Stopping bf @ 7mnts & still a snacker

Hi Ladies,
I am in the process of swapping to formula after breastfeeding for nearly 7 months im quite guttered about this but my DH is on crutches and I have to take over his job on our farm.... and I would like some suggestions on how to reduce my milk supply (as we say on the farm - dry off!)

Also DD is a bit of a snacker still and she feeds whenever she likes up to 4 times during the day and then sometimes 4 times from 7pm-7am. So have noticed last two days on bottle that she will only drink around 150ml at a time, whats normal?

She still wakes up 3-6 times a night too

Any suggestions would be great

Edited by Inlove28

Yep she wakes for the dream feed, im expecting her to wake in an hour or so.. Shes terrible some days with solids too and only wants milk
Shes had 2 bf today and anything between now and morning will be bfing otherwise will do a bit of expressing here and there but I want to make sure im doing it right, I read somewhere that it can take weeks for your milk to dry up!!
Thanks Jaxnz

Hey Lou,

Sorry to hear your DH is on crutches. How long is that for? Hoping he'll be better by calving for ya?

Anyway, I just wanted to put a different slant on it (and feel free to ignore me if you want), but if you don't want to give up BF, you could still manage it. I've just gone back to work last week, and I'm able to call in to daycare 2-3 times a day and give DD a quick feed. It's actually quite nice time out for me and I'm guessing you live on the farm and will be coming in for meals etc too? It means she's a bit less demand fed, but I figure routined BF is still better for her than formula.

I'm still up 3-6 times per night too, so I know how hard it is to go to work on such terrible sleep. Perhaps you could put her on formula for the night feeds and get your DH to do those? And then BF her during the day. Bodies are wonderful things, and it could mean that once your DH is back to work, you'd be able to switch back to fully BF because your supply would pick up again. Of course if you are going to be working over calving I can totally understand if you want to remove all other strains on your body, cos calving is hard work!!

But I just thought I'd throw that out there for ya too

You will get engorged, and from a friend who had to let her milk dry up when it came in as she chose to FF, her mw told her to just express off a little bit, say the let down or a little more if need be - just to get rid of the discomfort etc. If you express most or all of the milk your body will keep thinking it needs to produce that much. Eventually your body will realise it doesn't need to produce the milk and you'll dry up! Good luck!