Switching from breast to bottle at 5 months

[mrsthor31]

Hi, I'm in need of some advice please. I have been breastfeeding my little girl for 5 months now (with the exception of the odd bottle of formula in the early days) for the last two weeks I was advised to give her some formula during the day due to weight loss. (She is also on the v small side - 7th percentile) I started giving her two bottles of formula a day, which she LOVES! Then it's slowly been increasing as she's been refusing the boob. She prefers the bottle now. Although I'm very upset I think we're ready to switch to formula now. (She's put on lots of weight already - so it's a good thing)
As she's 5 months how do I go about this? How much does she have in the day? And how often? I have no idea really. And will my milk just dry up? I can tell that I'm not producing anywhere near as much as I was before already.
She's 5 months and weighs 12.5
Thank you

I’d start by looking at the guidelines on the tin for how much and how many bottles a day then adjust for what she wants. My DD always needed more bottles than the guidelines which I knew. If your DD is finishing a bottle and crying for more then it shows you need to give more and if she’s leaving a lot then decrease the bottles.
I had to slowly reduce my breastfeeds otherwise I became engorged and uncomfortable so I wouldn’t just stop, i’d replace one feed with a bottle then give it a couple of days for your body to adjust then so on.

I used to feed on waking from naps as that was when DD was hungry. You should always allow your baby to decide how much they want, so they should stop feeding before the bottle is empty. If she finishes the bottle then offer more.