Weaning baby off the boob

[caggimedicine]

I'd be interested to hear how others have managed to wean their babies off the boob and onto FF. How did you go about it?

I'm currently BFing Harry all day and night, but we give him one bottle of FF at about midnight (to give me a bit of a rest!) I'm going back to work in June and plan to have Harry completely on FF by then, with the exception of one or two boobie feeds in the evening and maybe one in the morning. I'd be interested to hear how others have managed this. I am prepared for my boobs to be like giant painful water melons for a while! Harry slept for 5 hours straight last night for the first time, and I woke up with the most painful boobs and soaking wet bra and pj top! How did you cope with this?? Any advice/experiences etc would be much appreciated!

 

[Freya]

OOooo yes, I'd like to know if anyone has any tips too. I am in similar boat, one ff at night given, but would like to increase this, before weaning begins, and get others involved in feeding to help me regain my much needed sleep.

My health visitor said to slowly supplement ff by adding an extra bottle to replace a bf, every 2 or 3 days to reduce engorgement and prevent mastitis. I've been told to prepare for the big ouch.... but I dont mind doing it slowly.

xxx

 

[1st_baby]

I think the best way to not loose your supply is pump when ever you FF , I didnt have any problems getting max onto the FF when he was BF ..I just made sure the bottle I used was almost exactly like a breast this way there was not confusion

 

[leeanne]

My word of advice is be persistent. Try Harry with a bottle at each feed. It may take a few days, weeks or even a month but eventually they come around.

 

[AC81]

I've recently done just this and it wasn't nearly as stressful or as upsetting as I thought it would be. Erin started becoming increasingly fussy to feed and her 20 mins on the boob started taking up to an hour! Plus she hadn't really gained any weight in nearly a month so I decided to make the switch to formula. For the first day or so I just did the bedtime feed, then each day increased it a little more. I know they say to do it slowly, but I found Erin took soooo well to bottles that she didn't even look for the boob anymore, and it seemed to sit well on her stomach so there were no problems there. After 4 or 5 days I had her completely on formula and we've not looked back.

As for engorgement, the first few days were a little bad and I woke up very damp with rock hard, painful boobs, but I pumped only when I had to and the milk production really slowed down. I'm still pumping now, but only every 36 hours or so.

 

[rach321]

I replaced one feed a day with a FF - think I started with a midday one - morning and night feeds were too important to mess with at first! Stick with just one feed for a few days until your boobs don't feel overly full then do the same with another feed, wait a few more days so your boobs get used to it and so on and so on. It will take a little while for your boobs to get the message not to produce milk for those feeds - if you get really uncomfortable you can always express a small amount to relieve the pressure! Just don't express too much otherwise your boobs will just think its a BF as usual.
I think that makes sense - that's what I did and yes the boobies were a little overfull at times but not too bad and certainly no mastitis. xx

 

[caggimedicine]

Thanks for all your replies.

I think my plan of action is to drop a feed every few days. If boobs start making a fuss, I can just drop a feed a week. I've still got enough time until I start back at work to do that, but would rather have Harry on FF a few weeks prior to him starting nursery so will just see how I get on. Will keep you posted!