4 week old - how to switch from BF to formula

[Sugarbug17]

Please don’t pass judgement on my reasons behind this decision... it’s only advice on how best to do it for baby and myself that I am seeking

My 4 week old already has 70ml of aptimil newborn at 5pm-6pm and then the rest of the day/night she’s BF

How would I go about transitioning to being fully Formula fed?

If I did it over a couple of days would I end up with blocked ducts/mastitis/sore breasts?

I know it’ll mostly be lead by my baby as sometimes even after formula she wants the breast merely for comfort/sleep

Many Thanks

I think that would be too fast - can you try dropping one feed every second day, or even every day? I dropped one feed per week before going back to work and had no issues, I appreciate that might be too slow for you though. I think hand-expressing in the shower should relieve the pressure if you feel sore, and should stimulate production less than expressing.

From personal experience and midwife advice at the time...
Start by giving the size of feed noted on the formula carton/tin and every 4 hours as a starting point. If baby seems hungry obv feed before the 4 hours and if finishing feed each time then move up to next feed size on the carton/tin. It will prob be a bit trial and error for a while but don’t worry - most things are with a small baby anyway!
Re your breasts, the advice I was given was just not to interfere in any way. So don’t express or pump. I did it this way and it was ok. I noticed that I leaked a fair bit in the shower so that might be an idea if you need some relief but without expressing. Cold cabbage leaves if sore.
Re the breast for comfort, would you use a dummy?

The current advice I think is to drop one feed every 2 weeks. This will reduce your risk of mastitis and get baby used to the new increased volumes they will have to consume as a BF baby takes roughly a floz an hour.

You could ring one of the Bfing Helplines. They will have the most upto date information and can help you come up with a plan on how to switch over