Opinion on How to Stop Breast Feeding

Hi J.,

Please don't feel guilty - you have to do whatever is the best for you and your baby in your current situation. Sometimes people who mean well get over-zealous in their desire to give you 'good' information. It is hard to be on the receiving end of that, I know.

It's hard to tell, becuase I don't know how much you are pumping right now...... but I would cut the pumping back first. That will allow your body to slow down milk production. Once you are no longer getting engorged from reducing pumping then you can start replacing one breast feeding with a bottle. do that same schedule for a couple days and then replace another breast feeding with the bottle until you are down to one breast feeding each day and the rest bottle. At that point you should be able to go cold turkey without it being too painful.

Good Luck

Regardless of how you wean.... baby needs to feed more often than 4 times a day.
I'm sorry, maybe I misunderstood, but you said you feed by breast 3 times a day, then 1 bottle. Did that mean you feed her only 4 times a day, within a 24 hour period?

If you want to wean, then don't pump.
Then, replace breastfeedings, with the Formula bottle.

Regardless if by Formula/Bottle or breast... you still need to feed baby on-demand... 24/7, day and night.
Infants, feed even every single hour.
This is called 'cluster feeding' and they feed more at growth-spurts... in terms of intake amount and frequency of feedings.

That is about how long I breastfed for, thats what worked for us. I strictly pumped due to him not ever latching properly. I pumped in between every feeding 24/7 for about 3 weeks then we starting introducing formula, once he seemed ok with the formula, I just pumped during the day, and slowly got less and less supply and just totally quit pumping. There are alot of pros with the longer you do it, but my son never gets sick, is at the top of his growth percentage, and is above what he should know for his age. So your baby wil be fine, they say the colustrum is the most important :) Congrats on the baby!!!

I would cut out the pumping first. The more gradually you do it. Like one pump session a week. The less chance of getting engorged. Not sure you have the time for that though. Towards the end a quick way to dry yourself out is to drink sage tea. Heat one cup water, then put one teaspoon of rubbed dry sage in it. Let it sit for 15 minutes, then drink it. Not the greatest drink, but it works. Drink it twice a day. Drink lots of water and stay hydrated while you do it.

After only one month you should be ok to wean down. I would start at week 3 and wean to 2x a day, then toward the end of that week down to 1x a day. She should not be too attached after just 4 weeks. Then you can continue to pump and have more in the freezer or you can just stop after that time. Keep in mind you have to wean yourself so your breasts don't get full and hurt. I nursed for a year and I weaned for the month before going to one less feeding per week so you should be fine with starting a week prior. Good luck!