trying to wind down bf at 9 months but getting painful blocked ducts, any advice?

[fairylights]

I would like to start getting dd off the boob as i have huge exams next month and she is going to stay at her grandma's (for my sanity!) so it would be good if she could be happily onto a bottle/cup combo for feeds. she is happy about taking bottles/a cup but as soon as i miss a feed i start to get agonizing lumps esp in my left breast. I had mastitis at 3 mo and have found bf dd a rocky ride at times (i bf my ds with no probs at all) and i am paranoid about getting mastistis again!
I have thought about continuing to bf and then expressing for the few days she is away but even though i have a medela electric breast pump i have never found expressing really gets all the milk out for me!
and i am happy with the decision to finish feeding her myself now..
anyway any advice welcome, TIA

instead of dropping a feed at a time u could try making each feed smaller - i.e. give a couple of ounces from bottle/cup first then top up with boob? Can do this with one/some/all feeds and gradually increase amount from bottle over days/couple of weeks dependng on how comfy u are. I did this to stop as really couldn't cope with the pain of dropping feeds! (and kept getting lumps and always found expressing didn't work properly once I'd got lumpy & engorged). Was also nice emotionally cos it was really gradual. Good luck

ooh swingvoter i hadn't thought of doing that, great idea! was only thinking in terms of breast OR bottle but a bit of both could be the way ahead..
how you describe getting the lumps/pain etc is exactly how i feel at the moment.
Right, i will be off to buy a tub of formula in the morning, right after i have cast my vote