Weaning & combined breast and formula feeding

[Saffagette]

I've just started weaning DS2 who is now six months old. Forgotten everything I did first time around! Besides I was b-feeding DS1 a bit less than this time around. Currently I bf on demand, maybe five to seven feeds in a 24-hour period, and two 200ml bottles of formula per day. I find it really difficult to gauge how much breast milk I actually feed, especially as I currently have to bf him to nap (that's a whole other thread!). So the guidelines on how much milk they should have once eating three solid meals a day isn't very helpful for me as I've not found any that relate to combine feeding.

I know I should bf on demand, but I presume that he'll eventually take less milk, and I would prefer to reduce the formula first, before reducing the bf - so I don't want to leave it entirely to him to gradually wean off breast. We struggled with weight gain in the early weeks and he was so hungry bless him 😔 I don't want to put him thru the hunger again.

Basically I'm interested in how many bf sessions I can expect to do once he's having 3x solid meals a day, bearing in mind the formula I find him. This week it's one solid a day, increasing to 2x solid meals next week, then to 3x the week after.

Can anyone clever help me work it out?! I hope this ramble is making some sense. TIA x

It's the same whether you are ff or bf or combination feeding. I have no idea how many feeds I did at the start of weaning. You just feed them when they're hungry, probably around their usual times. You start to introduce a meal or two at a convenient time between milk feeds. Then feed on demand before and after as needed. When they're done, they're done. As for the formula feeds, I would make the same amount as always and offer them pretty much as you normally do, with meals squeezed between. As he starts to eat more food, he'll take less. You'll end up throwing the rest out, but once there is an obvious pattern, you can just make less, and so on. I don't really think either of mine reduced milk feeds before 8-9 months though. You just end up feeding them constantly.

Thanks Mindutopia! You make perfect sense. I was overplanning I guess. And this one is turning out to be quite different from his brother. Now if you could just help me with the naps that'd be great