My little boy is 4 weeks old. I've bf successfully so far but for a variety of reasons, I now want to stop.
He is feeding every 1.5 - 2 hours in the day, and only once or twice (!!) between 11pm-6am.
I'm aware that my supply is supposedly not fully established till around 6 weeks and I'm a little worried that stopping before bf is established will cause me issues, as I suffered with plugged ducts and mastitis with my first. I have oversupply and my breasts seem to get engorged quite easily. I only ever offer one side per feed.
I'm wondering the best way to go about making the transition. If I swap out a feed a day, I will end up getting engorged. A few nights ago we went from 2 night feeds down to one, and I spent the subsequent day massaging my boobs to relieve the pressure and empty the ducts, which I could feel were getting plugged as they we're tender and sore. I wouldn't want this to happen every time I dropped a feed!
Could I, instead of feeding every 2 hours, pump for a short while, to relieve the engorgement and gradually reduce the amount of time I'm pumping for over a series of days/weeks?