swapping to formula

[Lore]

Could anyone give me advice on how to swap from breast feeding to bottle/formula? I'm already giving top up bottles to compliment breast feeding but have decided to swap over completely.

many thanks :)

[bubblegum-31]

hi i breastfed my youngest child for only 2wks and then i decided i wanted to bottlefeed her so i asked my midwives advice and she said if she sucked on the bottle then to just switch her to bottle straight away so i did and i never looked back it was so much easier as at least you knew how much of a feed she was taking etc if i was you i would contact your health visitor just to be sure its ok to switch straight onto bottle before you do it just to be on the safe side, good luck and all the best to you both x

[cameo]

I breast fed my daughter for a month and then changed to formula.
My health visitor told me to do it gradually, eg: subsitute one breast feed for a bottle, do this for a week and then introduce another bottle and eliminate another breast feed.
I tried to do this but my daughter took the bottle ok and then threw up the breast milk. so i stopped with the breast altogether and just gave her the bottle, she was fine but because it hadn't been a gradual change my breasts became so full of milk they were like canon balls!! It was very painful for about 2 weeks and then the milk dried up - thank god!
My advice would be to try and do it gradually and if you have any concerns always speak to your health visitor.

Good luck x

[Lore]

Thank you both for your replies :) I'll continue to introduce more bottle feeds over the next week or so and see what happens.

[Schlomo78]

I only breast fed for 2 wks(expressed, as he had been given a botle in the NICU unit and wouldnt take the breast) but make sure you don't just stop breastfeeding/expressing at once as thats what i did and ended up with mastitis. I went to the DR and he told me to take Epsom salts to help dry up my milk, he had been advising women to do that for 30 years and it worked a treat, although I couldn't stray far from a toilet for a couple days! It was worth it though. Hope this helps.
:)

[boobesque]

Hi hun,

Sorry i havent mailed or texted for a while, getting ready for xmas has run me down, and me and Emmy are both poorly, breast feeding and a snotty nose dont go well lol
how is your little beauty?

Kelly x

[ganesh]

I breast-fed for 8 months and then my daughter just stopped overnight.She then went straight on to milk,water and fruit juice in trainer cups.
Unfortunately, I was also like cameo with her canon balls but the pain went away after a week or so.

[meltoadhall]

how old is your baby coz you could do as ganesh suggested. this what i did too and it worked well. otherwise the gradual approach would work well too.

[Lore]

we're still mixing both bottle and breast feeds, Ava seems much happier with this so I think we'll just continue to listen to her and work around what suits her best.

once again, thank you all for your replies x

Kelly, you got mail :oP xx