I am winding down with breastfeeding and hope I am doing the right thing. Anyone want to offer their thoughts?

[cece]

DC3 is 13 months. He has been exclusively bf. I did try him with formula at 7 months, so I could go out somewhere, and it became apparent that he is dairy intolerant.

He has since been on a diary free diet. The doc prescribed nutramigen, but I only use it to mix his cereal for breakfast. It is so disgusting he won't drink it. I have also tried giving him soya formula and just normal soya milk. He won't drink either of those either!

I know he drinks water fine from the cups I have so know it isn't a problem using them. He just won't drink any sort of milk other than breastmilk.

Anyway, last week he caught my nipple with his teeth and made me bleed. This is either the fourth or fifth incident of this since xmas.

As I was so sore I pumped milk from that breast for 4 days, before trying him again. He now won't drink from that breast! Oh and he wouldn't drink my pumped milk either.

Still with me?!

So my friends have all suggested now might be a good time to ease off the bf. I have cut out the feed during the day since last week. However, he is still not drinking any of the laternatives to a bf. He is just having water during the day atm.

This morning I also cut out the first morning feed. Again he didn't have any milk instead, just water and his cereal.

So

Will he drink alternatives to BM in the long run?

Am I doing the right thing easing off the bf? - I am not sure - had intended to bf till 18 months or so... but the biting and bleeding hurts!

My sort of plan is to stop the mrong feed this week and see how just the bedtime feed goes.... maybe continue with just this or stop that soonish too.

Sympathy re: the biting, does not sound nice.

He's over a year, he's biten you several times, he'll only drink from one side, and he will not even drink breastmilk from a cup? And you aren't sure if you are doing the right thing

Have you tried enriched oat milk? Although from what you say unlikely he'll drink it.

ok well a few things just off the top of my head. my ds2 is dairy intolerant so get where you';re coming from

i wouldn't give up bf if it's his only form of milk. he's getting lots of nutrition from it, inc calcium which is fairly hard to provide without some sort of milk. obviously there are other things, but milk is easiest!

will he drink alternative milk? maybe. maybe not. i would really want to be sure he was drinking a fortified milk alternative before stopping the breastmilk

biting: 4 or 5 times since Christmas really isn't that bad. not even once a month. I know it hurts, but he will learn not to do it. I find with ds3 that he bites when he has had enough (apparently it's too easy to just come off when you're done) so i watch for when he finishes sucking and take him off before he can bite

you say you arne't sure if you're doing the right hting stopping. so don't stop. if you do stop and then decie it wasn't the right decision then you'll feel crappy. but if you carry on then there are no real downsides are there? it's something that IMO you need to be sure about.

Things have gone so pear shaped this past week though - what with him only feeding from one side and not drinking any other type of milk. Sigh. And TBH I am very tense and not enjoying the feeding whilst I am waiting for him to hurt me iyswim.

I think if he were drinking some sort of milk then I would be much happier with stopping. My friend who is a HV thinks he will only drink alternatives once he is not getting BM. She seems to think he will get enough calcium from his diet. I make rice puddings with soya milk and he has soya yoghurts etc.

I did try him with some of the strawberry flavoured soya milk this afternoon. He wouldn't take it from a lidded cup but did sip some (not much but some) from a beaker.

She probably is; she is very sensible and practical. It just doesn't seem right - him not having any milk at all if I stop!

if you'd said your friend was a dietician i'd have agreed...!

i'm sure she is a great health visitor, but that doens't automatically make her knowledgeab le on breastfeeding/diet

i don't mean to offend, but pretty much every breastfed baby I know is happy to take other forms of milk/food/drink....

soya isn't encouraged in large amounts, esp in boys because of the levels of oestrogen in it

i am a strong, strong believer in mother's instinct.
if it doesn't feel right then don't do it! I gave up breastfeeding with ds1, I had a lot of "advice" from friends who thought i'd be better off stopping.
I still regret it to this day