Advice on weaning

[dogmom]

My DS weaned himself so I never had to actively deal with this issue. My DD is 6 1/2 months and I've hit a point where I have to make a decision. I work 12 hour night shifts and so far I've been working one on one off and pumping 1-2 times a night which has worked OK. I set a goal of 6 months of BF which I met, but I'd like to be able to work two nights in a row and sleep in between, which rules out waking up several times a day to feed her. Plus we started giving her a bottle at night to make it easier for either me or my husband to put her down, so she's OK with formula now.

So I've made the decision to wean, which I'm fine with, but I'm not sure how this goes. Do I just give her a bottle and keep nursing her some? I've been doing that for two days and so far my milk supply has dropped off, so now she nurses on me for 15-20 minutes and then wants a bottle, then goes back to nursing. (She's pretty good at indicating whe wants to nurse with this whole twist turn thing when I'm holding her.) So needless to say this isn't the ideal situation. Usually she only spend 10 minutes on me then is done. Should I just stop all together? How have other people handled it.


Jeanne
Mom to Harvey
1/16/03
& Eve 6/18/06