I thinks it time to start the weaning process.............

...................even though Im sure piggy boy would feed til he's 21 :redface:

I feel bad for deciding its time to start the process but I do not want horrendous issues to crop up when its time to start Uni mid-feb and Im suddenly making him cope with a sippy of formula or juice for 7 or 8 hrs a day. He wont be able to last all day without something other than food or juice.

He'll be just under 11mths old; so I will have nearly reached my goal of 12mths. I wouldnt give it up other than for something important and uni is important to me; this opportunity is once in a lifetime :( Wont stop me from feeling guilty though.

So he is still breastfed atleast 5x a day and min 2x a night (usually more like 3 feeds between 10pm-6am). Ive been trying to get him to take a bottle or sippy or cup for months with no luck but have finally had a breakthrough with one of his brothers old hard spout drink bottles. Expressing is a nightmare for me so its not something I really want to be doing on top of my mothering duties and uni studies. Ive tried him on some formula and he took about 100mls of it the last two days.

Ive only been giving him 120mls before bedtime once a day. I dont want to dramatically affect my supply being gungho about it. Is there some sort of routine I can follow to slowly wean him? Or could I do both formula and breastfeeding til end of March when he is 12mths and I can switch to cows milk? I think if I could do both I would still keep breastfeeding.

TBH Im tired. Im battling health issues of my own that are making me exhausted; so breastfeeding constantly on top of that + 2 other rambunctious kids, all the cooking and chauffering and chores that come with it + uni will probably kill me. I am secretly hoping that the extra's of food and a wee bit of formula might help him sleep in longer periods at night (Im fine to wake once or twice but not 3 or 4x like he does now).

Any advice or tips would be great.

Anna

Firstly congrats babe on BF DS so long.:dance:

I think you can easily BF when you are with DS and give him formula when you are away. That way there is no need to express. Don't forget, he is having 5 feeds a day ATM but that may change as his solids intake increases.

My suggestion is to try to get the 'uni hours' feeds to gradually convert to formula. Perhaps try one feed a fortnight. Now I have no personal experience with this so I could be totally off the mark but I think the gradual approach is least likely to affect your supply for the times you are with him. There is no reason whatsoever that you guys can't make it to 12 months if that is what you want.

HTH
Spring xx

Congrats on starting Uni!

It is very likely that he will drop more feeds by himself in the next few months.
Why not just see how you go? You can always wean later, but it's hard to go back if you change your mind (kwim)? When dropping feeds, it's best to take it slowly, one feed at a time, to minimise the impact on your supply, but also to avoid the likelihood of lumps etc.

If you want to continue breastfeeding, there's no reason you can't combine it with study at his age - he can have formula and/or solids when you're away and come back to the boob when he's with you.

All the best~