How to STOP breast feeding??

[Levismum]

Dd is 8 months. I hadn't planned on bf let alone doing it for this long. Dd was ebf for over 6 months but only because we had no problems. I most certainly wouldn't have persisted if i was in pain or dd was unsettled.

Dd is a big baby. She's eating solids 3 times a day. Teething badly. She wakes e/4/5 time a night. This has been going on for 2 weeks. She had been waking once a night.

I'm exhausted. Dd is dc4. Dp is useless so no rest or help. I felt sick this morning as I was so exhausted. I need to get dd to sleep! All the other dc were sleeping all night by her age.

I dread stopping feeding as it's so physically uncomfortable. How do mothers stop breastfeeding? Will dd accept I won't fed her anymore?

Sometimes I actually feel like I should have thought about all this, as I'm really stuck now & don't know how to get out of this situation!

Any advice appreciated.
TIA.

I'm not sure if stopping bfing will make any difference to her sleep?

If you want to stop, I'd drop one feed at a time, so you don't get engorged. I think you'd have to replace it with a formula feed at 8 months. Does she use a cup yet?

Yes she drinks water out of her cup. She won't drink cows milk or formula from her cup.

My other children were ff from 6 weeks & all slept through the night from 12/14 weeks. When dd wakes she is hungry. I physically can't keep going. Even if she doesn't sleep on ff, dp can do some of the nights. Actually he should do them all as I've done every night since she was born!
I work full time too, so very tired.

Sorry meant to add, realistically how long would it take to stop bf?

Why is she not taking the bottle? Has your DP tried?

The best way to do it would be to gradually decrease feeds, so drop one feed every 4-5 days. That way you won't get engorged.

You could go cold turkey but it is difficult and you would need someone else to help you look after your LO for a few days.

Just to add, I went cold turkey with DS at 14 months, but he went to stay with DP at my mums for 5 days. It was hard the 1st 2-3 days but after 5 days there was relief and DS had completely forgetting about the breast. But he was over 1 and didn't need to worry about formula and milk intake too much. For us, sleep improved alot (from 6-8 awakenings to 2-3).

I did alot of things like cabbage leaves, sudafed, no expressing, no showers etc. all seemed to help and thankfully I didn't get a fever.

But I know cold turkey isn't recommended. If my baby was different, I would have tried to reduce feeds, but for us, it wouldn't have worked.

I have dropped one feed every couple of weeks (from6.5 months) and at the same time she has decreased formula/boob whilst increasing food.

Yep, cut it down slowly and it won't be uncomfortable. You could try night weaning first rather than cutting down the day feeds and then cut the day feeds out later.

I agree just cut down on the night feeds, try to get her back to sleep without milk, eg by rocking or cuddling her back to sleep. That may get her out of the habit of waking so much.

Or let her sleep in your bed - dd slept with and by that age she could find a nipple by herself so I didn't need to wake for night feeds

She does sleep in my bed. She only has 4 feeds maximum in a day.Early morning, mid morning, mid afternoon & bed time. I will cut the mid morning & afternoon feeds this week. To be honest, it's been a natural progression, the more she ate, the less she wanted to feed.

At night I always give her the dummy, tuck her in etc, feeding is the last resort but she's hungry & can feed for 10/15 min's.

I'm wondering if I've not been breast feeding her enough in the day? I'm so knackered today, I can't work it out!

She will take a bottle from dp but not me. I don't have anyone to help but i don't think I'm ready to go cold turkey, even if i did...sounds so painful & hard!

If she is hungry and wanting milk in the night won't dropping day feeds lead to more night feeds ?!?

I would increase milk intake in the day and then get DP to cuddle to sleep at night for a few days. You could then work on dropping day feeds when your confident she's getting enough sleep.

That's what I was thinking McBaby. Dp won't take over the night feeds, let alone do cuddling to sleep!