I want to wean at 6 months

[Rasha]

My son is turning 5 months in days. He eats 5-6 times daily. I breast feed most times and bottle feed pumped milk very often. Occasionally I give a bottle of formula just so the baby is used to it in case I cannot take it and need to wean. Truth is, I hate being a breast feeding mother, although I don't hate bf itself. I love that I can do something good for my boy and I love holding him to feed. I hate having larger than size D breasts. I got stretch marks on them after I started feeding. I see them increase every day. I am trying to lose weight but do not. I hate my breasts filling up overnight. My baby sleeps through and I have to wake up at times to pump. I pump 2-3 times a day.
My son started teething. It hurts. In my community some mothers bf 4 months some a year, no rules. I insisted on bf with no supplements for 4 months. I want to wean at 6 months to get my life back. I work as a presenter on TV and hate being big breasted. I feel ugly and vulgar and in pain. As for my baby, he prefers the bottle ( with breast milk) but will nurse happily but lesser amounts. If I wean him tomorrow he will not notice because he got used to every feeding method. I just don't want to stop for health reasons. My son has not gotten sick once. I heard that my at 6 months babies eat twice a day and feed twice a day. How can I make my breast produce less milk and shrink again if I decide to go on.

Not sure what to say, there are a lot of different issues in your post.

Sorry, tried to be more coherent and helpful but I'm tired and can't think.

Giving up breastfeeding doesn't give you your life back by the way...

I think you might be better posting in the breast and bottle feeding topic - we mainly discuss starting solids here, so it's less likely to be seen by the people who have the expertise to help you.

Hope you can find a solution

try and post in the breast and bottle feeding section but babies need to feed more than twice a day for a good while longer than 6 month, breastfed babies need to feed pretty much on demand to keep supply up. If you dislike how breastfeeding feels so much there is no reason that you should continue. I love breastfeeding my baby. But you sound so tired of it. Also stopping breastfeeding only means you are not feeding from the breast, they still need to be held, fed and cared for just as much on formula and then you have the added hassle of sterilising bottle and making bottles. If you cut down on breastfeeds considerably, your milk supply will lessen and your breasts will probably 'shrink' but they will have been changed by being pregnant and breastfeeding so may be different to what you had before. As your baby is happy however way you feed him as you are have been mixing breast and bottle, it really is up to you if you want to stop, you have done well breastfeeding for nearly 6 months, and it sounds like you are in a lot of discomfort, hope someone else will give better advice, hope you feel better about feeding your baby soon

i think if you stop pumping, your breasts will stop producing that extra milk. so whenever you feel too full and your baby is asleep, just let off as little as you can to feel comfortable. I breast fed exclusively til 6 months (i tried to wean earlier but she wasn't having any of it - she waited til she could just eat spagetti bolognese and watermelon with her hands) and i'm sure my kids slept through the night then. i think they just had 5 or so feeds between 7 and 7. as soon as the feeding reduced at 6 months my boobs dropped a couple of sizes very quickly, thank heavens. good luck!