Advice on gently stopping breastfeeding and introducing bottles at eight months

[ReD96]

My DS is coming up 8 months old and until we started weaning was EBF but I’m looking to start weaning him off the boob but it feels like a lot of conflicting information.
he bites me (he has a good few teeth to dig in,) nips, scratches, pulls and has about 8-10 wake ups a night and I don’t feel as comfortable in public in anymore as I used to and I want to end it on a high so if I’m blessed with anymore kids I feel like I can feed them as well.
Is he still young enough to need a bottle? Should he go straight onto follow on milk?
how did people do it? With my eldest I went cold turkey but she was only 3 months old so straight on to bottles but this seems not as straight forward as that and I want to minimise the discomfort as much as possible, I’m happy for it to be a slow process.

any tips would be appreciated ❤️

Yes, he'll need a bottle and formula until he's 1 - milk is still his main source of nutrients until then, even if he's eating well.

Will he take a bottle? Introducing one at 8 months might not be easy. You may want to try cup feeding too; incase that goes better... but really all you can do is take it as slowly as you can, to make it as gentle as possible. Some kids do well at adapting, others find it really difficult.

Also prepare yourself for the night wakes to be worse for a while.

You could try buying matching nipple shields and bottles and then use them both in tandem so baby is used to the same shape teet and your supply regulated as you introduce the formula. That’s what I did worked brillianty.

if you have expressed milk stashed in the freezer some people use that up on the bottle or mix it with formula half and half - I didn’t bother with that myself but some friends have done.

@ReD96 If you’re planning to use some expressed milk during the transition, are you thinking of using a freezer stash or expressing fresh for bottles? It seems like the storage and timing side can become a bit of a juggling act once bottles are introduced regularly.

I’ve never expressed before so if I did start it would be just for the weaning process and if I’m being honest the thought of expressing and storing ect intimidates me massively

Hadn’t thought about nipple shields, thank you!! I’ll have a look in to it.

I’ve never expressed, I find the whole process so over whelming and confusing

He’s never had a bottle, I’ve never even tried one! I’m just finding breast feeding hard work at the moment, I’ve got 3 other kids and I’ve been back at work since he was 8 weeks old (the curse of being self employed) so now that he’s so active and biting and nipping ect it’s just become a lot.
Does the formula have to be in a bottle? Could I say give him a drink of formula with his breakfast in the morning? And a drink of formula before bed? From say his sippy cup?
I don’t want to rush it and I plan to keep up with night feeds a little longer, it’s more when he’s wide awake and making it uncomfortable or difficult to feed in public that I’m ready to slow down with

I stopped at 8 months, but I was already combination feeding. Baby was surprisingly fine with it (and night wakes went down for us...). You can also give a cup of formula before or after a meal, depending on where weaning is going.

NHS recommends formula to 12 months, then cows milk. Canada say cows milk fine from nine months. WHO did a study showing cows milk was no different from formula from six months! Make of that what you will. Americans are obsessed with the idea that cows milk before 12 months is dangerous (with basically no evidence). I know I put whole milk on cereal and in food from six months old, and the NHS say that's fine.

I wouldn’t go into bottles at that age. I’d get him using a straw cup instead. He needs stage 1 formula only, full on formula is a con. I wouldn’t rely on the night wakes reducing though! That many wakes I’d be reducing day naps and later bedtime - he sounds very undertired for the night

You don’t need to give follow in milk, normal suitable from birth formula is fine.
You can drop one feed at a time, usually start with an afternoon one when your supply is lowest, and keep the last one at night/overnight feeds until last as they will be more about comfort than food.
You could also introduce formula in a cup during the day rather than in a bottle, then it’s easy to replace this with cow’s milk/water when he turns 1.
If you do it gradually say drop 1 feed every week or two your boobs shouldn’t suffer.

@ReD96 I completely get why it feels overwhelming once you start reading about expressing, bottles, fridge/freezer storage and timings it suddenly feels like there’s loads to remember 😅 I’d keep it really simple at first and only express what you actually need rather than worrying about building a big freezer stash straight away. This guide lays out the basic breast milk storage timings and options quite clearly, which might make that part feel a bit less confusing:
tilcare.com/breast-milk-storage-guidelines/
You definitely don’t need to figure everything out at once 😊

I wouldn’t give him formula milk at the same time as a meal. I’d also use a sippy cup instead of bottle.

See I’d disagree with PP on the follow on milk. I know they don’t need it and they can stay on stage 1 but stage 2 is usually cheaper, not excluded from special offers, you can collect reward points and it still meets the nutritional needs of babies over 6 months. I get not switching from stage 1 if you’re already using it and baby is happy on it but if you’re starting from scratch may as well go with stage 2 and save the money. Bottles or a sippy cup are fine OP, whatever he’ll take it in, and once completely switched from breastfeeding at 8MO you’d probably be aiming for about 4 feeds a day of around 7oz each but that can vary baby to baby.