Weaning and milk feeds

[Cinnamon84]

Ds is almost 6 months- I'm wondering how milk feeds go once babies start on solids?
I'm keen to stop breastfeeding as it's been difficult from the start and he's happy to take formula from a bottle.
If I stop bfing during the day and replace these feeds with formula would I still be able to feed him through the night? He wakes 2 or 3 times between 7 and 7 and it's so much easier to breastfeed in the night than make up a bottle feed- also he doesn't seem to want much (his feeds seem very short recently and he's not interested at all in the day- i have to switch sides about 3 times before he finally settles for about 5 minutes then he wants to sit up)
How much milk do they need in the day if they are taking solids? We tried a bit of purée the other day and he took almost 60ml of avocado and pear and drank about 2oz of water afterwards- is this overdoing it?
I'm clueless sorry! If anyone can share what their 6m old ears/drinks during the day night that would be really helpful- thanks!

Hello Cinnamon. I'll try to answer all of your questions, hopefully

Yes you can ff in the day and bf at night.

The current minimum for formula from 6 to 12 months is 20floz. However, as you will also be bfing, I'm not sure on the quantities. A BFC should be able to advise you on the this, do you have the Bfing Helpline numbers?

As for the quantities I'm not sure as I never measured what I gave them

According to the NHS guidelines on starting solids babies should move to 3 meals a day between 8 and 9 months, so I'd stick with just the one meal for now.

If you wish to switch to formula, I think the current advice is to swap one feed every 2 weeks. This is to reduce your risk of mastitis and to give time for baby to adjust to the new quantities.

It's also advised to give solids roughly an hour after their milk feed. This is to make sure that baby doesn't drop their milk too quickly. If very important that baby drinks their milk at this age, solids are just really a little add on.

With all of this in mind, it might be worth swapping the early morning bf, at about 6 or 7 am for a bottle of formula and then offering breakfast an hour later. Do that for a couple of weeks and then swap another bf for formula. How does that sound?

Forgot to say, I'd just offer water in a sippy cup with solids, there's no need for him to drink water at this age, especially as you are bfing for the majority of the time at the moment

JJJ- such a helpful response thank you so much!

Hopefully someone will come along who will know how much formula he needs