Anyone stopping breastfeeding at 6 months?

[leigh5tom]

Hi everyone.

So in a weeks time my little man will be 6 months old! Can't beeline it. If someone would have told me when he was a few weeks old that I would end up feeding him this long I wouldn't have believed them.

Anyway, I'm thinking about stopping breastfeeding & moving to bottles. But have no idea if it's worth it! Would it be easier for me to just carry on and express milk for him whilst I'm at work? The only problem I can see with that is we've had issues before where he's shown a preference to the bottle (I have quite a slow let down I think) and I worry he will refuse the breast totally if he has regular bottles for his milk! I don't like sippy cups either, they're a pain in the rear end!

I suppose I'm looking to see if anyone else is stopping feeding at 6 months, and what they intend to do instead xxxxx

 

[missk1989]

I always said i would stop at 6 months but ended up going until 16 months! That said I didnt return to work until lo was 11 months and wouldnt have wanted to pump at work. You will have to pump every few hours to keep up your supply until lo is fully weaned on solids but there is a compromise if you dont want to do that. You could try formula by day and bf whenever you are home. Your body will adjust to accomodate this and will be fine. You may just have to be prepared for lo opting for bottles fulltime either way.

 

[sheldonsmommy]

I stopped at about 8 months. I just gradually moved him to formula one bottle a day for a few days, then 2 for a few days, and so on.

I think pumping at work is really tough, and a lot of work but if it's important to you that he continues to get breastmilk, it's definitely worth a shot! It's possible he may end up preferring the bottle (my son certainly did at 8 months because he could hold it himself and play with it) but you could continue giving him the breast for bedtime?

 

[pinkpolkadot]

Yes we stopped at 6 mths last time and probs will again this time. I just gradually weaned her introducing an extra bottle every few days.

I found it hard going expressing but if you find it OK then that is defo an option to try I guess before totally stopping

 

[parrotlover]

My baby is currently 4 months old, and I plan on stopping breastfeeding at 6 months. I pump every 2 hours at work. I will transition to formula during the 6th month, and slowly get my boobs back to normal (no more milk) too. I don't have difficulty pumping at work, or pumping enough at work. Me and my husband decided we would only go 6 months. Baby uses the bottle (with breastmilk) with husband and/or at the daycare/sitter. It took a ton of work to get him to use the bottle, but he seems fine with it now. I am very proud I could go this long breastfeeding.

 

[redneckhippy]

My baby isn't here yet, but I plan on stopping at 6 months. I will be starting a very intensive program then and it just won't be realistic to continue breastfeeding. In an ideal world I'd like to go longer, but if I can give my baby 6 months of breastmilk I think that's pretty good.

 

[SazzleR]

I stopped feeding DS1 at 6 months & am planning on doing the same with DS2. With both of them, I had to go back to work when they were/are 8 months old so I wanted them to be fully weaned by then. I'm a teacher & there's no way I could pump at work. I know they technically have to provide you with a space etc. but practically, it just wouldn't work.

DS1 happily took a bottle with no issues so I stopped really slowly last time. One week I replaced one feed then the next week, a second feed. However, this is as far as I got with weaning him off! I think he then clicked that a bottle was much less work & refused to feed from me I was gutted cos I never got to enjoy that last feed. And ouch, the engorgement was awful!! I wore 2 bras for a few days just so my boobs didn't move

I'm hoping I'll be able to wean DS2 off slowly & savour that last feed. He's our last baby so it's kind of bittersweet Getting my body back but never feeding another baby.

I'll be honest, the sterilising & making of bottles was a faff but DS1 was only having 3/4 feeds a day when I stopped BF as he was weaning so it wasn't too bad. My sister has FF from the beginning with her LG who's 5 months old & has a Perfect Prep machine. I'm very tempted to get one myself for 6 months+! Loads easier than boiling kettles & all that faff!

 

[dairymomma]

With both my older kids, I was supplementing by 6 months and fully weaned them to bottles by 7. My supply went down when I went back to work and never recovered with DS and DD1 had lots of reflux/GI issues that seemed worse if I gave her breast milk. I'm coming up to 2 months with DD2 so we'll see how long I can go. I'm hoping for a year but I'll settle for whatever I get. I've really worked on building my supply in the last few weeks as I'll be going back to work in a few weeks and don't want to stop nursing yet. (My job is split into two shifts and I'll be able to nurse at any time if I need to. Just one of the perks of being self-employed. )