How do you stop?

[danniellabella]

I'm seriously considering going back to work and am considering stopping breastfeeding. Obviously you can't stop cold turkey so how do you do it?

[alioops]

Danni, you dont have to stop unless you really want to. She can either have EBM or be brought in to you.

If you really do want to stop then you can stop her cold turkey and express to be comfortable - no further - or gradually replace each feed with the bottle ie. replace 1 feed at a time with the bottle and then add another to the bottle time, and so on until the bottle feeds phase out the BF's.

Please try to stick at it, I know it is not your favourite thing in the world but you may miss is later on.

[MantaRay]

Danni, I have twice returned to work and continued to bf. So if you would like to consider this and want more info please let me know. It definitely can be done and TBH it was actually way easier than I was expecting.

WRT weaning, it is definitely not a good idea to go cold turkey. The best way to wean is to drop one feed at a time, ideally about one a week, or even more slowly. This allows your supply to gradually reduce. If you feel sore and lumpy in between, you should give baby a quick feed just to take the fullness out, or express (again, just enough to not feel full). Once you are down to no feeds, the same thing is true if you feel sore and lumpy. But if you are dropping one feed at a time you are less likely to have this problem. The ABA have a really good booklet on weaning for only $5.

Best of luck with your decision.

[*becstar*]

Hey Danni

my compromise i am working on at the moment is to BF first thing in the morning, then at night (7pm-ish) and do FF the rest of the time. This may work for you? This works for us as Jake is full and content from formula but we are still getting in BF for goodness and also closeness (a nice snuggle!). HTH