How can I stop BF without making myself ill again?

[herethereandeverywhere]

I've ebf DD2 for 3 months but I want to start cutting down now with a few to her being just on formula by about 6 months.

With DD1 I had a dreadful time trying to cut back. I dropped just one feed which was still giving me recurring blocked ducts and mastitis 3 months later. I posted a thread on here at the time called I HATE BREASTFEEDING. I really don't want my whole life to be consumed by breastfeeding and trying to get away from it again.

I'm now terrified of stopping and starting to feel depressed about continuing - so how do I do it? All advice gratefully appreciated.

Hi there, my ds is nearly 7 months and after ebf for 6 months he is now on 3 bottle feeds and 2 boob feeds in 24 hours.

He is my first dc so I am no expert but the way I did it was just reaaaaaalllllly slowly. I gave him 1 bottle a day for 2 weeks before I upped it to 2 bottles a day. Also if my boob was really painful I'd give him a quick 3 min 'cheat' feed or express an ounce off. For the first bottle I didn't have a set time of day, I let my boobs dictate (so if they were really full in the morning I'd give the bottle in the afternoon and vice versa). I also massaged my boob a lot if it got hard and lumpy.

When I gave him 2 bottles in a day I'd do boob, bottle, boob, bottle so as not to go too long without a boob feed.

It has become easier to introduce more bottles the further along the process I've come. He now just has boob at bedtime and his night feed and my boobs are fine.

Sorry this is garbelled - he is currently latched on! good luck, I hope it goes well :)