when to stop breast feeding ??

[dpmother]

hello !

i'd breast fed my baby for 6 months.... started solids only after 6 months...
when the solids started i breast fed only at nights.....
now that the baby is 10 months old iam planning to stop the
night breastfeeds too....

any pointers i need to take care, while stopping the breast feeds ???
also is it the right time (baby is 10 months old) to stop breast feeding ??

thanks in advance !

 

[lesliefu]

i'd do it gradually so that you feel minimal pain in the breasts - the engorgement can get quite painful if you stop cold turkey.

as for if it is a "good time" to stop...it all depends on what your comfortable with...i only breastfed for 3 mths but i have some friend who breast fed for 3 years! whatever you decide for yourself and your baby is best. don't worry too much about what others do really - at the end of the day some people don't breast feed at all (for whatever reason) and their babies are still healthy and grow up well.

 

[KeHK]

I just stopped breast-feeding my nearly 8 months old baby. Here's what I did:
- until 5.5 months: exclusively bf
- at 5.5 months: introduced solids
- from 5.5 to 7.5 months: gradually replaced each breast feed with solids or formula until we were down to 1 breast feed per day
- about 3-4 days before I stopped completely, I only let our little one on the breast for about 2 minutes each day and then offered her the bottle afterwards.
It's been a week now since I stopped completely and even though I still have milk, I luckily didn't have to deal with painful engorgements or anything similar. I think the important part is that you do it gradually. Give your body (and your baby!) time to adjust. Some people say drinking peppermint tea helps reduce the milk supply, not sure if it works though;-)

 

[Obiwan]

Do you just cut down on 1 feed at a time, and slowly stopping completely? Any pain/engorgement issues doing that?

 

[KeHK]

When we first introduced solids, baby would just eat a few spoonful of mashed vegetables followed by a milk feed. Once she was able to finish a full bowl of veggies or rice cereal, I no longer offered her the breast, but gave her water to drink instead. That way, she would gradually drink less breast milk which caused by breasts to gradually produce less. It took us probably about 10-14 days to go from 'only milk' to 'only solids & water' for each meal. In addition, I replaced the last feed of the day with formula. After about 2 months, we managed to go from exclusively breast-feeding (5-6 times a day) to 3x solids, 1-2x formula and 1x breast-feeding a day.
My biggest concern however was how to drop that very last breast feed, so as mentioned in my previous post, in the last few days I only let my baby on the breast for 1-2 minutes to take away the pressure and offered her the bottle afterwards. After a few days, I just stopped completely and luckily, it worked perfectly fine.

I have to add that my baby was already used to the bottle (I used to pump occasionally) before we started the whole process, so it was no problem for her to switch from breast milk to formula. Also, she is quite a good eater and interested in trying out new things, which may have helped getting her off the breast too.

Just try what works best for you and your baby. Hope that helps!

 

[dpmother]

thank you all for the inputs...

have i to squeez out the breast milk (while a warm bath) or pump it out ?
almost completely stop breastfeeding now....

i've stopped bf gradually....not stopped suddenly...still see lil milk cmng out if i press the breast.....

do guide !!

 

[AngieO]

Hi dpmother

You may get a little milk when you squeeze your breast for weeks to months still. I'm unclear how many times you have been breastfeeding at night. Just before bed? Then it wouldn't be a problem just to stop (breast wise!). Otherwise it is better to give up one feed at a time. I am also unclear whether you have replaced the day time breast feed with formula or just stopped giving milk entirely. I think a baby at 10 months should still be having milk 2-3 times a day. They shouldn't start on cows milk until 12 months, so should be on formula a couple of times a day.

As far as the baby is concerned, it is impossible to know how it will go! My first baby cried every night for about a week (and so did I!), second baby gave it up without any drama at all.