BF to transition or stop help advice!

Hi, I was hoping to get some advice on a few things. I’ve managed to exclusively breastfeed up to now and have really enjoyed it, but I’m starting to struggle and feel quite exhausted, especially with the number of night wakings that are still happening.

I’m returning to work in February and would like some guidance on the best course of action. I’m looking for advice on how to transition to one of the following options:
1. Pumping and bottle-feeding (although I’m not sure how successful this would be, as he doesn’t currently drink water from a bottle, doesn’t use a dummy, and didn’t take to a bottle when he was younger).
2. Continuing to breastfeed until 1 year old and then transitioning to cow’s milk.
3. Switching to formula from now until 1 year old.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

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I basically dropped one feed a day ( started with bedtime bottle ) and did this each week I increased a feed so week 2 I did two bottle feeds and I continued this until she no longer wanted the breast (5 weeks in )

Personally I had to try bottles everyday for 8 weeks for my bf baby to even entertains a bottle - this was before even getting her to take it for random feeds

She went to pumped milk first and then slowly formula and is now 100% formula fed at 10 months

BF mum here, pumping 2 bottles a day... feels like I'm limping to the finish line the last 2 months with a drop in supply from weaning... 👀 so totally get where you are!

If you're able to keep going then do, if baby doesn't take a bottle then that's a big hurdle to overcome first. We've been doing it since a week old n even then I'm considering supplementing early with a bottle of cows milk in the morning so I've got a better volume of boob milk for dad to give in her bed bottle (in addition to bf the rest of the day)

Will baby take water from a Sippy or straw cup? That might be the best way to introduce either cow or formula... We've recently changed from the tommee tippee free flow cup (which was a struggle to get her to drink water from) to the tum tum straw cup and it's been a game changer for getting fluid into her.

There's no shame in saying you can't do it any longer. Just gotta figure out what's right for you and know you're not alone x

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