When and how did you stop breastfeeding (EBF-ing)?

[londoncitymum]

DS is almost 5mo and EBF. Have in my head that I will stop BF-ing around the six month mark, but really have no idea how I will do this as DS hates the bottle at the moment. I guess what I want to know is, is it best to gradually phase out breastfeeding or stop more suddenly. If I want to stop around six months should I be starting to try and give DS formula (as well as breastmilk) now?

Do you want to stop? Need to stop?

DS1 had his last BF the day before his 2nd birthday, it phased out gradually from when we added solids to his diet at 6 months.
DS2 is 16 months and has a BF morning, bedtime and occasional other times when he wants it

I intended to stop at six month, but then, I really couldn't see the point of weaning onto formula and bottles and then weaning off them at a year. D went to having rt cups of EBM when I was away from her. She's 20m now and we BF, mostly evenings and mornings due to my working patterns. Works well for us.

Sorry that should say tonnes tippee cups!

tommee tippee cups!

Keen to have stopped completely by the time I start work in January - can you use the tommee tippee cups from 5 months?

Also, which tommee tippee cup is best - the first cup or explora?!

It's best to phase it out if you can - I stopped feeding ds1 at 16 months and my breasts turned to rocks for a few days - not great!

Think the current advice is to drop one feed every two weeks to reduce the risk of mastitis. So work out how many feeds you plan to drop and your time scale and work from there. If it is just that you are returning to work, have you thought about just doing the morning and bedtime feed yourself and replacing the others with formula?

I intended to stop sooner, but like you I found it impossible to get dd to take a bottle or a sippy cup. I ended up gradually weaning her as she ate more and more solid food - the number of bf's a day were down to 2 when I went back to work at 13 months, then quickly dropped to 1. She dropped the evening feed at about 15 months. I really didn't intend to carry on for so long, but in the end it was much easier than trying to persuade her to take milk from a bottle or a cup.

I'd get ds eating first, and then it's likely by 8 months or so he'll be feeding a lot less, certainly during working hours, and then you can decide about cutting down bf and whether to introduce formula.
My ds was 99% ebf at 6 months, feeding about 8 times a day, but by 9mo was bfing only about 4x daily and me missing a feed or two wasn't much of an issue (he happily guzzled formula or expressed milk, or filled up on food). So by the time he went to nursery at 11mo I just left a couple cartons of formula for him each day and he usually drank one, and I fed him morning and a couple times in the evening.

Dd is almost 6mo, ebf, and I'll be returning to work in Jan, and I'll worry about the bf in mid Nov at the earliest. Thing is, it got so much easier around 6-7mo, that though I originally wanted to stop feeding ds by 6mo, I ended up bfing until he was 14 months. And I'll feel bad if dd doesn't get the same chance!

The standard Tommy tippee cups are the only leakproof sippy cups IME. Though ds wanted his milk in a bottle until he was 2 despite drinking water and juice from a sippy or open cup just fine.

I agree, get him going with solids first and then see where you are October time.

londoncitymum you could be me...my DS is nearly 5months, I'm returning to work in Jan and also wondering about when and how to end ebf. And I live in London. Wierd.

Anyway sorry for hijack but had a question on the whole dropping feeds thing. DS is fed on demand and doesn't have much of a routine. He has some feeds at similar times most days (somewhere between 5 and 6 am is the most consistent, and mornings are often fairly 'routine'), but by afternoon/evening he is not that routine at all. So how would I know if he was dropping a feed or just changing his pattern? Does it all get much more predictable once on solids? Sorry if this is a stupid question!

sorry should have read something like "by afternoon he is not very consistent at all".

Blossom it all becomes much clearer once you get going on solids, honestly I wouldn't stress about it until then.

At 5 months they are so dependant, and in some cases may actually increase frequency of feeding as they get bigger. It is hard to see how you are going to be able to leave them. But 8 months is a totally different proposition, and then 10 months is a huge change again.
Just enjoy this time while they are still little