How to breastfeed a little bit for a long time?

[isitmethough]

For various reasons I've been combination feeding my baby since around 2 months, he's now 5 months. I'm planning to start some solids soon and would like to slightly reduce the bf (currently about 50/50) so that I bf in the morning and one other time of day but ff the rest of the time. Is this possible? Or does the body just stop making milk? How long could this be maintained for and any tips for success? I want him to continue to get the immunity benefits but will be going back to work soon and don't want to be pumping when we are apart really. .

Your body creates the amount of milk your baby takes

So say he drank 20oz from one boob youd make that 20oz again. Demand and supply. The less you BF, the less milk youll make. I'd say keep going until hes at least 6 mo ths but it's your body, your baby and your choice.

I just did the bedtime feed for DD from about 4 months to 7 months. I know lots of people who have carried on doing just the bedtime feed to beyond one as your body creates what you demand of it so as long as you feed every night (or day) then it’ll still create that milk

@Doublebubblebubble

Your body creates the amount of milk your baby takes

So say he drank 20oz from one boob youd make that 20oz again. Demand and supply. The less you BF, the less milk youll make. I'd say keep going until hes at least 6 mo ths but it's your body, your baby and your choice.

That's not the case for everyone. Once I went down to 2 feeds a day, I pretty much dried up.

@OchonAgusOchonO i was only using it as an example. For the most part breastfeeding is based on demand. If you stop. The milk stops. In the same way, if you feed more, more comes.

I think it depends partly on the disposition of your baby. I mixed fed DS until he was over a year and it was the best of both worlds with the flexibility of bottle feeding and the convenience, closeness and health benefits of bf. I bf him routinely mid afternoon and first thing in the morning and the milk supply was there to match. Planned to do the same with DD but she was an impatient child even at 6 months old and once offered the bottle did not like the breast and more, as it took longer and more effort in her part I think, so she soon ended up just with bottles.

I fed both of mine just morning and before bed for a couple of months with no issues. Bit older than yours 9&11 months but it was fine, my body adjusted. I didn’t pump at all.

[quote Doublebubblebubble]@OchonAgusOchonO i was only using it as an example. For the most part breastfeeding is based on demand. If you stop. The milk stops. In the same way, if you feed more, more comes.[/quote]
You said your body creates the amount of milk your baby takes.

That is not the case for everyone. For some women, once you go below a certain level of production, they stop producing.

@OchonAgusOchonO

"once you go below a certain level of production, they stop producing."

How is that not what I'm saying? If you feed more, you get more. If you stop feeding you make less.

We did just a morning and night feed from about 10 months or so, and have continued for a year.

[quote Doublebubblebubble]@OchonAgusOchonO

"once you go below a certain level of production, they stop producing."

How is that not what I'm saying? If you feed more, you get more. If you stop feeding you make less.[/quote]
I am saying, for some women, they stop producing altogether once they reduce the number of feeds below a certain threshold. If she is feeding once a day, she may stop producing completely even though there is an attempt to take milk.

You are saying they continue to produce based on what is taken out so if they feed a little, they continue to produce a little, if they feed a lot, they up production.

I fed twice a day only from age of 1-2. But this was his only milk.

You may mind that if baby has lots of bottles and one boob feed they may get annoyed in the boob as the flow is much slower and harder work that a bottle.

But it’s possible, with both kids I dropped down to one feed a day and it lasted as long as they wanted to.

I had a lot of supply issues anyway so may be specific to that but I found it difficult to maintain when we started weaning - I actually think I should have dropped a bottle at that stage so he kept up his demand from the breast ....

I never needed to pump once back at work (that's not entirely true, I maybe did for a week or so before things settled down) and I continued to feed that dc for another 12 months after I went back. He always fed as soon as I got in from work, again at bedtime and if he caught me before I left, in the morning too! It just seems to regulate itself

I'm not sure why you would need to express during the day.

Not exactly the same situation - neither of my DC would take formula or expressed milk. I returned to work around 10 months:
both my DC quickly ate more food and drank more liquids during the day when I returned to work. They did want to bf more in the evening though to compensate.

You may find nursery can offer formula during the day and you can offer bf at other times. It might be uncomfortable for a couple of weeks while your body adjusts supply times. If you want to reduce for other reasons there's lots of information available on gentle weaning etc

By 6m your supply should be well established so you could probably reduce to 2 feeds a day without production stopping altogether if that's what you want

I just did morning and night breastfeeds from nine months (she was 50/50 BF/FF), dropping to just morning from 18 months and BF to 3.5 years. Your body makes the amount of milk for the amount of feeding you're doing.

Only did 3 BFs a day from six months

I did a bedtime bf for a year. It was fine. Just be consistent (don't skip days or let him comfort feed loads on a weekend when he has a cold type stuff).

Yes you can. Takes about 3 to 4 days for the supply to regulate.

Thanks all.. only just seen these replies! I'm now doing 3 ff and 3 bf per day and baby seems happy. He doesn't mind working a bit harder on the boob and has been switching between bottlle and boob fine for a while now. I'm just going to keep going like this as long as he's not complaining about being hungry. My worry was/is that my supply will just disappear quite quickly the less I ask of my body but I guess will have to wait and see. Baby was born with tongue tie and it wasn't picked up so he's been on some formula for weight gain from early on and my supply was never great hence haven't managed ebf but want to make sure he's getting some antibodies and do it for the bonding, just not 6 hour long feeds a day (he's still very slow!)

@isitmethough I used to do the interminably long BFs when it was convenient for me which made it more manageable - so first thing in the morning lying in bed as I could read a book at the same time. I'd do a mid-morning one at toddler group as I'd be surrounded by people to talk to and who could bring me drinks!