Ceasing BF and mix feeding...feel Im struggling a bit alone

[LaCiccolina]

Hi,

DD is now 11mths. Ive been bfing since the start. We started weaning at 6mths and she eats fine. She's expert at also taking a bottle and I would say we mix feed now I suppose.

I return to work in Jan and she turns 1 in Dec. Im fed up bf-ing and frankly wish to stop. Routine is below, can you help me work out where to cut things out or change as Im struggling alone..... Or when do I next change things if this seems reasonable for the moment. Do you think they might alter on their own as she joins nursery whilst I work?

6am approx - comes to bed and feeds and we hopefully sleep to 8.
8:30 - 125ml of SMA to make breakfast cereal and finish off as drink
Morning - water given as required
10am snooze 30mins to 1.5hrs
Lunch 12:30 approx, water and food (eats full normal dinners now, no issues on food)
pm water given as required
4pm - The rats come, nothing but milk and mine will do
4pm - also a snooze 30mins usually
5:30 - dinner, normal food again with water
6pm - a bf
7:30 - bf and a bottle to sleep. Either its a 125ml bottle or 200ml
11pm - bf (I tried removing this but she just wakes at 2am otherwise at the moment after a week of it)
3 or 4am bf

She's always fed to sleep. Unsure how to untangle that knot either.....?

Any thoughts welcome.

You've done really well - one of the very, very few mums to get this far so feel really proud of yourself :)

Are you wanting to drop ALL feeds including the morning one? That's the one that is one of the hardest as otherwise you need another way to get more morning sleep :) If it were me, that's the last I would drop, especially as she's going to nursery and will be surrounded by bugs. That one feed will help fight them off for her. But - if you definately want to stop completely - you could just try lots of snuggles and cuddles.

I would certainly expect things to change naturally when she's at nursery. Surrounded by other things to think about the 4pm musthavemummy will just not be an issue, certainly after the first week or two.

Prob the first to change would be the 6pm, then the 11pm feed. If she needs it, she needs it but you could swap this for a bottle of formula, then for cow's milk once your formula runs out. Only issue is that you really should clean her teeth after it because any milk other than BM can be bad for the teeth.

I personally think that feeding to sleep is wonderful because it's easy, snuggly, and a great way to connect. Other ways to settle to sleep would be finding a combination of cuddles, shhing, maybe some soft music, back rubs or pats, those sorts of things. Sometimes someone other than you doing it (ie without the boobs) makes it easier...

Hello, thanks a lot! To be honest its totally accidental. Had anyone said to me at the start Id still be doing this now I might have died of fright. The first two weeks were awful, then we hit week 4, then 6 and I realised it had got a bit easier and its steadily improved. Its been one of the hardest, at times, things Ive ever done but as you say one of the loveliest too. I am chuffed and consider it a lifetime achievement, right up there with running the London Marathon! (No joke)

I agree the morning one is flipping useful so Ill hang on to that as long as the boobs allow. I hadn't really thought about it but see the logic that the 4pm and 6pm will change first. Thats good. I also like the hope that that will happen rather than be forced. I don't really want to force things, just shift them up a bit...www.mumsnet.com/te/8.gif

I like the thinking with the 11pm one. Perhaps Ill stick to a toddler milk here then than milk and put milk and something in as a snack on nursery homecoming so she gets some proper milk.... I guess you feel the 3am one will cease too naturally due to the increased daytime stimulation at nursery.

I love feeding to sleep, its obvious, natural (I feel) and a fairly sure worker. Just everyones always harping on about 'self settling' and the thought of that is scary when frankly you don't know how to do it. Like so much else though, I suppose we will just cope and do when the time arises.

Thanks for this, its helped. MIL, Mother and DH have been harping a bit and this has helped me think. We are nearly there then, just final hurdles to go perhaps.

www.mumsnet.com/te/2.gif & www.mumsnet.com/te/thanks.png

xxxx

Oh disappointing, I can't work the gifs. Sorry that should have been an embarrassed smiley, big grin and flowers (for you) in that order....

:0(

x

LOL :) well thank you for the thought :)

Really glad it helped a bit.