Weening off of Breast

Hi E.. I used a good electric pump, stored my milk in zip lock bags in the freezer so my husband could do the feedings and then gradually introduced formula in between these feedings.

I did this with both my sons and it went smooth as silk. By the way, my sons are now 22 and 18!

Good luck!

You don't have to wean her off of your breast milk. As your demand increases, your body will produce more milk, so you will be able to both keep her fed and build up a supply for later. The earlier you wean her, the more she misses out on developmentally. So, it seems backward to wean now, only to be put back on breast milk when you have a supply. Especially if she has a sensitive belly, it could cause her allot of unnecessary adjustment and discomfort. As for the breast to bottle transition, we had luck with Dr. Brown and Advent. Good luck to you.

You don't have to switch to formula to build up a supply. In fact you may lose some of your milk if she isn't nursing. What I did was pump one breast while my daughter nursed on the other. That way she still gets the benefits and you don't have to wean her early. Plus it is easier to pump with the natural let down. I have a friend who instead of pumping, supplimented with formula while her daughter was at day care and then nursed her at night and on the weekends. She did this quite successfully until her daughter weaned herself. Not all babies will move from breast to bottle but it may be worth a try. Instead of formula during the day, though, use your pumped milk.You will find that your supply will regulate so you won't have to pump during the day but will still have plenty for her at night and weekends.

Good luck.

Going back to work is a transistion you and your baby should make smoothly. As far as supplimenting with formula, you don't really need to. I don't know how old your daughter is, but you may have noticed that all of the sudden your baby might want to nurse constantly for a day or two and then go back to her normal routine. This is her way of building up your milk supply, without knowing it, your body is making more ounces per feeding after a nurse-a-thon day to meet her needs. Most babies get up and feed just a little at 4-5 am and then go back to sleep, this is your most productive time to get extra milk. After the baby feeds, put her back to bed and pump as much as you can get out and then let the pump pump you while you are dry for 5 minutes each breast, this will trigger your hormones to tell your body to make more next time. You can pump a little bit after each feeding. In the evening, have someone other than yourself feed the baby from a bottle, even if it's just a little breast milk or watered down breast milk to get her used to using a bottle. There ar many breast like options now for breastfed babies to use. During that feeding, go in another room and think about your baby being fed and pump away, pretty soon you will be able to pump in place of all feedings, and eventually you will even be able to pump just twice a day while you are at work and make enough for her. Example, if she normally drinks 3-4 ounces every 3 hours, then you will be able to pump 6-7 ounces every four hours. Get the good Gerber nursing pads and try to pump immediatly after feeling a let down so your bosy doesn't learn to ignore the cues that it's time to feed her. Bring a blankie with her smell on it, a picture of her or even a talking picture frame with her cry or coos on it to help stimulate your milk supply. Most of breastfeeding is the emotional ties that trigger our hormones to do the work. I remember driving somewhere and my milk let down, i couldn't figure out why since i had just fed my baby, and then i looked in the rear-view mirror and saw a woman walking with a stroller, i didn't even notice, but subconciously I did and my body was ready to feed a baby. Please contact La Leche League, they have chapters in all areas and the ladies there are WONDERFUL and will be available any time you need help or have questions. Pediatricians and OB's aren't always the best experts, try to get support as much as you can. Many bigger cities have working moms breastfeeding support groups and they really help, just knowing other women who are juggling the same schedules, workload and emotions as you is so beneficial to a mom. You can do it, you were meant to be able to feed your baby and using modern technology to get the same goodness in her is awesome. If you do have to resort to an emergency formula bottle or two, I would use Carnation good start with cultures, it is most like breast milk and is easiest to digest. Avoid water and juice bottles as this will only cause your milk supply to drop because baby will not be as hungry and even knowing that your baby doesn't need as much milk as you are producing can cause you to slow down your supply. Pump yourself dry at the end of each night, that will also help you store. I used the gerber breastmilk storage bags. I would pump a little, even just an ounce or two into a botttle, cap it and refridgerate it. Then the next little bit i would put into a different bottle. Once the milk is cool, you can put it all together in the storage bags and ziploc them shut and flat. Label them with a sharpee with the amount, and date. You can get these icecube storage containers that have a icecube tray on the top at walmart for a few bucks. They are the perfect size to store the milk bags in, they just line up like little files of milk. this method allowed me to store about 40 bags of milk in one small tray and the milk defrosted the quickest when stored flat, you don't want to microwave the milk because it will lose many of the good properties. if you have any other questions, feel free to email me at ____@____.com

Good Morning, E.~ Happy Friday!! One thing I've picked up on in the large quantity of advice we all get from other mothers is that the baby will react to whatever change you throw at them by mirroring your reaction. So, if you act like it's no big deal, they won't either. I'm sure there are many exceptions to this rule, but it makes sence to me. I started my baby girl on formula in her 2nd week and did both breast milk and formula for 3 months. She had absolutely no problem switching between "mediums" (bottle to breast and formula to milk) and I like to think this might have helped her be adaptable to change.

The only thing I'd be concerned about is the type of formula you give her. Taylor has horrible gas and I'm still not sure which formula is best for that, but I give her Simolac Isomil Advanced (and am not shy with the mylecon!). She still has gas, so I'm sure there's one better. I just didn't want to vary the type of formula too much and now we're working on Stage 1 foods (which is going great!)

Good luck and arm yourself with many pics to go back to work with!!
E.

You'll want to continue to breastfeed some while pumping to maintain your supply. Baby is a much better stimulator of milk that the pump. You could do something like every other feeding with formula maybe. I highly recommend the playtex traditional style nipples. They are very soft like the breast. It was the only thing that worked for me when trying to teach my son to breastfeed after being hospitalized for his first 6 weeks and he was used to the nipples they used in the hospital.