Want to stop breastfeeding but am worried I'll be weak and give in...(sorry, long)

[champagnesupernova]

So DS is coming up to his 1st birthday (he's 10.5 months) and has been thriving well (he fell off the centiles but he's very mobile and has a healthy appetite)

He's up to 3 solid meals a day (bit of BLW bit of puree'd stuff, depending on his mood and my patience ) and eating well.

I want to stop for two reasons - one because he keeps pulling down at my top looking for boob during the day and night and it was sweet to begin with but the novelty is def wearing off. Also because "I want my body back" - I want to be able to take Night Nurse if I have a cold like the one I have today.

So I started off with formula at bed time yesterday - am I starting too early (6 weeks) but everything i read says not to go cold turkey.

Generally I bf a lot during the night (we seem to be co-sleeping at the moment) when he wakes to get him back to sleep.

Any advice??

hmm, why not wait until he is 1 so you dont have to bother with bottles? just offer cows milk in a cup.

offer one drink the first week, 2 the second and so on...in 6 weeks thats 6 drinks.

jobs a good un

Do you mean he'll end up having 6 cups of a milk a day??
I know what you mean about waiting until he is 1 but I must say that the reaching down my top is driving me crazy so I'd like to be making a start if I can.

And another thing, (not that I'm going to give it to him early) but who decided that once a baby is 365.25 days old that the stomach is developed enough for cow milk?
it's very strange non?

to put it another way, begin to replace bfds with cups of liquid.
i would want to avoid bottles, maybe just me.

tis strange the 1 year stomach, like the 40 week pregnancy.

If yuo want to stop, then stop (and brilliant for getting so far).He doesn't need bottles or formula or anything else.My ds stopped (out of choice) at 11 mths and never had milk,just juice or water from a cup. Yoghurt and cheese.
Honestly, formula companies want you to believe that even big babies need 'foolw on' and crap like that (which incidentally is 700% more expensive than regular milk) but you don't.

So bollocks to them.

Now, I thought the 'not giving cow's milk before 1yr' thing was to do with it not containing enough iron. Is that not the case?

Therefore, given that your baby is 10.5 months and you are still bfing for the time being, wouldn't it be ok to give cow's milk rather than formula at the bed-time drink?

I think Moondog put it beautifully .

If I were you Champagne I would replace breastfeeding with bottles because I think then he will still get the comfort element that the sucking gives. My DS is happy to have a cup in the day but when he is sleepy in the night I give him a bottle. I don't know but I shouldn't imagine a cup of milk will soothe him back to sleep (I could be wrong). I think the reason health professionals say to wait until 1 for cows milk is because it is very high in protein so I would opt for the formula for now, just to be on the safe side. Oh and, for the record, price wise- milk is pretty expensive at the moment anyway- a large carton of formula £7 lasts me approx. a week at the moment. To buy the same in cows milk, for 4 8/9oz bottles a day would probably cost this much anyway. The formula is fortified with vitamins too. Just my opinion of course.

i stopped bf completly when ds was 2.11 years old and he stopped himself. i also co slept and still do. you have done an amazing job to get this far

the bottle is also associated with tooth decay and ear infections.

lets have a row

I think I'll decline your offer Motherlove bone and while I accept your point I am pretty certain that provided the Op brushes her DS's teeth twice daily (which I am sure she does) they will be fine. Furthermore, to prevent ear infection you just have to make sure tht the formula doesn't run down his cheek into his ear, which you can do by not feeding him flat on his back.

for a while after stopping the evening bf my ds sucked from a tippee cup like a bottle. best of both worlds. Don't wean him onto a bottle only to have to wean him off again a month or two later

How is sucking milk from a Tommee Tippee spout different to sucking from a teat in terms of tooth decay? (In a genuinely interested, non-confrontional manner )

it is not different at all . the main point is - and i did not make this very clear- that it only lasted a few weeks, no bottles involved and ds now drinking normally from tippee cup (which is better than bottle i think, something to do with the time the drink stays in the mouth)

Well the reason I thought bottles might be preferable for the op is because she says she still breastfeeds alot during the night, and I think bottles might be a better/easier substitute than a cup at 10.5mths. Totally up to of course champagne!

I mean totally up to YOU of course champagne.