Moving from breast to bottle - any ideas for a timetable for dropping BFs?

[louschmoo]

Hello, I will be going back to work when my baby is 6.5 months old (he's 4 months old now) and at that point I think I would like him to be entirely formula fed for all his milk feeds. He is breast fed at the moment, with one bottle of expressed milk every day or two. He's never had formula, and he doesn't take a bottle from me - from DH, or his grandparents it's no problem but he gets quite agitated if I try to give him a bottle. So I wondered if anyone has any ideas for a suitable timetable for switching from breast to bottle, to make it a gentle transition for him and to avoid any engorgement/mastitis problems for me. Also any ideas for getting him to take a bottle from me would be welcome!

I was thinking that I would try and do it over a period of about 5-6 weeks, dropping a BF every few days. I would aim for him to be totally bottle fed at least a week before I go back to work, so he has time to get used to that before he also has to deal with settling into a new daytime routine with the childminder as well. Does this sound reasonable or is it too long/short a time frame?

I know there'll be weaning stuff going on around then too but at 6ish months old he will still be getting most of his calories from milk, won't he?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Bump... Interested in any responses.

You will need to take it slowly. It is certainly doable in 5-6 weeks but it might take longer.
How many hours a day will you be working? If it isn't a very long time apart then it would be better for him and you if you bfed at home and either ebm at the childminder or ff if you feel you really want to stop.

If you are definitely wanting to stop then introduce 1 bottle which dh or gp can feed him. He won't like taking from you as he can smell your milk and that is what he really wants. When he gets used to taking 1 bottle everyday then gradually up it to 2 then 3. Do a morning feed then an evening feed so you don't suffer too much from engorgement. If you do get mastitis from engorgement the best remedy is to feed bm as much as possible which will set your timetable back. Remember though that if he gets an illness in this time he will look to your bm over formula.
Also by going slowly you are keeping your options open and if he doesn't like ff you will easily be able to pick bfeeding back up

As for taking a bottle off you it might not happen until you stop producing bm. My DD1 wouldn't take any bottle off me until she was on solids properly and had tasted formula in her food

Hi Debs, thanks for your reply. I will be working part time (3 days per week) and he will be at the childminder from 8am-6pm on those days. I haven't decided yet whether to switch to formula completely or mix feed. But I want to have a plan in place. Either way I will definitely be giving him some formula as I don't want to express at work. Maybe I will start trying him with one bottle of formula per day in January then (back to work end Feb) instead of the expressed milk he has now, and try to build the number of bottles up from there, dropping a feed every week or so. Does that sound like a reasonable amount of time between feed drops to avoid engorgement issues?

I do kind of like the idea of continuing to BF a bit, but I am slightly concerned about him reverse cycling (I think that's the right term - feeding more at night to make up for missed BFs during the day) and would like to be able to share the night feeds with DH on the nights when I have work in the morning. I also really want my boobs back to a manageable size- currently a 32J and not enjoying the neck/backache from the extra boob-weight. Hmm, decisions decisions...

Dropping a feed a week should be fine. If when you are at work you will be going 12 hours a day without a feed you might find it uncomfortable. You might be better off dropping the day feeds first. When you are at home will you feed him during the day or will you give him formula?
I can see him feeding more on a night but then again he will only be 6-7m and my bfed babies were all waking in the night up until a year at least.