How did transition from breast feeding to formula go for you?

amalloy1

Our LO will be 6 months old next week &, 5 months ago I was so looking forward to the day we reached 6 months & she could start having formula. Now I'm realizing how easy & cheap breast feeding really is, & how much I'm going to miss the bonding, but I'm also looking forward to a little freedom that will come once she's taking formula.

She's eating rice cereal & alternating peas, pumpkin & beef, & chicken & zucchini without any problems. I'm curious to know how some of you weaned your baby from breast milk, & how long did it take. Did you have any issues?  I was planning to just stop pumping at work & nurse her in the morning & evening for a while.

Thanks!

Dreamsicle23

I don't understand.  Many babies have formula from birth.  What's so special about 6 months?  If you like BFing then there's no reason to stop.  If you want to switch to formula there's nothing wrong with that either.

amalloy1

Apparently I don't know what you know. I'm not really on here all that much...

amalloy1

I guess I needed to explain better. Since the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends 6 months of breast feeding, that was my goal... I could do it longer but because of work, it's been difficult & I know once I'm not pumping during the day, my supply will go down.

I was just wondering about the transitioning (whenever a baby is weaned)  I've heard about issues with engorgement that can cause mastitis & I was curious to hear stories & advice.

Marinewife81

You can start formula anytime, even from birth. I just recently changed over from BF to FF due to health reasons. To change her over I was mixing BM and formula, changing the amounts of each as I went (starting with more BM than formula and working down). It wouldn't have mattered because she didn't seem to care anyway. While I miss the closeness and ease sometimes, it's totally worth it for me and my baby both to be happy.

ETA: check out kellymom.com for tips on drying up.

snansley

The easiest, least painful way would be to drop a feeding and replace it with formula.  Wait a while (days/weeks) then drop another feeding and replace with formula.  You may find that combo feeding (BF and FF ) works well for you.  You can feed formula when you need to and still nurse a few times a day.  LO may reject straight formula so you might need to mix pumped milk in to help the transition.  Does LO take a bottle?  If LO already takes a bottle or a cup that will make life easier.

pinkmoonlight

We recently just weaned DD, however my supply has been dipping for a little over 2 months now. When I really started weaning her was about a month ago and we have been on full out formula since last Friday. We did not have any horrible issues just a few bumps in the road.

I started by slowly ending nursing sessions and replacing them with pumping and bottle feeding at about 5.5 months old due to DD biting. Once she was on the bottle, I had every intention of just pumping and giving her bottles of BM however I ended up getting a pretty bad infection and needed to go on antibiotics for a while. While they were safe for BF they did not go over well with DD so I had to pump and dump while using my freezer stash.  My supply really took a nose dive. So I started adding 2 oz of formula for a few days and slowly increased every few days over a period of 4 weeks until we got to full bottles of formula.

DD had no problems drinking the formula or having BM with it. However she did develop a pretty red diaper rash. Which we determined to be from the milk protein in the regular formula. Our doctor suggested gentel formula as it the milk protien is not as harsh. Once we switched her rash got much better and eventually went away.

We use Sam's Club Members Choice Gentle formula. Its 20 dollars for a huge can. Another mother while I was there recommended it to us and said 2 cans last her and entire month. So 40 dollars in formula a month is not bad considering what it could be with the name brand stuff. DD has not had any issues with it thus far and has been on it since Monday.  Prior to that I was using a sample of Simlac that I had.

lijah

I'm weaning my LO as we speak and I'm dropping a feeding every couple of days. At first I was mixing the formula and breastmilk and he hated it. When I tried straight formula he drank it. So weird! I have been feeling guilty but I know what's best for my sanity and 6 months is a long time to do it.