Help with weaning

[mattysmom]

My ds is now almost 9 months, eating solids well and being bf (or having a mixed bottle when I'm working (3 days/week). Ideally I'd like to get down to 2 bfeedings (7 am and 7 pm) and then give him bottles for the other 2 (10:30 and 3:30) with 3 meals or so. How do I convert a bfeeding to a bottle w/o getting totally engorged? Should I nurse at 7, 10:30, give a bottle at 3:30 and then nurse at 7? I'm not sure if I'm explaining myself well, but if anyone has any advice on dropping feedings, etc. I would appreciate your help.
THanks!
Ali

[jubilee]

I am also considering weaning, so I'd love to hear any suggestions.

[hellokitty1]

Ali/Julie-

I'm no expert but I've start the weaning process today and here is how I am proceeding. I work 5 days/wk and pump twice at work at 10:30 and 2:30 and nurse when DD wakes, after work and before bed (and on the weekends, I BF exclusively).

I don't pump at 10:30am anymore and if I can make it to 2:30pm without feeling too bad, I wait til then and I do pump but just for relief. Your body will learn within a few days not to make milk at whatever time it is you normally nurse/pump. So within a few days, my body will know not to make milk for my usual 10:30 pump. Next week, I'll cut out the afternoon pump as well and by the end of that week, I will have cut out all my daytime production and just nurse in the AM, after work and before bed.

Eventually, I'll wean off completely but for now I just want to cut out the daytime since pumping is becoming to cumbersome and with disappointing results.

HTH. I'd like to hear progress from both of you.

[peanut4us]

jumping on the bandwagon... kind of :) I made a promise to myself that whenever I wanted to quit I would give it one more week, and see if I still wanted to keep going. Usually, things were much better and I've always continued.

Last month I freaked out because we had to start supplementing. I am so laughing at myself now. Supplementing is so not a big deal. It's relieved so much stress from my days at work. We went on vacation last week with DD having ear infections and me getting bronchitis. I didn't take any OTC drugs that would have helped me because they all contained pseudophedrine, which is known to decrease milk supply. Result, I am sicker than a dog. Bigger result: Sara needs a healthy mommy more than she needs my milk. She's 8 months old. I feel great about what I've done. And I think it's time to throw in the towel.

So I am taking among other drugs for the brochitis, pseudophedrine, and I feel SO much better.

For my weaning process, I am planning on taking about 2 full months to stop entirely. I had been pumping 3 times at work, for the next 2 weeks I'll go to 2. then it gets complicated because I am off for 2.5 weeks at the end of the year AND DD doesn't sleep through the night. She is FINALLY gaining weight well (i.e., not dropping percentiles!) So our ped recommended/OKed not feeding her in the night. He said to add one more solid feeding in the day and take out one feeding at night. Then, hopefully by January no more night feedings at all. So while I'm home at the end of the month, I'm going to be diligent about giving her a bottle when she's hungry and I would normally not be pumping.

We'll see how we do. Good job all of us, and good luck to us all too!

[chrissyhowie]

For me, the biggest key was pumping only to the point of relief and only if very uncomfortable. This did mean that I would feel somewhat engorged for a portion of the day, but this only lasted for a few days until my production naturally decreased. After a few days, I could drop the pump session completely. One tip -- make sure you are wearing and carry extra breast pads with you because you may leak more than usual at first! I figured that out the hard way :)!

[mattysmom]

Here's my update since I posted about 3 weeks ago. DS is now having 4 liquid feedings - always nursing first thing in the am and then before bed. Then, I'm either nursing or pumping (when I'm at work) at 10:30/11 and then he's getting a bottle at 3:30. I'm going to stick with this schedule this week and then next week "convert" the 10:30 feeding to bottle only. That will mean that I'm only nursing in the am and at night. Then, I feel like I can stick to this until close to his first birthday (Feb. 18). I'd love to hear others' updates too!
Ali