She will drink if she's hungry, right?

[SunshineOutdoors]

Over last four weeks have reduced bf and introduced follow on milk in bottle/cup. No issues with getting 8 month dd down to just 1 bf before bed, and will now quite happily drink from cup with lid and spout so I don't have to faff with bottles now, or worry about phasing them out later.

I'm ready to drop this last feed now. Currently letting her have 15-20 mins on one side instead of before it was 30 mins on each side - after this I offer the cup. When the pain in my boobs has gone I'll drop altogether. Dd however cries and refuses the cup then shortly falls asleep in my arms. I don't want to bf her more - she will get used to it and take the cup eventually won't she???

At this stage in the day it's likely she's more wanting boobs than milk and is missing that closeness to you, even though you're not actually taking it away because you're offering boobs first.

Maybe worth offering her formula first, then boob after to drop to sleep gently? That way she'll slowly reduce what milk she's taking from you anyway :)

Oh and also worth considering NOT using follow on, and sticking to infant formula which is much healthier). www.analyticalarmadillo.co.uk/2010/08/breastfeeding-q-ask-armadillo.html

Thank you, I didn't know about any follow on milk issues...... so she might be better on first milk then? I'm new to all this, bf was much easier but we're ttc again.

I'm going to try the bottle at night instead of the cup as that might be more comforting?

First milk is absolutely fine. Bfing and ttc is also fine Sunshine, I've conceived twice whilst bfing.

Hmmmm, I know people can conceive whilst bf, but dd has gone all through the night (7pm-6am) without a bf since about 4 months and at 6 months was going 4-6 hours between feeds in day... still no period or pregnancy, so I thought cutting out feeds and stopping bf might improve my chances of ovulating (she's now 8 months).

Yes, it might. It's rare, but some women don't start ovulating until they TOTALLY stop BFing. But, depending on whether you are happy to continue with this last feed to make life easier you could see how it goes for a few weeks? Rather than fighting the cup?

I tried last night and she did happily take some bottle before insisting on the breast. If she's asking for the breast and crying when I give the bottle then of course I'm going to bf. I do feel ready to stop though and with this technique I hope she does increase how much of the bottle to take. I want to be able to stop without distressing her - hoping this is possible?

It's really individual, sunshine. You sound like you have a sensible strategy going on and as you're ready to stop but acknowledging her needs too you can just work through it together, bit by bit, which is quite different to going cold turkey, or even forcing the issue too much.

Good luck with TTC :)