How to stop breast feeding

verowed

Hi,

I've been BF my daughter for 7+ plus months now and I've decided it's time to stop. I have increased her non BF bottles to 2 a day but I'm clueless as to how to just stop BF. Any links or tips? How long did it take to stop milk production completely.

TIA.

lhartman11

I just stopped completely breastfeeding this past weekend. I think this is my third day without nursing at all and surprisingly I don't even feel very full. I believe this is because I slowly weaned her for over a month. I stopped pumping at work and would only nurse her at night and in the morning. I (not on purpose) wasn't drinking as much water as normal so I think that slowed my production down. When I would feel really full I would nurse just until I felt more comfortable and I don't think she was able to get what she needed so she would nurse then sometimes finish with a bottle. I believe it takes a while for you to completely stop producing milk but for me I am not having any issues now with feeling full or leaking at all.

 I had very mixed emotions about stopping because it was such a close and bonding time for her and I. I honestly do miss nursing but with working, I wasn't able to give her what she needed and knew I would have to stop at some point. I do miss it though.

 

GL!

blessedinthewest

Weaning has happened naturally for us because we have been supplementing with formula for awhile so he has just naturally started wanting to breast feed less and eat more bottle and solid food. 

If you just cut out one session every 3-4 days your milk supply will adjust accordingly after about 3 days. 

My doc said a lot of women stick to just BFing once or twice a day.  I am pretty much down to one session in the morning and one session in the middle of the night.  Your body will adjust to whatever schedule you and your baby set.

verowed

Thank you for you suggestions. 

DCJEN

I took away one session per week bc I was a total whimp and was scared to get too engorged, or start leaking. It worked for me, but it took me a month or two to completely dry up.