Weaning to bottle - what about evening feed?

[catyc]

Help!! I've weaned my 6 month old son from breast to bottle today. I know I'm supposed to drop a feed a week, but I've tried in the past & as soon as he realises my boobs are still available he refuses the bottle the next day.

What I'm worried about is what's going to happen tonight. He definitely hasn't drunk as much as usual so I'm not sure if I should bottle feed him just before he goes to bed, or breast feed him so he's got a full tummy.

Trouble is, he's only recently managed to start sleeping through the night - he used to comfort feed around 2pm. His routine now is feed at around 7pm before bed then I go in, leaving the room dark, & top him up just before I go to bed (10.30 ish). He then sleeps till about 6.30pm.

What do you think? Part of thinks use a bottle so he doesn't get confused & part of me is worried that he'll wake during the night through hunger. Ah well, at least it's the weekend & dp can help!

Any particular reason for changing right now? If my ds was just sleeping through I wouldn't have made any changes at all to his routine! Otherwise can't really help. But when I was easing off breastfeeding I gave more and more milk by cup and that didn't confuse him at all.

I have to. I've hated breastfeeding from day one. It's making me more and more depressed. If it weren't for the health benefits to ds I would have given it up ages ago, but I was determined to get him to 6 months before changing over. I'm at the point now where I can't go out for fear of bursting into tears, which I'm sure isn't much fun for him either! I feel bad about it because it's supposed to this wonderful opportunity to bond, ... but it's breaking my heart.

Message withdrawn

I have to say - well done, catyc! To get to 6 months, if you've hated it so much - that's real dedication.

I moved to mixed breast and bottle to make returning to work easier.

I dropped one feed every few days, keeping the breakfast and bedtime feeds on. The bedtime feed was the very last one I dropped -was the most comforting to him and me.

I had given him breast milk from a bottle from an early age so he didn't reject the teat.

HTH

Catyc - good for you getting this far. Don't be afraid to let him have the breast tonight if it helps him settle. You might find that you will get very engorged so it might be better for you to let him feed to relieve engorgement. The last thing you want is to get mastitis at this stage.If he is taking the bottle OK then doing that will not be a problem.

Edgarcat, He had had bottles from day 3, but I gave him a cup for some feeds from about 7months - the Boots one that's got no vacuum seal - I think the anywayups are too hard for littlys. He quite liked it as the milk just poured down him!! Quite often I didn't use it at all, as I am not organised, we just went with the flow so to speak.

I agree with the others, ctayc, if you hate it and you've made it to six months, well done to you. But... how about keeping that nighttime feed for the moment. Once you don't have to feed during the day, you might quite like the cuddle up at the end of the day in private. I used to feed ds in front of TOTP2, with a glass of red wine in my hand and dh in the kitchen making supper. Very happy memories!

I echo those who say well done catyc ... to have gone on for 6 months whilst hating it means you are top mum of the year IMO!!!!! I am really impressed!!

Me too - well done for lasting it this long - hope you feel better about life now