How to stop breastfeeding?

[ajjj]

DD is 6mo next week. Been ebf and the past week has took some formula from a bottle but with lots of shushing bouncing etc and then refuses it

she bf to sleep and wakes frequently for comfort. Some nights it feels like she just is on me all night

I feel stuck and have for a while I don’t know how to stop she’s so difficult with bottles and won’t take it

do I just have to dry my milk up so she’ll take formula? Because I’ve heard she can smell me my milk wtc

no judgment please I just really want to switch to bottles I don’t want to bf anymore

Tips please ?? Xx

With us DH took each DS off to his DParents without me for a few days. But DSs were older so didn’t need milk at night, but it might still work?

@DelurkingAJ do I maybe do this when she’s weaning as she’ll be having some
bots of food then and maybe drop the night feeds?

but tbh im
unsire if it’s a night feed or just comfort to sleep as she won’t take a dummy and if I try to rock her she just starts rooting and gets angry and cries

I'd wait till 9 months, and start off by dropping the night time. Get DH to go to him. Then drop an extra feed per month etc. (approx)

Is it the bottle she dislikes, or formula?

i had to introduce formula for medical reasons with my daughter at 4 months and she wouldn’t take it despite always having expressed milk from a bottle no problem. So I mixed the two, starting mostly expressed with a little formula, gradually increasing the formula over a couple of weeks until it was all formula. This worked (and she then gave up breastfeeding within a few months even though I didn’t want to!)

if it’s the bottle she dislikes I have no suggestions as I am currently having this battle with my son!!

Thank tou

im not sure actually I’ve never expressed really I tried to at the start and didn’t like kt

i avoided expressing and bottles as HV’s and midwife all went on about being careful to not reduce my supply and now I regret it I wish I would’ve combi fed :( :/ struggling

Emma Pickett has a good podcast for this although it is targeted more for those with older babies - some babies don’t take bottles so you might need to think about cups etc. it’s going to naturally reduce as she starts to take in food and water but make sure you have a way of getting breastmilk/formula into her before you move away from breastfeeding!

My baby is 9 months and still breastfeeding (I haven't tried to stop) but as he's weaning he's less interested in breastfeeding apart from at night when I'm getting him to sleep. But at this age he'll actually drink water from a cup with a straw so maybe if you wean him a bit first then you'll find he's more likely to drink formula from other vessels.

The feeding all night sounds more like a sleep training thing? Mine likes to feed to sleep and isn't able to self soothe yet. I need to do the training for that.

They’ll get the self soothing part by themselves eventually too if you decide not to sleep train and suddenly will stop feeding to sleep! But also feeding can be just a very quick way to pop them back to sleep when they wake!

Gentle perseverance is the best way IME. DC1 was exactly the same when transitioning to bottles at 6 months - completely refused to drink from a bottle at all to begin with (also tried the shushing, bouncing, feeding in bouncer as DH was always at work etc) but slowly she started to take a little and then eventually drank a full one and after that would accept them and I was able to gradually replace all the feeds.

To stop the night feeds, I cut down the feed time by one minute every couple of nights and by the time we were down to about 2 or 3 minutes she just stopped walking, but she was only waking for the one feed anyway and it seemed like it was due to habit! Hope you get sorted soon as I know it feels incredibly stressful at the time and seems like it will never happen!

Thanks yes he is starting to do a bit of that. I've started putting him in his cot instead of co sleeping anyway.

@ajjj do you need to urgently stop or so you have time to slowly adjust?

Ok good news I have just been a bit stressed

i woild like to soon as possible as I start work again in October and she goes to nursery

and I’d love to treat my eldest to a 1-2-1 evening with me and DH he’s been the best big brother so patient and caring considering she’s not been able to stay out yet or be babysat for a long time by nana & grandad

Im still breastfeeding at 12 months (my baby will have a bottle with other care givers) but my group of nct friends had all stopped by 9 months. They just swapped a feed to a bottle every few days. Maybe pick a day time feed that isn’t linked to a nap as a first go? Less pressure! Also I wouldn’t stop suddenly as you’ll have a big hormonal drop and potentially feel pretty shit.