So, how do i dry up my milk supply?

[Chrononaut]

I EBF ds for 5 months, however i cant do it anymore. I did my best, but he is much happier (and so am i) when he has formula. He started on formula yesterday and im expressing a bottle so he has one bottle of breast milk a day. I want to know how to dry my supply up and avoid mastitis? Please dont flame me :(

Do it slowly. Its supply and demand, so just cut down gradually, maybe over 2 weeks.

I went cold turkey with my dd and it was agony. I took the slow and gentle approach with ds and it was fine, In fact, I hardly noticed.

Definitely drop one feed at a time. I've seen some advice saying drop a feed a week but I think certainly wait a few days between dropping feeds otherwise you'll probably do yourself a mischief (mastitis etc)

Well done for ebf to five months. Fabulous achievement.

I expressed small amounts and kept checking that there weren't any hard bits forming. I found warm showers or baths with a bit of leakage was helpful too. I also took peppermint capsules because I read somewhere they help diminish supply & I wore a sports bra over the top of the maternity bra. I think it took about 10 days on both occasions. Well done for sticking with it for 5 montsh.

Gosh, no one will flame you! You've done brilliantly if you've not enjoyed it/had problems (not sure why things aren't working but hoping that your choice will make you all happier :) )

5 months is a great milestone. You've protected his gut for all this time, and he's approaching the point where his gut will be self-sealing anyway, so many of the risks of not breastfeeding which are relevent to smaller babies won't matter to your baby. You are expressing your milk for now which will give him some antibodies to support his immune system, and the other wonderful components of breastmilk which can't be replicated, and I expect solids will soon be on the horizon anyway?

Even if you stop with the expressed milk, you have given him an amazing start so be really proud of what you've done.

The safest (from the point of view of avoiding mastitis) way of reducing supply is by doing it gradually. Everyone is different really, so by dropping one feed at a time and seeing how you feel you can judge for yourself how fast you can go. Expressing just enough for comfort may help (and you can save all this for your bub, too). Just take it a step at a time and if you start to get lumps or discomfort, slow down. It won't take too long. :)

Agree re reducing rather just stopping. Think about after a growth spurt.