 feed,each before a nap.no bottles but she drinks water from a sippy cup now too. poos very well.
so it seems she has dropped a day and night feed but now will sit happily(up to 40 mins) with mouth on boob not really doing any sucking or sometimes will.
no milk comes either and ive noticed my boobs have almost gone back to my pre preg size in the last couple of weeks. i feel like i dont have enough milk when she does actually feed suck. i used to have a fast letdown&plenty to express .the only time she does feed a lot is in the morning between 7 - 11, kind of snacking half hourly.
so what am i on about??

1. im worried my milk supply is dwindling too fast, how can i keep it steady?

2.how do i stop the comfort sucking (to sleep usual, doesnt take dummy) 3.how do i stop bfeeding?do i get her established on formula/ebm then stop or mix it up?

1. ideally eventually even i would like to be able to just do one breast feed,a night one but not feed to sleep up till shes 1year. is that normal/possible?

i know so much of this depends on how she develops and no one can predict or advise exactly but would like to hear how other mums started the weaning/milk supply thing. i think i have this fear im going to run dry before shes ready to stop!

i packed my pump away today and felt quite sad :(
t.i.a.

It's quit normal for you boob's to go back to pre preg size and you not to feel letdown anymore. This is actualy a sign of a really well estabilished milk supply not a problem at all.

Have you packed your pump away because you aren't able to pump as much? At this stage unless you pump every day at the same time so your body knows to produce more milk then you probably woun't pump much. Again this is no indication of supply.

Some babies feed to sleep (well a lot do) it's normal and there are hormones in BM that help her fall asleep (and you to). You can wait for her to grow out of this, your not making bad habits honist. Or you can try feeding her untill she's drowsy and hand her over to Dad to put to bed, works for a lot of people.

As for phasing out feed's durning the day you will need to replace them with formula at this age. You should only aim to drop a feed a week so you don't end up engroasted or with mastites.

Agree with MigGril, nothing you have said suggests a low supply.

If you want to continue bfing I would bf an hour before offering food. That way you know she is taking a proper feed and also, she will be getting most of her nutrition from the milk and not from rice or bread. Have you tried breast compression too?

It is possible to bf just morning and night but I did this from 12 months with DC1. Like MigGril says, if you want to introduce ff to replace bf at this stage its best to do one a week.

i have a 7month old and very similar issues. with my other babies i started a bottle of formula around this age at bedtime, then added a mid morning one after a week or 2 then a mid afternoon one. they all have/had dummies so can't help with the feed to sleep issue but he is going through a phase of feeding back to sleep at the long lunchtime sleep. it's only once a day so i'm sticking with the usual bedtime routine for other sleeps/naps (putting him down tired but awake, giving comforter then going straight out so he falls asleep alone)

the way to increase supply is to pump/get baby to suck/feed as much as possible. i try and give as many feeds as possible (and he's having loads during the day at the moment) but unlatch him if/when he starts falling asleep.