How to arrange breastfeeding while weaning?

[sevenofnine]

My daughter is almost 6.5 months. We are generally doing one meal a day, but I am not sure how to work it out with breastfeeding. Should I breastfeed the same amount, or is her meal supposed to replace a breastfeeding session?

It's hard because she never shows any hunger cues... she would go hours without eating (if I let her) and just be sitting there smiling! So I generally feed her every 3-4 hours.

She's a petite girl, (just about 14lbs, but very healthy) so I'm weary of replacing meals with baby food as it has less calories. I am adding avocado to a lot of her meals to increase the calories and fat.

What do you recommend? She is somewhat IMPOSSIBLE to contain when it comes to food... if she knows I'm cooking, she has a one-track mind and will whine and reach for the food until I give her some!

 

[pinksmarties]

I bf roughly to the same routine as you (3 hourly) as my lo never really cried out for bf's. Initially you add solids (I think I did lunch first then added breakfast, then eventually tea) and bf as normal. I know a lot will say bf on demand but he never really went for that like your LO. Eventually I tried to extend when I bf to 4 hours so he ended up 'dropping' a feed.

I bf about an hour before I was going to give solids (e.g awake from nap, bf 11am, solids 12 noon) but also made sure that it he wasn't too tired/close to a nap time. I found it hard at the beginning timing everything between naps and bf. Now he has dropped a feed and I bf every 4-4.5 hours.

and my rough routine depending on wake up and nap length is this (we are on 3 meals now)

7.30 wake - bf
8.30 breakfast
11.30 bf
12.30 lunch
4.30 bf
5.30 tea
7 bottle bed
bottle overnight

Just add solids and keep bf as you were before

 

[cat_reversing]

I do roughly the same as pinksmarties and bf her between meals so she's getting something roughly every 2 hours.

 

[xxx_faithful]

Hi sevonofnine,

Nice to find your thread on here. My lil girl is almost 5.5mths, we took awhile to conceive her so we are opting to get this weaning under way and start trying in due time. Same with me i find it all a bit confusing what to feed, when to feed, how much to feed. Now that us new mothers have mastered 'breastfeeding' everything else seems less then easy. I have just recently move to Houston, Texas from Australia. Before we moved, i would feed her after a feed (but before she would get sleepy for her next sleep). As long as she is content she will taste the food and be okay, my issue at the moment is progressing the amount she is having. I am yet to find a handy icecube silicone tray i can buy over here in Houston that will help divide her food into cubes and get them out of the tray easily enough (my stuff is arriving in 2mths via shipment)

Does anyone know how i go about slowly weaning her to formula from breastmilk.. even if its simply one bottle until she's 6mths then another bottle introduced at 7mths? i would love to continue feeding her breastmilk for ever and ever but whats more important right now is getting my body back in the cycle of menstruating (have to take natural remedies for this to occur prior to conception) in order to give her a sibling.

Also sevenofnine, i like your lil bio about you on your threads. It's nice that you can help others on parenting xx

 

[pinksmarties]

faithful - I stopped bf during night feeds and changed to a bottle (formula) when he was 7 month old. He had had the odd bottle of expressed earlier on so knew he would take a bottle. Its just a case of swapping one bfeed for a bottle for 3-4 days before swapping another feed. Stopping too fast may mean engorgement/blocked ducts. I think most people might suggest swapping a mid morning feed first to see how that goes. Up until a couple of weeks ago I had never given LO a bottle it was always OH. I found stopping even the one feed very emotional (bawled my eyes out!!) but after a couple of days it was okay, and when I did have to bottle feed him one night when OH went out it was much better than I anticipated. We now give him an evening/bedtime bottle.

I found the whole formula feeding a bit scary r.e mixing formula, bottle temp etc so started off using ready made cartons and luckily he drank them at room temp so I don't warm his bottles. Once you get going it isn't so bad!

 

[NoodleSnack]

I just feed hin the way and give him food when we're eating or before his bath at night when we're at home. It's more to occupy him, so I don't worry too much about him eating, and he's still bf the same number of times.

 

[xxx_faithful]

faithful - I stopped bf during night feeds and changed to a bottle (formula) when he was 7 month old. He had had the odd bottle of expressed earlier on so knew he would take a bottle. Its just a case of swapping one bfeed for a bottle for 3-4 days before swapping another feed. Stopping too fast may mean engorgement/blocked ducts. I think most people might suggest swapping a mid morning feed first to see how that goes. Up until a couple of weeks ago I had never given LO a bottle it was always OH. I found stopping even the one feed very emotional (bawled my eyes out!!) but after a couple of days it was okay, and when I did have to bottle feed him one night when OH went out it was much better than I anticipated. We now give him an evening/bedtime bottle.

I found the whole formula feeding a bit scary r.e mixing formula, bottle temp etc so started off using ready made cartons and luckily he drank them at room temp so I don't warm his bottles. Once you get going it isn't so bad!

Thanks heaps pinksmarties for your help & advice. What was your reason for weaning? I want to start having my cycles again to try for #2, i'm not sure how long baby #2 will take so i want to reduce my breastfeeding for now to increase the chances. Is there anything i should know before i start? Shall i warm up a tiny lil bit to introduce her first before wasting a whole lot to begin with?

Thanks again, i will let you know how it goes xxx

 

[pinksmarties]

Initially it was to get some sleep!! and so OH could feel a bit more involved then I thought giving him an evening bottle may help with the sleep and allow us to get out for an evening, also he was forever popping on/off the breasts and his total feed was only 5 minutes and I was finding it very frustrating. I am still bf 3 times a day and occasionally I think about stopping, but things are okay at the moment.

As for FF I used the full carton (about 200ml) as Iwasn't sure how much he would take but initially he would only take 3-4 oz at the most so be prepared that she might not take a lot to begin with. After a few days he guzzled down the full bottle! We now use powdered formula and again once you read the instructions and get going its not too bad.

Its up to you about warming, if you warm it she may only ever want it warmed so maybe try room temp first and see how you go. Nothing wrong with warming, lots of people do but I just think bit easier if out and about and they will take it without warming.

I got AF back after 4 months (even though I was ebf!) although my cycles have been shorter than pre baby. They are now 25-26 as compared to 28-29 days. Not sure what that means but we are not ttc atm anyway but I would like it if they went back to 'normal'

 

[xxx_faithful]

Initially it was to get some sleep!! and so OH could feel a bit more involved then I thought giving him an evening bottle may help with the sleep and allow us to get out for an evening, also he was forever popping on/off the breasts and his total feed was only 5 minutes and I was finding it very frustrating. I am still bf 3 times a day and occasionally I think about stopping, but things are okay at the moment.

As for FF I used the full carton (about 200ml) as Iwasn't sure how much he would take but initially he would only take 3-4 oz at the most so be prepared that she might not take a lot to begin with. After a few days he guzzled down the full bottle! We now use powdered formula and again once you read the instructions and get going its not too bad.

Its up to you about warming, if you warm it she may only ever want it warmed so maybe try room temp first and see how you go. Nothing wrong with warming, lots of people do but I just think bit easier if out and about and they will take it without warming.

I got AF back after 4 months (even though I was ebf!) although my cycles have been shorter than pre baby. They are now 25-26 as compared to 28-29 days. Not sure what that means but we are not ttc atm anyway but I would like it if they went back to 'normal'

Consider yourself lucky your cycles have returned while still breastfeeding. I will have to see about mine, whether i have to wean completely for my cycle to start again or not. At least yours will be ready whenever you decide to try again
THANKS!! i will take on what you said about the formula warming and begin trying it xx