How did you decide to stop bf?

I found expressing was difficult and Caleb was happy to take a bottle during the day so I kept up the BFs before and after work and a final one just before bed. He used to have one or two bottles during the day but now he's eating three meals plus afternoon tea so doesn't need bottles, just drinks water, eats and BF's.

During the weekends I used to BF during the day as well as the usual feeds but now find he is a bit more interested in what is going on around him so he doesn't really want the extra feeds. And yes, I don't think he's ever going to self-wean.

Great thread ladies, I've just been wondering the same thing myself.   Somewhere between 5 and 6 months I started to find expressing really hard and was hardly getting anything.   In addition J used to get really frustrated with his night feed. Suckling for a couple of minutes then crying. Plunket said he was probably frustrated that milk wasn't coming out fast enough and to switch boobs but sometimes I found myself switching up to eight times. Stressful for both of us. He's taken to solids really well and seems less interested in the boob. At 7 months I introduced formula at his 6pm feed which he loves. This now means I have enough milk when he wakes at 3am without it being a drama. Have noticed lately that he's less interested in his lunchtime feed from me so maybe he is self weaning too.    Funny emotional time. On the one hand I'm looking forward to wearing normal bras again, but never realised how sad it would be to realise that BFing might nearly be over.

Hi ladies,

To DJ, I went back to work part time when DS1 was 5 months old and he had formula all day then a bf in the morning and before bed. When he was about 8.5 months he "dropped" the morning bf himself and we were down to the night feed only. Less than 3 weeks later he refused all together and after 3 weeks of trying to coax him in, I decided that it was too stressful for both of us. I found that once you start introducing formula, this usually leads to a premature end to your bf relationship, even if that is not what you intended when you started.

It might be surprising, or interesting to know (for all of those ladies saying that bubs has "refused" ), that just because they refuse once doesn't mean they are ready to wean. Babies very rarely self wean before the age of 1 and unless it was a gradual process it's not truly weaning but what is known as a nursing strike. There are various reasons for this, including illness and teething and as long as you don't make a huge deal of it they should come back if that is what you want.

I am lucky in that I am not having to return to work anytime soon (and in fact had to quit my job due to other issues) but I think that because Alex (DS2)has never had formula that it has kept us going past when his brother had decided to stop.

Expressing is a learned skill, just like bf and some ladies, no matter what pump they buy and how hard they try can get a pump to work for them. When I started I was lucky to get 20ml off both sides in 20 minutes (with letdown, which is the key) and after about a month I could get 90ml off in the same time from ONE side. Basically you have to "trick", or teach, your body that it needs the "extra milk. Alex hadn't fed off one side for 12 hours at the beginning of last week and I got 150ml off without even trying!

So just thought I'd throw that information out there in case anyone was interested and wanted to file it in their memory banks for next time.