What can i expect stopping Breastfeeding?

[Gooders79]

Forumites plesae give me some advice... I am thinking of stopping bfing, or decreasing the number of feeds at least, currently giving my 10 mo. At the moment he's probably having 5/6 feeds in 24 hr period (7am, about 11am, 3 ish, 6:30ish and then often again at 5 am, sometimes about midnight). I'm going back to work in September and want to have dropped both the night and daytime feeds by then, might be ok with the morning and the bedtime one for a month or two but not much longer... He won't take a bottle at the moment, will take bits but small amounts from a cup.

So I have a few questions...

1. How do I go about it?

2. What can I expect with respect to hormonal changes, differences with integration with little gooders and any physical/emotional consequences!

Thanks

[hellosailor]

Hi,

with respect to the hormonal side of things, don't panic if you do have a hormonal crash for a few days when you stop, potentially like very bad pmt. Lots of people don't have this but I know a lot of people, myself included, who spent a few days as a soggy mess when giving up bfing, vividly remember wandering round co-op quietly crying and wondering whether I'd gone mad!

After 5 or 6 days, it was as if a could lifted, and I felt back to my old self. But those days were really rough, so good to know in advance that you can feel this crash, so that you don't worry if you do! It will pass!

x

[Jo'sEnglish]

I dropped each feed gradually, one at a time with a week or two in between dropping this. I think this helped with the hormones but also the feelings of attachment with my baby. I still had a little cry at the last ever feed though!!! Despite this my boobs were quite hard and lumpy for about a week after stopping. I worried about mastitis coming back (I'd had it before) but it was fine.

Have you tried giving formula in a bottle or just expressed milk? My baby wouldn't really touch a bottle with expressed milk but drank formula fine weirdly enough!

[Convex]

i dropped 3 feeds over about 4 weeks and didn't experience a crash, am still feeding twice a day so that could be why.

but i did get lumpy boobs and mastitis, although i have to say im really prone to mastitis so i wouldn't worry too much about that!

the advice i got was it takes your boobs between 3-7 days to adjust to each dropped feed.

i like feeding only twice a day, its a nice cuddly feed in bed in the morning and i get to have a few more zzzz's sometimes too. the evening feed is less fun as he is normally hyper and distracted so we just do a little bit from each and then he gets a bottle!

[Saffron]

Which bottles have you tried?

Check out Yoomi or Breastflow bottles. They're not cheap, but you might put an add up in the Family Classifieds to see if anyone has some in good condition that you could trial. xx

[Gooders79]

Thanks for the reassurances... Think we will focus on giving up the night feeds then the 11am one, then try again at transitioning some of the others to bottles with a very determine effort. The potential hormonal effects makes me think I need to get this more sorted before I get back to work, the last thing I need is being a bit tearful whilst already feeling a bit shaky bam at work.

So far we've ride the dr browns, Avent, tommee tippee, and nuk, he won't even let a teat go near his mouth, just lips clamped and a determined head shake. To be honest though we probably haven't let him get really hungry enough. If these don't work with another trial we might well try the breast flow and yoomi as you've recommended saffron. Jos English, we haven't ec tried him on any formula so maybe that will be worth a try too... Any recommendations on what type of formula I should be trying for a 10 mo?

Thanks again.

[Saffron]

What about a doidy cup? Some babies never take a bottle, and go straight to a cup. xx

[Pickle]

I found that feeds other than morning and bedtime very naturally phased out towards a year old with my children, so it might be that you don't really have to do much and nature/balance between solids and milk helps you out. Make sure he has a hearty breakfast, and at the normal mid morning milk time try offering finger foods instead.

Also, I'm not sure it's worth worrying about formula - by the time you get him successfully on bottles you will be approaching a year old, personally I would go straight to cows milk at that point.

My middle child refused bottles completely until around 14/15 months, but was only feeding twice a day so it didn't bother me too much. When we started offering cows milk she was much more receptive, I honestly think she didn't like formula.

As feeds dropped gradually for us I didn't have any problems with engorgement or hormones, it all felt very natural.

Good luck x

[Convex]

You could also try a soft spouted beaker as a transition between boob and cup.