Terrified of weaning from the breast- give me your best tips!

[Teachtolive]

I need to wean my baby from the breast at 6 months. She's just gone 5 months and I'm dreading it. Not because I don't want to but because she seems to rely on it for comfort so much. She has never developed a pattern of feeds so it'll be very hard just to drop feeds here and there although she has taken some expressed milk from a bottle so that's something. I'm just worried she'll become inconsolable without the breast. Does anyone have any tips that might help?

Sorry, it’s hard to tell from your post Teach if you want to stop Bfing or if you feel that you should.

As for the comfort, you will both find other ways of settling her. It’s just the end of one phase and the beginning of another.

If you do want to stop Bfing, I’d pick one feed, maybe her first in the morning and give formula instead. It’s recommended to drop one feed every 2 weeks to get her used to the increased amounts that she will need to drink and to reduce your risk of Mastitis. If yiu are wanting to drop feeds more quickly, I’d call one of the Bfing Helplines and they will help you to come up with a plan.

Don’t be surprised if she only takes small amounts at first. Bf babies drink roughly one fluid ounce an hour, so if she currently goes 3 hours between feeds, she’s unlikely to drink more than 3floz of formula at first

Following as I'm in the same boat!

Jilted thank you so much for that advice. It's so detailed, brilliant info to have. I both want to (in some respects anyway!) and need to (returning to work and don't want to pump).

My first child was bottle fed from 6 weeks and was a textbook baby with the amounts so I'm in a bit of a spin about introducing food and milk at the same time. Can't even decide if I should stick with bottles or try a cup. If I do the cup I wonder will it help her forget the breast? Or if I keep the bottle will it help mimic the comfort if the breast for her??

Argh...why is this so confusing? It was so easy the last time.

If she’s a,lready tsking a bottle for you, i’d go with that for now. How old will she be when you return to work?

Around 7 months when I go back

Just for your info I have gone back to work when baby was 7 months (3 weeks ago). I also can't be arsed pumping. I bf morning before work and when i get in at 5.30. Bedtime and 2/3 x in the night if I'm lucky

While I'm at work she's offered formula but only takes 50-100 ml...shes totally happy though and prefers to wait for boob! It's totally fine if your ready to stop but if you are still enjoying bf going back to work does not mean you have to stop

I did the same Scarlet [smike]

Thanks Scarlet, that's very reassuring. How far out from going back to work did you start reducing her feeds? Have you managed to avoid mastitis??

My DD was 9 months when I went back to work and I’ve also managed to continue feeding her just morning and nights, and through they day when I’m off. I don’t express at all as I’m rubbish at it. She takes a little bit of formula when I’m out, but not much. I’ve had no supply issues at all and no mastitis. I’m out of the house for 12 hours but apart from being quite uncomfortable at the end of the first couple of days it’s been fine. We did do a few practice half-day sessions with nursery / grandparents first so not sure if that helped.

If you’re ready to stop completely hope it goes well (I’m thinking about stopping all day time feeds in the next few weeks as she’s almost 1 and I’m ready, but also worried about the comfort thing). Don’t stress about it though as going back to work doesn’t have to mean the end. It’s possible to keep going like I have, or you could do it more gradually if that’s easier, rather than giving yourself a deadline of when you have to stop. Good luck!

Sorry only just saw this! I didn't reduce anything I just went with the flow! Same as previous poster...im out 12h a day and just hand expressed once at work for first couple of days until my supply adjusted

Thanks Scarlet good to know :)

What you’ll also find is that once she starts weaving onto solids, more of a pattern will emerge with milk feeds too, whether bf or ff.

Although solids intake isn’t much at the beginning, over the next few months it’ll help that she’s being offered some food at set meal times. I think once my 3 dc started weaning, I offered a bf on waking, mid morning, mid afternoon, bedtime. Then by 12 months or so the mid morning and afternoon feeds tend to be dropped once they’re taking more solids, and usually naps have become less but longer.

I also found with ds1 and dd that once they started nursery at 12 months, the nursery routine helped me settle them into a better pattern at home too! I’d taken a career break by the time we had ds2 though.