Help needed from those whose bf for 6 months then stopped

[snowchick1977]

Hi

Dd is 6 months old and ebf....I'm soooo chuffed with myself.

The past 3 weeks we have been weaning her onto a few solids, a bottle and formula as I am due to return to work in June.

Of those of you who bf for 6 months and then stopped how did you stop with little discomfort.

I have been dropping day bf and I have got to the stage now where she feeds to sleep at 7 and I bf her in the night at 12 and 5. I am therefore not bf her in the day so I go 14 hours without feeding her but my boobs are so sore that I feed her for a bit of relief....and its easier in the night.

I eventually want to stop altogether but is feeding her in the night a good idea.....how do I actually stop doing it without being in real pain.

I understand the supply and demand thing. My boobs dont fill up as quickly now throughout the day which is good but I'm just confused how to stop altogether????

Well done you! It is a great achievement and you deserve a medal - unfortunately there isn't one for us breastfeeding mums, but at least you know you've done something amazing! As to how you go about weaning off the breast, I dropped one feed at a time and felt just a bit "full" for a day or so. I think it's important not to rush the process and so give your "supply and demand" cycle time to catch up. Wait till you don't feel full at the time of the missed feed and then try to skip another, the feed closest in time to the one just stopped is best. The last feed I gave up was the one before bedtime, which was sad for me as well as my DD and then DS. As for the feeding at night, I'd guess that the midnight feed will be hardest, but worthwhile for the gain in sleep! Perhaps you could try feeding later than 7pm and see if you can increase the gap to that 5am feed. Hope this helps.

I agree with pp, that cutting down one feed at a time is your best option.

I did this with my dd's, and ended up finally with just a morning, and evening feed, and then no morning feed, and eventually no evening on, and the had ff instead. It took about two ish weeks.