Struggling to combi feed!

[Mrs_Random]

I have been EBF my son but I want him to have bottles in the day now as I'm getting ready to go back to work.

He does take a bottle fine - I started introducing formula mixed with breast milk and will now take a full formula bottle.

The issue I'm having is boob pain and fitting feeds in!

This is our current schedule

BF breakfast
Bottle at lunch time (anything between 5 & 7oz)
Afternoon BF
Tea time bottle
BF at bedtime
Bottle dream feed when I go to bed (otherwise he's up every 2.5/3 hours to boob!)

Anytime he wakes in the night wanting a feed (1/2 times) I BF.

A couple of questions - is 5 feeds enough? Does the schedule we have look ok?

My boobs are killing me and its been about 10 days since I started reducing his BF but they don't seem to be getting better.

Should I change the feeding order or will it actually take a while for my supply to regulate?

I will eventually drop the afternoon BF for formula but I can't go all day without a BF at the mo as it just hurts too much.

 

[hopingforit]

The only advice I have is to try hand expressing a little but to relieve the discomfort. It may signal to your body that you don't need as much milk at that time so you won't feel so engorged as time goes on. Hopefully you get it figured out. I go 10 hours at night without pumping and it is so uncomfortable so I feel your pain.

 

[tinytabby]

I did this when LO was 7 months old. I dropped the bfs quite gradually though, so I hardly got full at all.

I'd second the advice to gently express off any extra milk and you can cut this amount down gradually too.

I noticed a big difference once I cut out all daytime feeds (I now just bf first thing in the morning and just before LO goes to bed). My boobs went back to normal and I stopped leaking. Yay!

 

[Mrs_Random]

That's what I want to do, just BF morning & night.

Today he actually refused to take boob at all and ended up with a 6oz bottle! My boobs are gonna hurt today!

 

[tinytabby]

You'll get there - it just takes a bit more work than you'd expect. It's like bf at the beginning, it takes a while to re-regulate your supply.