Really want to stop breastfeeding my son?

He's 18 days old. I know and understand the benefits of breastfeeding for both baby and mother. But it's just something that I just can't feel comfortable with mentally. So I'm considering transitioning from breastfeeding to formula feeding.

Is there any way to do this successfully and correctly?

It was completely natural to me for about a week. Then, it started getting weird. Really weird, I can't explain it, but I just felt awkward about it. I hung in there, and it did take some time, but it eventually felt totally normal and natural. It can be a difficult transition. If you are doing well in every other aspect, you should try to see if you can get used to it. Besides the basic benefits you already know, there's the more immediate effects of switching to formula (my first son was formula-fed after 10 days). Screaming baby at 3am: breastfed takes 5 seconds to quiet down, formula fed takes 3 minutes. That's alot of time at 3am... Like I said, our first was formula-fed. He ate so much and it was so expensive that breastfed triplets would have been cheaper. Also, I have forgotten bottles/formula many times, and forgetting one during a growth spurt when feeding is sporadic was not fun!
If you still want to switch, you can usually talk to the Dr. for a recommended brand and he can give you samples to try if you want formula. Or you can pump so he can get the benefits still. I'm not really sure how to switch to formula properly. We were having huge issues when we switched, so we just switched cold-turkey because he wasn't latching to nurse much anyway.

Yeah, you just stop feeding him breast milk and start giving him formula. I only breastfed my twins for about 2 weeks and couldn't handle it. It was too time consuming, and I literally was feeding them constantly and I felt like a milk factory. Some people just cant be mature about breastfeeding, it's a natural thing and it shouldn't be "weird". So I stopped breastfeeding them and started giving them formula. It was easy. But you should talk to your pediatrician first.

First of all, great job in getting 18 days under your belt! Thats more than I got with my first, I stopped at 2 weeks because we were both crying. With my second I was much more comfortable but I still never got the hang of doing it in public. If you are going to transition to formula, the key is doing it slowly, for you and your baby's sensitive tummy. I would cut one feeding every week and if possible pump some to mix the formula with breastmilk, 70/30, than 50/50, and so on. You might notice the baby is fussy during this change (or because the formula is harder to digest). I suggest Good Start formula. Its 40% pre-digested. And its inexpensive! Here is a site that can help: http://www.thebump.com/stages/stage.aspx...

If you're doing good, keep breastfeeding!! I would give anything to be able to breastfeed my 7 1.2 month old daughter.

But back to your question, you can start adding a bottle of formula everyday until the baby is on strictly formula. This will help the babies body to transition to formula, and help you from getting too engorged.

Good Luck!!

I didn't breast feed. I didn't want to, thought it was creepy. The "baby" is 22, employed, healthy, and a full time college student so I know it didn't warp his brain.

That said, there are some benefits to breast feeding, but I won't list them because I'm sure you know that stuff already. You should talk to your doctor about taking the child off the breast milk instead of consulting us. She/he should be able to suggest how to do it properly and safely.

When I was switching my daughter from breast milk to formula I just mixed half and half in baby bottles for a couple days then went straight to formula. She didn't have any problems.

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start dropping 1 feeding a day and replace that feeding with a bottle of formula, until he is completely off the boob and only on formula.

this will also help with engorging. which can be painful if you quit cold turkey.

once u introduce the bottle u will be amazed at the pace at which ur son would not want ur boob anymore...i never wanted to stop breast feeding but unfortunately thats exactly what happened with me...i started off supplementing him with formula n in no time he would take only the bottle n not me...thats heart-wrenching!!! so consider ur self just lucky .....ANYWAY...lol....u can too start off giving him bottle...soon he will want just that!!

If you don't like breastfeeding, get a breast pump and feed him with a bottle. He needs the antibodies present in your milk.

Here is a link to a site that will help you through this process:

http://www.gerber.com/articles/Transitio...

Good luck to you and your little one.

Introduce it slowly over a month I wd say. Like replace 1 feed to begin with and if he seems ok replace more and more.

no there isn't