DS 20m prefers cow's milk to mummy milk, is this the end of bf?

[weasle]

I have posted about our recent night-time problems last week on the sleep board, but i wanted a bf related outpouring today, sorry it this is long.

DS2 is 20months and still bf to sleep . it has been getting harder and harder to settle him recently. last night i was desperate and after his bf he came off smiling and playing so i gave him a cup of cows milk which he drank about 150ml of and then was sleepy and suckled for about 10minutes but i don't think he got any more milk from me (no swallowing etc).

Am really feeling that this is going to be the end of bf and am so upset that he settled with the cows milk and not me. i always have felt i have a low supply and think perhaps my storage capacity is small and then the flow after that only a trickle. Am gutted as am so pro-bf. also want to keep bf for a long flight in a month. do i offer the cows milk every night? surely my supply will then dwindle further (last month i tried to cut out day feeds and milk almost disappeared; then he got flu, woke up loads at night and kick-started it again). But maybe getting him to sleep easily is more important than my pride in bf! I currently feed him 4x/24hours unless he wakes at night and he gets more.

Thanks for listening, just wanted to write it all down

Oh I have been there

DD went through a stage like this just after she had flu actually - turned out she had an ear infection and it hurt her to nurse but I never realised till I took her to the GP and he pieced it together.

It is unlikely he prefers milk from a cup and it is up to you at the end of the day whether you prefer to keep on trying and see what happens or give up.

What is it that makes you think you have low supply? And as for storage capacity, it really isn't the size of your boobs that determines this.

My milk supply is low/negligible as pregnant, but DS still likes to bf. So I make sure he's had water or some cows milk before teeth brushing, to make sure he's not thirsty before sleep, then he still has his bedtime BF as part of his routine.

He had a stage of wanting a cup over a few nights a long time ago, and I thought he was weaning and was , but he switched back. I too was unsure of whether to offer or wait to be asked for one or the other! I think I asked him, 2 nights he wanted a cup, then wanted both, then I made him choose one or the other, as was turning into a stalling tactic and he went for bf! He also has supper of cereal before bed so sure he's not hungry, a habit that started ages ago as a way to crack night waking. I guess lots of extra food/drink before bed maybe reduced his demand and my supply, but I feel as long as I still offer feeds, or feed him when he wants to, it will all balance out and its all part of natural weaning, a bit mother-led and a bit child-led.
I'm flying soon too and want to hang on to BF for that reason too, it works so well! I'm sure they'll both comfort nurse when about to meltdown tired when it comes to it though!

Thanks for the replies. Nice to hear i'm not the only one, and it isn't necessarily the end.

the last couple of nights have been much better and he has breastfed, then come off and fallen asleep lying next to me! Unheard of to fall asleep not still attached! Tonight however he didn't settle so i gave him a bit of cows milk and he latched back on and sucked to sleep.

he is hardly feeding at all in the day, even on waking in the morning, so that won't help supply. maygirl, your story is lovely, thank you for sharing.

Daily male - i have always had low confidence in my supply (ds1 'failure to thrive' on bf alone) and have a really slow let down so often ds2 gets fed up and wanders off. also i have tubular hypoplastic breast(s), probably on one side.

should have some faith now i have got to 20 months, shouldn't i, but am still worried about it!