boob to formula - what about my milk supply?

[lazzaroo]

My littl eon is 6.5 months and has been EBF. She has always refused a bottle so we have recently been practicing with a doidy cup and are making progress. I always intended to stop BF at 6 months but the bottle refusal has delayed things. However, since she started on solids she has become less interested in feeding anyway so maybe this is my chance.

she feeds when she wakes. I then offer her mid morning and mid-afternoon. Is it just as simple as now offering her formula from the cup instead of boob? and what about my milk supply?

Do I need to cut out breastfeeding altogether or can I continue first thing in morning and at night? will this confuse her?

Sorry if these are stupid questions! just after some guidance.

Well done for getting to 6 mths! I'm assuming you want to cut out the daytime BFs because you're returning to work and don't want to have to express?

In order to avoid the possibility of mastitis/blocked ducts you need to drop her breast feeds gradually - perhaps drop one feed every 4-5 days until you have dropped all of the feeds that you need to, to allow your milk supply to reduce gradually. Substitute formula for those feeds as milk should still be her main source of nutrition until around 12 mths.

You may find she isn't keen on the taste of formula - not sure what to advise on that - just keep offering it, I guess.

Not a problem at all to keep up morning & evening breastfeeds - do this for as long as you/she likes. Those feeds will continue to give her all the benefits of breastfeeding (increased immunity etc) even though not all of her feeds are breast milk.

Hope this helps

I'm not returning to work yet but would like to cut back on how much I amfeeding her. To be honest my experience of Bf has been very up and down. I have wanted to quit on a number of occassins but am pleased we stuck it out. She has always been very sickly and suffered terribly with wind so the whole feeding process was difficult for me to start. Things have improved but I have very fast let down and she is way too distracted to feed properly during the day so doing it while out and about is difficult.

Thanks for the advise. Will give it a go. Up unti now I have only fed from one boob at each feed., Wold it make any difference if I now offered both at each feed? would that help supply or not?

Hi Lazz,

Not sure I really understand your concern about supply? Yes, if you drop feeds your supply will drop, no two ways about it, however if you continue with a morning and an evening feed your supply will adjust to enable you to maintain this.

Offering both sides at each feed is always advisable if you're concerned about a dwindling supply, and may also help to reduce the forcefulness of your letdown (as the boob that you start with at each feed will have possibly had some milk removed at the previous feed, rather than 2 feeds ago, if you see what I mean?

Hope things are going well for you.

Thank you. Things are going well and your reply has been helpful