Swapping to ff from bf at 4 weeks

[MrsMonkeyBear]

Dd is 4 weeks now and I don't think I can go on bf'ing much longer. I'm barely sleeping as it is, due to her reflux and wanting to be comfort fed all night. She's fine at taking a bottle, I'm just wondering how to go about making the change and how quickly will my milk supply remain?

If it is just the night feeds that are the problem and i hate "are you sure" posts so sorryabout this I found at 5-6 weeks DD started to sleep much better with only 2 (or sometimes 3) wake ups where she feeds then sleeps. So it might be worth waiting to see if yours is the same. I also express during her daytime naps when im very tired and dh feeds her in the evening, i go to bed silly early (7 or 8pm) and pre-load a bit of sleep!

But of course if you dont want to bf any more, you've given the colostrum etc already so its all good. Hope someone can give you tips to avoid sore boobs!

I only bf for 6 weeks and most of that was expressed as severe non diagnosed tt and my illness. I gradually increased the ff and if I had sore boobs I would express a little bit just to make them not sore but not a whole feed, then see what happened. Do you have a pump or can you hand express?

I have a spectra electric pump which is a god send. (Bad carpal tunnel in both wrists) I'm going to go from pumping a full feed and gradually work my way down until I can stop.

Electric pumps are amazing, I borrowed one from the hospital, I've got palindromic rheumatism that can effect wrists and fingers sometimes so know how you feel.
I found even pumping an oz or so took the pain away, then just do it less through out the day, then try missing a day. Just monitor boobs closely so no lumps or hot bits form.

If you want to dry up your milk, reduce the feeds over several days, take ibuprofen, take sage tablets and put cabbage leaves in your bra. I did this at 2 weeks and it took a week to be comfortable. Try and express as little as possible as this won't help with the drying up of the milk.
Of course if you don't want to stop completely and just do a couple of feeds you can gradually reduce the number of feeds until your supply has adjusted.
Do whatever is right for you and your baby.

I went on to ff gradually and was totally finished at six weeks without problems. I started the odd bottle at night. Expressed less. Just really slowly reduced.

Hope all goes well xx

I also stopped at 6 weeks, I just gradualy reduced the time and amount of bf replacing with ff.