Weaning - when did you stop BF during the day?

[Sunnyside17]

Looking for a bit of light at the end of the tunnel really! DD is 4 months and EBF. Breastfeeding has always been hard for us with TT, oversupply and fast let down. She still really struggles with my let down and she will splutter and gulp air at the beginning of feeds, I have ways of managing this at home in private, but I’m not comfortable feeding her in public due to this. It means that I haven’t been able to leave the house for more than a couple hours at a time since she was born and it’s really getting me down. We’ve tried for weeks to get her to take a bottle or dummy but have had zero success on that front, so I am literally counting down the days to 6 months when I can start weaning her and hopefully begin to reduce the number of breast feeds. I don’t mind feeding morning, evening and through the night but I desperately want to be free of breastfeeding through the day so that I can leave the house with her for longer stretches or even leave her with DH for a few hours and do something for myself. Please tell me when you were able to stop breastfeeding through the day!!??

DS is 8.5mo and now shows more interest in solids over milk. We are still feeding during the day (he’s unwell at the moment so BF more than usual) but he can go 4-6 hours without BF during the day. If I’m not around it’s on the longer side, if he can see me he wants me more. I’m fairly certain I could have weaned him off me sooner as even though he’s ill he’s showing preference for favourite solids over milk tbh. He also sleeps through.

I appreciate you’re looking for advice from mums with fully weaned babies but didn’t want to read and run.

@PurBal no that’s exactly what I want to hear! Being able to go 6 hours would be a dream, gives me hope!

My ebf baby is 6.5 months and now voluntarily goes long stretches without during the day by choice. I offer often.

I give baby purée when out and about and baby leg weaning at
Home.

Typical day for us is
Am breast feed x 3 in bed, cuddling and feeding between 6-8

Breakfast - baby porridge

Mid morning short feed (5 mins)

Lunch

Afternoon feed(sometimes skipped if we're out somewhere interesting and he refuses)

Baby dinner 4:30pm

Baby massage abs breastfeed as much as he wants before sleep at 7pm

Also not fully weaned but hopefully you can see the relentlessness of constant feeding reduced soon

Still breastfeeding at least four times in the day time, before every nap, after the longest nap, sometime mid morning and sometime before dinner. Baby is 9 months. I'm letting her decide when she doesn't want as many feeds. This is a reduction for us as before about 7 months was feeding 15+ times a day.

There's definitely light at the end of the tunnel, OP! You've done a bloody great job getting this far with all the troubles you've faced, but it will get easier, so if you do want to keep going with breastfeeding, then if my experience is anything to go by, weaning onto solids will be a helpful milestone for you.

My DD is 13 months now, but she changed her relationship with breastfeeding when she started on solids - it makes sense if you think about it, up until 6 months all she knew was my breasts, and then suddenly a whole world opened up with loads of tastes and textures, and breasts weren't the only show in town any longer. Don't get me wrong, she's still a massive fan of my breasts, but we day weaned completely at 11 months, and I'd say by 9 months (when 3 solid meals were well established) she was going long stretches without breast. I'm sure we could've day weaned earlier with no issue, but I loved our afternoon snuggles. So, I'd say there's reason to be hopeful!

Thanks for all the responses so far, very encouraging to read! Keep them coming :)

15 months with both DC. I fed on demand and when they were going to sleep. Then stopped cold turkey when they hit 15 months. I think that approach was easier to manage than some of my friends who discontinued bf at certain times of day only. I just wore a high neck top and said "mummy milk all gone" and offered water instead. They were fine with the transition. I miss it still though and it's been years 😂

26 months, but only 1 feed during day average and at night by then. Much less once on solids.

Dd is 11 months.
She feeds 4 times a day at most now (unless she is unwel)
Morning, before 2x naps and before bed.
Sometimes it's just once during the day if we are out and she falls asleep in the car or pram then she isn't fussed for feeding.
She is noticeably eating more solids and isn't bothered for milk if she is awake and alert, only when she's tired.

Still feeding during the day age 3 but I returned to work at 9 months. He only had 1 bottle of expressed milk while I was at work (8 - 5) and by 1yr we just fed before work, when I got home and bedtime.

Breastmilk is both delicious and comforting to a baby/toddler so they're unlikely to choose not to. But they can go without during the day at around a year ish. Up to you how you make it work for you. On demand feeding is necessary for infants but if it works better for you to try a schedule at this stage, there's nothing wrong with that. Good luck!

@Sunnyside17 I’m in the same shoes as you except my little one is 2 months old! Did the number of breastfeeds reduce quite a bit once your little one started solids? Looking for a bit of hope and light at the end if the tunnel!

Hi @poppet131 :) ahhh reading this post again takes me back!
By 9 months my DD was feeding 3 times a day - first thing in the morning, straight after her first nap, and bedtime. I dropped the mid morning nap around 10.5 months and now she’s 13 months I don’t bf at all anymore. The bedtime one was the last to go.
Even though it took a while for the feeds to drop to 3 a day, it got easier all the time. 6 months was easier than 4 months. Then at 8 months it was easier still…
It was so hard at the time but it already feels like a distant memory now. Hang in there, you got this!!